Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with portuguese

Why does the SA driver's license have Portuguese text?

louigi — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 06:05:23 -0800

Why does the South African driver's license have Portuguese writing on it? As you can almost read in this picture, just below the words "Driver's license" are the words "Carta de conduçao". What is the history of this? The only thing I could think of was that this had something to do with the border war/occupation of Namibia and Angola, but I was unable to find any information about it.

PortugueseFilter

chrisalbon — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:36:25 -0800

What is the best introductory level Portuguese textbook? I am learning Portuguese and have some questions for the hivemind.

First, what is the best introductory level Portuguese textbook?

Second, where can I (in the US) buy fantasy novels (dragonlance, etc....) in Portuguese?

Third, what tips, tricks, hacks, techniques, really helped you learn Portuguese?

Brazilian Portuguese Books?

comwiz — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 11:18:48 -0800

Help me find some (somewhat easy to read) books in Brazilian Portuguese! I have a relatively good grasp on grammar and vocab in Brazilian Portuguese, but I can only learn so much of the language through simple textbook sentences. What are some books that have relatively easy (elementary/middle school) reading levels that were originally written in Portuguese? Any websites with a decent selection of books in Portuguese (originally or translated from English)?

Portuguese character set on Apache

John Shaft — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 21:00:58 -0800

I need to display Portuguese characters on a webpage, but when I upload the files to the Apache server, they stop displaying correctly. And, yes, I'm using UTF-8 encoding. I've been provided with a number of HTML pages with Portuguese characters on them. If I look at the files on my (Windows) desktop machine, they look fine, but once I upload them to the (Ubuntu 7.04) web server, they're replaced with those annoying question mark characters.

I've done some digging around, and have found that if I copy/paste the chars into a new file, and then request it, they display just fine; it seems the act of SCPing the file up to the server screws them up (either that or pasting the text fixes them up).

If I strip it right back to a single word file (containing "Você" -- that last character is ASCII #234), and compare the ASCII codes of the characters contained there in, I get the following:

- this one displays correctly in one's browser (i.e. was the copy/paste effort):
V => 86
o => 111
c => 99
Ã => 195
ª => 170

- but this one doesn't (i.e. SCPed) despite the ASCII code being correct:
V => 86
o => 111
c => 99
ê => 234

If necessary I'll write a perl script to translate the character combos to the correct HTML entities but I'd rather not. Is there some sly way I can get this to work?

Please help me find out the name of this song..

alice ayres — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 08:03:35 -0800

i heard a song in a pret-a-manger in NYC. they are very secretive about the playlist. please help me find it! google is not turning up the right song. so i am asking and hoping that someone is familiar with this song. there is a man singing in portuguese or spanish or a combination of the two, and the lyrics are OR they resemble:

"los besos del amor que te di" [SPANISH] OR
"os beijos do amor que" [PORTUGESE]

it is a slower song..it has a little bit of an old world feel to it!

i appreciate any help i can get!

(oh, btw it's on a muzak dvd (the kind that only plays in the special muzak player - if you know how to extract the playlist from a muzak dvd, that would help too!)

Learning Portuguese I think I'm learning Portuguese I really think so.

grapefruitmoon — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:17:59 -0800

Learning Portuguese, I think I'm learning Portuguese, I really think so. : Or at least, I'd like to be. I'm going to be making my first expedition to Portugal sometime this fall/winter and I would really like to learn some Portuguese first. I'm looking to pick up the basics (reading a menu, asking directions to the bathroom) and maybe hold down a basic conversation. Nothing too fancy.

I do speak two foreign languages, including French (which I'm told has a similar grammatical structure) so I'm not a language virgin. However, the last time I studied another language was in college, where I had those classes to go to and whatnot.

I live in Boston and I'd like to know if anyone has any experience with language classes around here (I'm not a student currently enrolled anywhere). Also, I'd really like to know about what "Teach Yourself Basic Portuguese In Your Sleep!" books/CDs or whatnot are actually useful and not just full of the "The monkey is on the branch" type information often found in intro level books.

Portuguese-specific programs/books are of course what I would most like to hear about, but I'm more than willing to check out general courses/books that helped you learn Swahili or Ancient Greek or whatever.

aganjú: 'cause I like to know what I'm singing all the time.

exlotuseater — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 01:24:19 -0800

Portuguese Song translation! "Aganjú" Google translate is failing me, I suppose I could try Babelfish, but I'd much rather have a native speaker translate it, as translation (particularly with respect to music and poetry) is an art, rather than a cut-and-dried process. (Written by Carlinhos Brown)

Te esperei na lua crescer
Ví cadeira boa sentei
Espirrei na tua gripei
Por ficar ao léo resfriei

Você me agradou me acertou
Me miseravou, me aqueceu
Me rasgou a roupa e valeu
E jurou conversas de deus

Aganjú
Aganjú
Aganjú
Aganjú
Aganjú
Aganjú

Quem sabe a labuta quitar
Sabe o trabalho que dá
Batalhar o pão e trazer
Para a casa o sobreviver

Encontrei na rua a questão
Cem por cento a falta de chão
Vou rezar prá nunca perder
Essa estrutura que é você

Aganjú
Aganjú
Aganjú
Aganjú
Aganjú
Aganjú

Where can I download a good Portuguese>>Eng dictionary

mateuslee — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 09:34:29 -0800

Where can I download a good free Port>>Eng dictionary? I had one on my previous computer, and I think it was free. It was a Michaelis dictionary and I think it was from UOL or associated with that site somehow. Even so, I couldn't find it. I need something to help with some particularly idiomatic and technical translations so babelfish won't do the trick. I know the site proz.com too, but I don't want to always post my questions especially if they would be easy to find in a dictionary. Any suggestions much appreciated!

Anyone know about obscure Portuguese snacks?

imperium — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 07:28:40 -0800

When in Portugal recently, we ate a snack food which looked like a bean, tasted like a bean, and which we were told, to our surprise, was some kind of sea produce. Any ideas? It began with a "b", I think, and had to have a very thin clear hull removed. Roughly square, rounded corners, with a small circular hole in the hull at one corner, and yellow-brown. Delicious, but possibly not vegetarian?! And purchased in the town of Tomar. The internet has not answered this for me.

Learning Portuguese

octomato — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 08:55:52 -0800

Searching for language podcast I am a native Spanish speaker and I wish to learn Portuguese. I've been looking online and can only find Podcasts in English. Are there any Podcasts that will teach me Portuguese with Spanish translations?

jip jop?

Skyanth — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 11:04:55 -0800

Any suggestions for spanish/portuguese hiphop/rap like you can hear in Gotan Project's Mi Confesión (Coxmoz) or Bajofondo Tango Club's Miles de Pasajeros? Similar arabic hiphop would be welcome as well.

Can you recommend any Portuguese music or spoken word audio resources?

handee — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 03:22:49 -0800

Can anyone recommend any music, audio blogs, podcasts or other audio resources in Portuguese? Starting from scratch, I'd like to learn a bit of Portuguese, and I've found that listening to background noise in a foreign language helps a lot with pronunciation. Bonus points for stuff particularly suitable for a complete beginner, or any other Portuguese resources for novice language learners.

learning Brazilian Portuguese in DC

jare2003 — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 12:35:06 -0800

After spending a week and a half in Rio, I´m interested in taking Brazilian Portuguese classes in DC this fall, and wondering which of the area´s language classes would be best. Most of the area´s universities GW, SAIS at Johns Hopkins, etcetera) offer Brazilian Portuguese classes, as does the Brazilian American Cultural Institute. Any suggestions for the best (and affordable) courses? (I also am conversationally fluent in Spanish). (Also, ideas for locating native speakers to practice with in the area are also appreciated)

What is this Portuguese E-mail?

Faint of Butt — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 06:17:17 -0800

What is this Portuguese E-mail? It's probably spam, but some help would be appreciated. So I woke up this morning and found this in my in-box:

Subj: Que vexame eh esse ...

Aff, eu sabia...

Dessa vez vc passou dos limites,
Eu te avisei pra naum deixar sua foto exposta na net.
Deu no que deu.... Olha ae o que fizeram ....
Muita gente está vendo esta foto, pede pra tirar issu.

Qualquer coisa me procure.... T+

E tem mais coisa O_o http://fotologbr.com/vexame/img2.jpg

Qro soh ver como vai fazer pra explicar issu em casa... :(

So I don't speak any Portuguese, and I'm not brave enough to follow the link. Can anyone tell me what I'm dealing with here? Much obliged.

Language learning tips!

anjamu — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 18:43:48 -0800

I'm at a stage where I need to memorize vocabulary in a foreign language, and I am looking for advice, tips & useful software. The more recommendations, the happier I'll be, especially as regards flashcard software and that sort of thing.

I'm also interested in radio broadcasts in Spanish, French & Portuguese, and possibly slowly-spoken Hindi. And in bilingual texts in the latter.

And memorization techniques, can't forget those.

Ooof.

Love letter in Portuguese

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 07:24:24 -0800

PortugueseFilter: So there is this smoking hot Brazilian in my writing discussion... and I'd like to give her a nice, anonymous note written in Portuguese, and I have a better mind than to use a free web translator. Any suggestions of what to say and how to say it?

Portuguese authors for the learner.

i_am_joe's_spleen — Mon, 24 Jan 2005 17:41:55 -0800

Portuguese authors for the learner. I am teaching myself Portuguese and want some enjoyable fiction to read for exercise. Any recommendations for authors with a simple prose style (a la Hemingway or Steinbeck)? Bonus points for Brazilian setting.

Portuguese pronunciation.

TiredStarling — Fri, 17 Dec 2004 23:55:47 -0800

Portuguese pronunciation. I'm a fan of Brazilian singer/songrwriter Jorge Ben. How do you pronunce his first name? I've heard "Yor-gay", "Hor-hay", "Zhorzhj", and plain ol' "George".

How Do You (Verbally, Not Telephonically) Call to the Citizens of Lao's People Democratic Republic?

guictx — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 00:38:05 -0800

How do you call, in portuguese, to the citizens of Lao People's Democratic Republic?

Finnish words for sex

TurkishGolds — Fri, 14 May 2004 14:51:47 -0800

I have been searching for a MetaFilter thread I remember reading about a year ago concerning (I think) words for sex in the Finnish language. As I remember, there were about seven words that don't quite translate into English for different types of encounters. Any help?
(Forgive me if this is the incorrect forum for this post) I googled MeFi and MeTa and I couldn't find it. It might not have been Finnish. If, perhaps, I'm totally insane and I was actually reading about this somewhere else entirely, does anyone know what I'm talking about?

How are Spanish and Portuguese different when it comes to grammar?

pealco — Sun, 28 Mar 2004 13:27:42 -0800

How are Spanish and Portuguese different when it comes to grammar?

I speak Spanish fluently and now want to to take up Brazilian Portuguese. From hearing my Brazilian friends speak, and generally understanding them pretty well, I figured that Spanish and Portuguese grammar (syntax) must be very similar, the only differences between the languages being vocabulary and pronunciation. How right am I? If there are syntactic differences, what are they?

Would any speakers of these languages care to comment?

Piri Piri chicken

MiguelCardoso — Thu, 26 Feb 2004 18:18:03 -0800

How Portuguese is Piri Piri chicken? I suspect it's almost universal. [More inside.] I've been comissioned to write an article, for a German magazine, on piri-piri.

But, despite all the usual references, I can't believe that a small country like mine, despite its many travels and encounters and the propaganda of chains like Nando's, is responsible for pairing chile-based sauce with roasted chicken... Any help will be much appreciated. Thank you!

Spanish (Portuguese?) translation needed.

anastasiav — Thu, 15 Jan 2004 13:24:34 -0800

Spanish (Portuguese?) Translation Needed, please [more inside...] Can someone who reads fluent Spanish please look at this website and tell me if they're actually trying to sell the items pictured, or if the items are just being advertised as 'for sale' in some kind of role-playing game or other fantasy/pretend scenario?

They're stealing images from a friends ecommerce site (as well as other ecomm sites around the web), and if they're just pretending to sell the items they're going to be a lot less harsh than if the website owner is actually trying to advertise the items as her own.

Web translation has given us the gist of the text on the site, but we're not getting a good enough with free translation services to know if this is real or pretend.