English

Both false friends and false cognates can result in unquestionable and unforgivable translation errors. A compiled list of such linguistic interferences may not always be handy if you do not command both source and target languages.

An English native speaker, with a reasonable command of Portuguese, never hesitated to say “absolutely!” whenever he wanted to emphatically express complete agreement with something.

During a visit to Brazil, he loved it here, and decided to stay. Translation was his first attempt to make a living, but little did he know that it would take more than a reasonable command of Portuguese. Relying on his Portuguese speaking skills, he ventured to go for a job interview, in Portuguese, with a renowned, quality-demanding translator, whose first question was:

- “Você domina o português?”; without hesitation, he answered:

- “Absolutamente!”

Poor him! That was the first and last question. The interviewing translator kindly responded :

- “I’m not giving you this job, and I’ll tell you why. Unlike the English “absolutely”, “absolutamente” has a negative meaning. You just told me - and proved – that you do not command Portuguese.

If he had gone to Portugal, however, he might have taken the job. Portuguese spoken in Portugal accepts “absolutamente” in an affirmative context.

This taught him a lesson, and should teach us all. When translating “absolutely” into Brazilian Portuguese, use “claro que sim!”, “com certeza!”, “certamente!” or any other word that expresses what it really means. See definition of “absolutely” at Dictionary.com.

I’m sure you know a number of ‘tricky words’ in Portuguese in contrast with English, and vice-versa. Feel free to add your contributions to the Comentários section below.