|
|
Brazilian and European Portuguese are
very different and may be almost unintelligible for less educated
speakers of the two countries. The spoken language is so different,
European Portuguese films are sometimes shown with subtitles in
Brazil. The written language shows the influence of 500 years of
separate development and the incorporation of African and American
words in the Brazilian dialect.
The differences are most noticeable in engineering translations. Words for most modern technical objects were coined from English sources in Brazil, but from French sources in Portugal.
In Portugal, crosswalk is "Passadeira
de peões". In Brazil, this expression means "a woman who irons
clothing for cowboys". Crosswalk is "faixa de pedestres".
In Brazil, most computer terms were
not translated from English. Thus, mouse is ..."mouse". In Portugal,
the word "rato" is used.
Written Portuguese in the former Portuguese
colonies (Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé
and Príncipe) is basically the same as in Portugal.
Needless to say, the two dialects are
not interchangeable. Make sure you know which one you need!
|
