Falsos amigos

[Bueller]

Originally posted by librahombre:
A little about me...so I guess you can say I am a gringo muy verde.

Librahombre (¿Hombrelibre?), welcome to the board. Since you are studying Spanish, let me explain the concepts of falsos amigos, or false friends, and calcos, or overly-direct translations. It is easy to assume that a Spanish word that looks more or less like a familiar English word must mean the same thing. For example, decepción must mean "deception"-- easy, right? Actually, it means "disappointment", thus the term falso amigo. There are falsos amigos between Spanish and other Latin-derived languages, too, such as the word propina, which means "gratuity" in Spanish but "bribe" in Portuguese.
A calco is an overly-direct translation of a word or term. To use an example from the Clave dictionary, "balonvolea" is a calco of our word "volleyball".
Hmmm...thinking out loud here...having said all this, I don't know if "gringo muy verde" is a falso amigo or a calco, or something else (suggestions welcome). However, getting to my point, hombre verde is slang for "pervert" or "lecher" in Spanish, which is probably not what you meant. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[LibraHombre]

you are correct Beuller...it was a play on words in english of course, since I am a rookie..I am a green amigo, defintely not an hombre verde. As far as Librahombre...my zodiac sign is Libra..although adjectives in spanish usually go after nouns like my sign I am striking a balance between my native language and the idioma nuevo I am trying to learn.

[LastLion]

such as the word propina, which means "gratuity" in Spanish but "bribe" in Portuguese.

Librahombre

Also when you are bribing someone in Spanish it is better to say, "aqui es una propina para ti!" Meaning; you are tipping him for his help rather than say, "aqui esta algun dinero de soborno para usted!" meaning here is bribe money for you!

Get my drift! These are definitely spanish phrases you may need! LOL!!!

[LibraHombre]

Thanks for the tip lastlion its good to get all this advice from you vets

[Clay]

Yes I agree but if you don,t know the language inside & out, trying to bribe a cop could get you incarcerated. Going to jail down there is not a pretty sight.

You will also have noted that some confusion can sometimes arise between speakers of different varieties of the same language. I experienced this recently in Lisbon.

There was a lad from Brazil staying at my hotel who was fortunate enough to be travelling with three fine-looking wenches from his home country.

One evening he sat down to dinner alone, so I enquired about his comely companions in my most polished European Portuguese:

--Onde estao as raparigas?

I knew immediately that I had "put my foot in it", as my interlocutor's usually cheery face quickly turned red with anger. It seems that one should never refer to a Brazilian lady as a rapariga (which means nothing more than "young lady" in Portugal) unless she happens to be employed in a disorderly house.

This unfortunate misunderstanding was "smoothed over" by a Portuguese philologist who happened to be sharing the table with us and had overheard this most unfortunate linguistic faux pas.

We all had a good laugh over the matter (over a bottle of vintage port that had appeared out of nowhere) once it became clear that I had meant no offence.

I now use moça, whether conversing with Brazilians or Portuguese. LOL!

rapariga 1. jovem do sexo feminino; mulher nova; adolescente; moça; 2. criança do sexo feminino; menina 3. [Brasil] [pej.] amante, 4. [Brasil] [pej.]prostituta (De origem obscura)

[Bueller]

Argh, then you'll get in trouble with certain oversensitive types that find "moça" and "moço" demeaning. I tangled with a black guy on PL or LWL last year who had taken offense at being addressed as "moço" in the Northeast of Brazil, interpreting it as a Portuguese form of "boy" in the supercilious sense. I heard "moço" and "moça" used all the time as a way of addressing strangers in Florianópolis, with no offense meant or taken. "Garota" or "garoto" is harder on my ear, but safer than "moço" or "moça" when refering to a third person.

Originally posted by Bueller:
"Garota" or "garoto" is harder on my ear, but safer than "moço" or "moça" when refering to a third person.

So many pitfalls! Thanks for the heads-up.

[NunoEFSilva]

Originally posted by Ekdog:
...I enquired about his comely companions in my most polished European Portuguese:
--Onde estão as Raparigas?

Do not be shocked by that one!

I'm a Portuguese myself and in my first voyage to Brazil (many years ago) I myself fell for that same trap!

'Rapariga' means (in EuroPortuguese) just the feminine of 'rapaz' (lad, boy), which is the same in Brazil - but 'rapariga' means 'woman of ill repute' or 'street prostitute' in Brazil.

There are many such pitfalls in Brazilian Portuguese, and aside from checking a Dictionary at every word, one should open one's ears and shut one's mouth...

"I'm a Portuguese myself and in my first voyage to Brazil (many years ago) I myself fell for that same trap!"

LOL! Now I don't feel so bad about it!