Morning of Carnival
Aldefina
Thu, 17/04/2014 - 12:16
Thank you muchly Chris!
As for the first suggestion: It was intentional. I decided to interpret it the way I understood the meaning. I added a comment.
As for the rest: I have never learned Portuguese. I've used my Spanish mostly plus some online dictionaries. I think usually it’s not too hard to understand the texts in Portuguese, though I’m afraid that sometimes one can probably be mislead.
A good example is a comparison between Polish and Czech. Though most of the words that sound closely mean the same, there are some words that have completely different meaning. E.g. “čerstvý” in Czech means “fresh, crisp”. Polish word “czerstwy” (pronounced the same way) means the opposite - “stale, not fresh”. It’s good to know when you want to buy a fresh bread.
Another example - a very bad this time - Polish word “szukam” (I look for”) means in Czech “I fuck” (“šukam”). If you say in Polish to a Czech “Szukam drogi” (I’m looking for the way”) he will understand “I fuck the drugs”, because the second word again doesn’t have the same meaning as in Polish. You can imagine what has happened when a Polish priest came to a monastery, wanted to find a bishop and asked in Polish (a true story).
I don’t know for sure, but I guess sometimes it may be the same in case of Spanish and Portuguese, hope not too often.
At least here it was clear what “manhã” meant. In Portuguese tomorrow is “amanhã”, so it’s not possible to make such a mistake like I did in Spanish with “mañana”.
BTW, do you know any examples when Portuguese words have different meaning than the closely sounding Spanish words? Or is it never the case?
Vigeland
Fri, 18/04/2014 - 05:08
You are welcome!
In my opinion, your translation of line 3 ("and my voice will last forever") is unjustifiably loose and doesn't match up with the next line "On its way it will always sing" (if the voice "lasts" rather than goes, what does the word "way" refer to?). I think the original line is a fine piece of poetry and its literal translation ("And my voice goes to eternity") works quite well in English. As I interpret it, this line means not that the singer's voice will last forever, but that it enters a higher dimension, the realm of true art.
About your question: Some "similarities" between Spanish and Portuguese can be misleading. For example, the Spanish words "no" (not), "apenas" (hardly) and "exquisito" (exquisite, sophisticated) are quite different in meaning from the Portuguese words "no" (em + o [article]), "apenas" (only) and "esquisito" (strange, weird).
Aldefina
Mon, 21/04/2014 - 12:27
Thanks again, Chris!
You have convinced me to change it. Usually I try to be very analytical.
Looks like this time I wasn’t.
To continue what I wrote about misleading similarities between languages, let me give you some funny examples of similar Russian and Polish words:
“Ikra” in Polish means “spawn”, but also “spirit full of energy” -> in Russian “икра” (pronounced the same way) means “caviar” -> in Polish it’s “kawior”, but in Russian “ковер” means “carpet” -> in Polish it’s “dywan”, but the Russian word “диван” means “couch” - in Polish it’s “kanapa”.
It was a pretty long misleading chain of similar words. I’m afraid it’s not possible to find something like that in any other languages.
Vigeland
Mon, 21/04/2014 - 17:47
You are welcome!
Usually I try to be very analytical.
Being analytical doesn't always work, especially when translating something really poetic, like this Brazilian classic. Some things will inevitably be lost in translation, but if a literal translation happens to work in the target language, I believe it should be preferred over the less literal ones.
Don Juan
Sat, 13/01/2018 - 21:32
Excellent work, Andrzej! I'd just suggest two things:
- 'E a minha voz vai até a eternidade': 'goes to' is correct, but this is a literal translation. It could be translated as 'reaches' (or even 'goes as far as')
- 'On its way it will always sing': you could consider translating it as 'It will always sing along its way'
By the way: the word 'Dás' should not have diacritics in the original lyrics. If written like that, it is a form of the verb 'dar' (to give) - so the line would mean 'It gives from the strings of my guitar'.
This is all I see for now. You did a good job here, congrats. It's also good to know that Julio sang in Portuguese :)
Aldefina
Sun, 14/01/2018 - 12:53
Muito obrigado, Juan! :)
I have used all your suggestions and corrected not needed accents in the original lyrics. I must have copied it from: http://www.letrasdemusicas.fm/julio-iglesias/manha-de-carnaval
In all other sources it was without accent and I believed it was a mistake. At least Chris understood it correctly - look at his first comment.
Julio Iglesias recorded many Portuguese songs - mostly covers, but at least there was one song that was written for him. I hope to finish its English, Spanish and Polish translations soon.
Copyright®: Andrzej Pałka.
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