Hi, I’m Katrina, and I’m one of the Language Specialists working in the PT>EN language pair. Since completing my studies in the UK in 2016, I’ve lived in New Zealand, Turkey, Northern Ireland and Hungary, and since none of these countries is Portuguese-speaking, I wanted to share some ideas about staying in contact with a language without living in a country where it is spoken.
But first of all, why should we do this?
As well as being a worthwhile goal in itself, keeping a good command of a source language is useful in the sense that you might need to use it actively when corresponding with clients and colleagues. Over and above that, having a good knowledge of your source language will help you as a translator, both through enabling you to capture important cultural nuances and through providing you with a better understanding of how words function in their context, which should make it easier to avoid creating literal-sounding translations.
If you learned Portuguese as a foreign language, you’ll probably already be aware of the fact that despite being one of the world’s most spoken languages and having an incredible cultural impact through the many countries in which it is spoken, Portuguese is somewhat under-resourced as a foreign language, in the sense that there are far fewer materials available for self-study than would be the case for some of the other major world languages, such as Spanish. However, if you use the internet to your advantage then you’ll find many opportunities for staying in contact with the language.
Read on for some tips on maintaining your Portuguese knowledge, no matter where you live!
Firstly, if you don’t subscribe to a streaming service already, it’s well worth doing so even if for the sole purpose of watching TV series in Portuguese. Not only is there a wealth of quality entertainment out there, but you can also choose the level of exposure that you feel comfortable with and use the subtitles in your language or in Portuguese (or choose no subtitles). You could also keep up an auditory familiarity with Portuguese by listening to songs or podcasts, even if it’s only in the background while you’re occupied with other activities.
As far as possible, try to connect with Portuguese-speaking expat communities in your country. Depending on where you live, there could be a well-established community already, with their own social hubs, shops and services. If you’re not aware of where to find these, try looking for expat groups on Facebook. Meetup and other similar social networking sites are also great for finding out about language exchanges and other language-related cultural events.
Read the news from somewhere in the Portuguese-speaking world (or ideally, from several different parts of it). Look out for flash sales on online newspaper subscriptions, or see whether you can gain access to Portuguese-language newspapers through your local library or university. Some cultural institutions, such as Instituto Camões, have reading materials that you can consult online too.
Try to find a way of using Portuguese in a professional context, whether through providing language services such as translation, or through otherwise using the language in the work that you do (such as corresponding with Portuguese-speaking colleagues or clients). No matter how much we love learning a language, the truth is that it’s always easier to keep our skills up to speed when we have to use it for work purposes.
And lastly, on that same professional note, take advantage of the resources that Gengo has provided for translators, some which are listed at the end of this article. In particular, the guides to avoiding literal translation (in English) and common errors (in Portuguese) will help you get a feel for some of the traps to avoid when working between these two languages.
It’s also well worth reading the LS-led posts about translating from English to Portuguese, which are available in the Portuguese forum, since in addition to being extremely well-written, they also provide an invaluable perspective on challenges involved in translating in the opposite direction, and this will better inform your translation into English.
Have you struggled to keep up with Portuguese while living in a country where it’s not spoken? Do you have a favorite book or Netflix series that you’d love to share with the community? Tell us all about it in the comments, and let’s stick together as internationally-minded fans of Portuguese!
Useful resources:
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