Boas Festas! Season's Greetings! Felices Pascuas!

Expressão do Dia | Idiom of the day | Modismo del Día

Português: PÉ DE MEIA
English: NEST EGG
Español: BUEN COLCHÓN

Expressão do Dia | Idiom of the day | Modismo del Día

Português: Quem cala consente
English: Silence gives consent
Español: El que calla otorga

Expressão do Dia | Idiom of the day | Modismo del Día

Português: Deus ajuda a quem cedo madruga
English: The early bird catches the worm
Español: A quien madruga, Dios ayuda

Irregular Plural

Avaliação de Candidatos

Se a sua empresa necessita contratar ou promover um funcionário com base em  uma ou nas quatro habilidades linguísticas (escrita, leitura, compreensão e fala) em inglês, espanhol ou português - se estrangeiro, nós  podemos avaliar o conhecimento específico, domínio e fluência do idioma de candidatos através de testes escritos e/ou orais. 

Os testes são sempre confeccionados de acordo com as solicitações da empresa a fim de atender suas necessidades. Além de confeccionar, nós também aplicamos, corrigimos e entregamos um parecer  com os pontos fortes, fracos e que precisam ser melhorados em cada candidato.

Para mais informações sobre esse serviço ou para um orçamento grátis, clique aqui

RSVP BILÍNGUE

Independente do tamanho ou se é um evento pessoal ou comercial, nossas opções de serviço de RSVP são projetadas para caber no seu orçamento.

Nós forneceremos um número de telefone fixo e/ou email para colocar em seus convites. Nossas linhas estarão disponíveis 24 horas para receber as confirmações e, se solicitado, entrar em contato com o convidado para a confirmação de sua presença. 

Você será notificado imediatamente por email, sms, telefone ou, se preferir, através de um único relatório ao fim de cada dia.

Para mais informações sobre esse serviço ou para um orçamento grátis, clique aqui

BILINGUAL RSVP

No matter how big  or if it is a personal or a business event, our RSVP services are affordable and simple to fit you, and your busy event-planning schedule. Save the money you would normally spend on stamps and return envelopes, and use it to benefit you and your event.

We will provide you with a landline number and/or an email address to print on your invites. Our lines will be available 24 hours a day to take in confirmations or denials, and will notify you immediately via telephone, SMS, or we email you a Summary Report at the end of each business day.

For further information about this service or for a quote free of charge, please email us at info@brazukes.com

When to use A and AN

The Indefinite Articles an is used before a word that starts with a vowel sound. If it starts with a consonant sound, use a. Bear in mind that the key word here is SOUND: it does not matter whether the word starts with a vowel or a consonant, it is a question of whether it starts with a vowel or a consonant sound. 

Some examples:

I'll be there in an hour.
(As the 'h' in hour is silent, the word sounds like it is spelt 'our')

I always wanted to have a unicorn.
(unicorn is pronounced with a "y" sound at the beginning as though it were spelt "younicorn")

An SAS soldier.
(Although it is a consonant, the name of the letter 'S' is pronounced ess /ˈɛs/)

A one hour class.
(One is pronounced with a "w" sound at the beginning like it were spelt "wone")

EM Recife ou NO Recife?

O uso de artigo é obrigatório quando o nome do lugar tem origem em um acidente geográfico - por exemplo: o Rio de Janeiro e a Bahia. 

Assim, como o nome Recife vem de arrecife (uma formação rochosa submersa logo abaixo da superfície de águas oceânicas), deve-se usar o artigo: NO RECIFE.

Se mantiver ou se manter?

Folha de S. Paulo - Sábado, 25/AGO/2012 - Cotidiano
Clique aqui para ver no site da Folha

Quando a oração começa com SE ou QUANDO, usa-se o futuro do subjuntivo, que deriva do pretérito perfeito do indicativo. A conjugação da primeira pessoa do singular dos verbos nestes tempo e modo verbal é feita pela eliminação das duas últimas letras (sempre "am") da terceira pessoa do plural do pretérito perfeito.

Por ser derivado do verbo TER, para chegarmos à primeira pessoa do singular do verbo MANTER, conjugamos o verbo ter na terceira pessoa do plural do pretérito perfeito: TIVERAM. Eliminando as duas últimas letras, obtemos TIVER. Portanto, a forma correta do futuro do subjuntivo do verbo manter é MANTIVER.

FUTURO DO SUBJUNTIVO

quando eu mantiver
quando tu mantiveres
quando ele mantiver
quando nós mantivermos
quando vós mantiverdes
quando eles mantiverem

La importancia de los signos de puntuación

Uso do Acento Grave

A crase é a fusão da preposição a com o artigo definido feminino a e, por esta razão, o acento grave (a representação gráfica da crase) não é usado antes de palavras masculinas, verbos, pronomes pessoais (sujeito).

El Juego del Ahorcado

FORMAS DE TRATAMIENTO - El uso de Tú & Usted

Muchas lenguas tienen pronombres parecidos al “usted” español – vous, lei, você, … –, pero en cada una se usan de forma distinta. No hay reglas simples para decir si es preferible tutear (hablar a una persona de tú) o bien tratarla por “usted”. La decisión depende de varios factores:
- De la persona con quien se habla (edad, posición social, grado de confianza, oficio, etc.). 
La costumbre aconseja emplear “Usted” con personas mayores que el hablante, con las que tenemos poca confianza y, en el trabajo, con los superiores.

- De la procedencia geográfica de la persona que habla.
Existen diferencias entre unas zonas y otras de un mismo país. Por ejemplo: en España, en las zonas rurales de Andalucía se mantiene la tradición lingüística que señala el empleo de Doña o Don con personas de cierta edad y profesión. Por el contrario, en ciudades como Madrid y Barcelona es frecuente que, por ejemplo, un empleado tutee a su jefe o un alumno a su profesor de universidad.

Ante las dudas que surgen en el tratamiento, lo que hacen muchos españoles es empezar hablando de usted. Si la persona en cuestión prefiere que se la tutee, dará el permiso para pasar al “tú”: “Oye, si no te importa, prefiero que nos tuteemos” o bien, “Puedes tratarme de tú”, “Podemos tutearnos” o incluso “No me trates de Usted, que me haces sentirme viejo”. Otra posibilidad es preguntar abiertamente: “Perdone, no sé si debería tratarle de Usted o si prefiere que le hable de tú”.

Broma de la Semana | Spanish Joke of the Week

Untranslatability

There was a time when the ability to translate was simply thought to be an enhanced form of the ability to understand or read a foreign language. Thus, translation has never had the same recognition and respect that other professions do. Translation has constantly been underestimated as a profession. After all, as many people think, “if translation is just taking words from one language and finding the equivalent in the target language, how hard can it really be?” 

But, with this misconception about what translation really is, comes some questions: is it possible to remain entirely faithful to the text one translates? If so, are there equivalent words, phrases, and idioms in the target language to replace the ones in the source language? Having to face these tough decisions translators have become the villains in this story. The Italian language even has the expression “traduttore, traditore” - meaning “translator, traitor”. This phrase was first applied to the French by irate Italians who felt that many French-language translations of Dante Alighieri betrayed either the beauty or the accuracy of his work.

However, regardless of the 'popular belief', translation is not an easy task and involves much more than simply transferring words into another language. It requires research, a comprehensive understanding and command of both the source and target languages, cultural knowledge, and specialization on the topic one is translating. And even then, there are still inherent problems with the language itself that lend themselves to numerous interpretations and glaring mistakes. Even though, there are some phrases that are so connected to a cultural context that it is virtually impossible to provide an equivalent translation of the text that also bears the same meaning.

So what exactly is the translator’s job when dealing with these difficulties? It is a tough call to decide whether it is better to translate literally so as not to “betray” the original text but at the same time risk a lower quality translation, or decide whether it is better to find the closest alternative that makes sense in the target language but that may somewhat change the definition. Wordplay (such as a palindrome, paronomasia or spoonerisms), rhymes, and/or objects, actions, or concepts that don't exist in a culture or language might become a problem to translators. How does one translate the word SERENDIPITY into Portuguese? Or the word SAUDADE into English? Thus, for Eco (2003), 'translation is always a shift, not between two languages but between two cultures. A translator must take into account rules that are not strictly linguistic but, broadly speaking, cultural.' It is fair to say then that, when it comes to translation and language, in fact, translators don't translate words they translate what people do with words.

This is due to what in linguistics is called a lexical gap or lacuna. A lacuna, from the Latin meaning a hole or pit, refers to the absence of a word or idiomatic phrase in translation from one language to another (Janssen, 2012). Language is strongly entwined with culture and identity, ergo most of the untranslatable expressions are related to a culture’s conception of time, states of being and social relationships. When the source and the target languages do not share a particular common concept, a lacuna happens.

However, there are some techniques translators can use to overstep the aforementioned language barriers. Namely: 

• Adaptation, also known as free translation, is a translation procedure whereby the translator replaces a social, or cultural, reality in the source text with a corresponding reality in the target text; this new reality would be more usual to the audience of the target text. For example, in the Belgian comic book The Adventures of Tintin, Tintin's trusty canine sidekick Milou is translated as Snowy in English; likewise the detectives Dupond and Dupont become Thomson and Thompson in English. 
• Borrowing is a translation procedure whereby the translator uses a word or expression from the source text in the target text, i.e., dispenses with translation all together and adopts the foreign word as new vocabulary. Borrowings are normally printed in italics if they are not considered to have been naturalized in the target language. 
• Calque, or loan translation, is a form of borrowing from one language to another whereby the semantic components of a given term are literally translated into their equivalents in the borrowing language word by word. Because idioms, expressions or, occasionally, a word are literally translated into the target language, calquing often doesn't make much sense. 
• Compensation is another way to express the untranslatability of language conversion. In this translation artifice, the translator solves the problem of aspects of the source text that cannot take the same form in the target language by replacing these aspects with other elements or forms in the source text. For example, many languages of the world have different words where others only use one. For example, many languages have two forms of the second person pronoun (informal and formal). Hence, to translate a text from Spanish to English, that has retained the you form only, the translator may have to compensate by using a first name or nickname, or by using syntactic phrasing that are viewed as informal, such as I'm, you're, gonna, dontcha, etc. 
• Paraphrase, sometimes called periphrasis, is an effective way of expressing that which is not translatable in another language. It replaces a word or phrase in one language with a completely unequal word or phrase in the translation. But the outcome results in a similar meaning albeit with an entirely different wording. For example, the English idiom for death, “to kick the bucket,” is best translated into Portuguese by paraphrasing it into its own equivalent, “bater as botas.” With this technique, there is not only the attempt to connect a lexical gap, but also to bridge a cultural gap and find human commonality in different languages. 

Criticisms aside, translation is of the uttermost importance in today’s globalized scenario, where being able to express yourself in one or more languages has become a mandatory feature for most companies and individuals. And, as Goethe once said, “say what we may of the inadequacy of translation, yet the work is and will always be one of the weightiest and worthiest undertakings in the general concerns of the world.”

You speak Greek. You just don't know it.

The front cover of You speak Greek, You just don't know it, a book by Annie Stefanides (Ianos, 2010).

Como a localização faz diferença na internacionalização

Cada vez mais empresas começam comercializar seus produtos em outros países, mas nem todas contratam uma equipe de tradutores para evitar constrangimentos

Por sorte, a IKEA, cujos móveis têm nomes suecos nos mais de 40 países em que está presente, alguém percebeu a tempo que uma cama chamava-se Redalen, que em tailandês significa "preliminares sexuais".

De acordo com o Wall Street Journal, o trabalho dos tradutores contratados por IKEA evitou que seus clientes ficassem constrangidos no dia da grande inauguração de sua primeira loja na Tailândia, em Bangkok.

Redalen não era o único nome 'delicado' do catálogo. Entre outros, o vaso de plantas Jättebra soava como una palavra grosseira usada nesse país para referir-se a sexo, segundo o jornal americano.

Mas, infelizmente, nem sempre essas "bolas foras" são evitadas. Vejamos alguns outros casos célebres de nomes de produtos ou slogans comprometedores.

Pajero

Muitos hispanofalantes não gostariam de dirigir um carro chamado Pajero.

Por isso, o fabricante japonês Mitsubishi teve que mudar o nome de seu 4x4 quando o lançou pela primeira vez no mercado nos anos 80.

Nos Estados Unidos, na Espanha e na Índia é comercializado como Montero, mas ainda assim, alguns modelos importados circulam por estes países, fazendo com que seus motoristas passem vergonha.

A Mitshubishi inspirou-se no Leopardus Pajeros, um gato das pampas argentinas, para dar nome ao carro.

Voe Pelado

Um anuncio de rádio espantou muitos ouvintes na Florida em 1987, quando a companhia aérea Braniff propôs a eles "viajar en cuero"*.

A empresa anunciava seus assentos de couro para os passageiros da primeira classe e traduziu literalmente para o espanhol seu slogan em inglês "fly in leather".

Aquilo suposto erro entrou para a história como uma dos maiores "micos" da  história da publicidade.

Mas, como informou o correspondente da agência Associated Pressen em Miami, alguns publicitários da cidade do sul da Florida pensaram que a Braniff brincou intencionalmente com o duplo sentido.

*en cuero: Desnudo, sin llevar ropa alguna = pelado, nu

Resurreição

Reza a lenda que a Pepsi cometeu uma das maiores gafes publicitarias em Taiwan.

A multinacional americana lançou uma campanha publicitária global com o mesmo slogan traduzido a diferentes idiomas: "Pepsi Brings You Back to Life" (Pepsi o traz de volta à vida).

Mas, na tradução no mandarim que se fala em Taiwan, a mensagem assegurava que a bebida conseguiria ressuscitar ancestrais, uma ofensa em qualquer país oriental, onde o respeito aos antepassados é um valor fundamental.

Este erro é citado por muitos publicitários, que acrescentam que as vendas em Taiwan despencaram, mas isso nunca foi suficientemente corroborado. Entretanto, é verdade que a Pepsi nunca negou o fato.

Canibalismo

A cadeia de fast food Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) apostou com tudo no mercado chinês ao final dos anos 80.

KFC se adiantou a outros concorrentes em um momento em que muitos chineses ainda vestioam o uniforme azul dos tempos de Mao e a publicidade capitalista era una novidade.

Nesses primeiros momentos da nova era, deve ter assustando a muitos o slogan "Finger-lickin' Good" (algo como 'bom de chupar os dedos') que em chinês traduzia-se por: "comer bem os próprios dedos".

Apesar desse erro inicial, hoje, a KFC é a principal cadeia de fast food na China, a frente de outras empresas estrangeiras e locais.

Hilarious Homophones

Homophones are words that are pronounced the same way, but have completely different meanings. Do you know what I mean? No? Don’t worry; here are some fun examples of homophones!

1. Bore - a dull, repetitious, or uninteresting person, activity, or state

Boar - (also wild boar) a wild pig from which domestic pigs are descended.

2. Rapper – A rapper is a musician like Eminem, or Fifty Cent. They write lyrics and songs with rhyming words.

Wrapper - A wrapper is used to protect something from getting damaged. You can wrap something up if you want to protect it, or if you want to keep it secret from someone.

3. Swot – a person who studies very hard/ swot up - study intensively, as before an exam.

SWAT - (“Special Weapons And Tactics”) is a name for law enforcement units which use military-style light weapons and specialized tactics in high-risk operations.

4. Tiers -  series of rows or levels placed one above the other.

Tears – When you are upset, or feel pain, tears of water may come from your eyes.
E.g. Juan was so upset because his parents forgot to pick him up from school. When they found him he was crying in the playground – his face was red and wet.

5. Tune – a song or a melody.

Toon – An abreviation for the word ‘cartoon’

TRAVALÍNGUA

Há quatro quadros três e três quadros quatro.

Sendo que quatro destes quadros são quadrados,

um dos quadros quatro e três dos quadros três.

Os três quadros que não são quadrados,

são dois dos quadros quatro e um dos quadros três.

20 most commonly misspelt words in English

Which words do you think are most commonly misspelt in English? Write down five words you expect to be on the list at the end of this post.

What makes some English words difficult to spell? One source of difficulty is inconsistent pronunciation; many sound out ‘definately’ when they mean definitely (2). And comparatively few outside the Royal Shakespeare Company clearly enunciateseparate (1) – more typically the ‘A’ becomes an ‘E’. This problem is most glaring when (many) young people transcribe ‘could have’ as ‘could of’ or a lot (14) as ‘alot’.

In some cases it is an unexpected combination of letters containing few phonetic clues – bureaucracy (11) and manoeuvre (3) are examples here. In both these cases the spelling pattern is literally foreign; French, to be precise. Until comparatively recently a basic knowledge of French was assumed of every ‘educated’ English reader but most now would recognise the word entrepreneur (16) from business rather than the language from which it originates. The same applies to those other providers of hidden spelling rules: Latin and Greek.

An understandable uncertainty as to when ‘C’ rather than ‘S’ applies lies behind consensus (6) supersede (12) conscience (19) and unnecessary (7). There’s a similar confusion over what creates the ‘CK’ sound in liquefy (18), added to the confusion of an ‘E’ in place of the usual ‘I’.

By far the most difficult hurdle for any speller, however, is the dreaded ‘double letter’ dilemma. Two ‘N’s or one? Does two ‘C’s look right? Unnecessary causes double-trouble here to add to its ‘C’ or ‘S’ issues.

Spell-check/Spellcheck (?) will help, of course, which is why many young people delegate the job entirely to that marvellous (two ‘L’s in British English) programme (one ‘M’ and drop the ‘E’ in the US or amongst techies).

Sadly, technology has not yet produced a spell-checking pen for that handwritten application form.

1. Separate 

2. Definitely 

3. Manoeuvre 

4. Embarrass 

5. Occurrence 

6. Consensus 

7. Unnecessary 

8. Acceptable 

9. Broccoli

10. Referred 

11. Bureaucracy 

12. Supersede 

13. Questionnaire 

14. Connoisseur 

15. A lot 

16. Entrepreneur 

17. Particularly 

18.Liquefy 

19. Conscience 

20. Parallel

Source: poll from OnePoll quoted in Daily Telegraph 06 August 2010

TRANSLATION AND INTERPRETING SERVICES

In today’s globalized business scenario, being able to express yourself in one or more foreign languages has become a mandatory feature for most companies and individuals. In other words, the success of your business depends on being able to communicate with international and multicultural customers and markets in their own language.

You can put your trust in BRAZUKES to connect your company to the world by translating websites, documents, emails, general texts, marketing materials, business cards, educational texts, product user's manuals, employee handbooks, sales literature and  much more. But if you are an individual, we can translate your rèsumè (CV), diploma, marriage certificate, birth certificate, letters or any other kind of personal material.

Our services are, first and foremost, client driven. Our focus is not only on quality and deadlines, but also on customer satisfaction, as we aim for long-term cooperation to become an integral part of our customers' international expansion. Therefore those who do regular business with us benefit from our rates for frequent clients.

For us, every language is a local language and we have excellent resources, experienced bilingual experts to give you the edge on the language solutions services you or your company needs. BRAZUKES is supported by professionals having expertise in various domains. This extensive team are always ready to deliver the best services and to provide the best language solutions possible to our clients that fulfill their needs and exceed their expectations.

In 10 years of experience, we've successfully delivered translation and provided interpreting ranging from conferences, symposiums, seminars and forums to company visits, and business meetings, offered a wide variety to many clients including government, multinational and non-profit organizations in almost every industry.   We are proud of the promptness and high standard in which our translations and proofreadings are completed. The documents are always delivered exactly in the format, layout and font that you want. We can accept tasks after working hours as well as during the weekends and bank holidays.

Whether you are a company and need a document, business cards, a contract or a website translated or an individual and need a certificate, a diploma or your CV translated, we are ready to deliver accurate, reliable and affordable services.

Expressão do Dia | Idiom of the day | Modismo del Día

PORTUGUÊS: sem pé nem cabeça
ENGLISH: flimflam
SPANISH: chorrada

Teste seu nível de Espanhol | Test your Spanish

The power of Punctuation

An English teacher asked his students to punctuate the following sentence:

A WOMAN WITHOUT HER MAN IS NOTHING

All the males in the class wrote:

A WOMAN, WITHOUT HER MAN, IS NOTHING.

All the femails in the class wrote:

A WOMAN: WITHOUT HER, MAN IS NOTHING.

Expressão do Dia | Idiom of the day | Modismo del Día

PORTUGUÊS: pé frio
ENGLISH: jinx
ESPAÑOL: mala pata

El chiste de la semana

Metonymy: when a trademark becomes a noun

A generic trademark is a trademark or brand name that has become a synonymous of a general class of product or service. Brand names become generic when they are so commonly used that people associate them with every product of that kind regardless of who manufactures it or who trademarked the name. In general, people take a top-of-mind brand and use it to refer to all similar products in the category as it's part of human nature to make things simple. Using a generic trademark to refer to the general form of what that trademark represents a form of metonymy.

Metonymies are frequently used in literature and in everyday speech. By definition , Metonymy entails using the name of one particular thing being replaced by the name of something that is closely associated with it. Metonymy, in Greek, literally means 'a change of name'. Thus, it actually stands for a transmutation or a misnomer. This figure of speech helps to indirectly refer to something. Sometimes a metonymy is chosen because it is a well-known characteristic of the word.

Many of the items we use every day, like zippers (originally a trademark of B.F. Goodrich) and escalators (originally a trademark of Otis Elevator Company), were once brand names. "Laundromat", for example, was a trademarked name created by the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company in the 1930s. Even heroin was a brand name (originally a trademark of Bayer AG).

Here are some trademarked names that are often used as generic terms today:

You might think you’re riding around on a Jet Ski, but if it’s not made by Kawasaki Heavy Industries, it’s just a personal watercraft.

Bubble Wrap is probably the greatest contribution made to our society by Sealed Air Corporation, which they rightly trademarked.

The term Onesies, referring to infant bodysuits, is owned by Gerber Childrenswear. According to their website, the trademark is aggressively enforced. (Twosies and Funzies also belong to Gerber.)

Jacuzzi is not only brand of hot tubs and bathtubs; they also make mattresses and toilets.

The Crockpot, a brand name for the slow cooker, was originally developed as a beanery appliance.

Fluffernutter is a registered trademark of the makers of Marshmallow Fluff, Durkee-Mower, Inc.

Frisbee is currently owned by WHAM-O, but a legal battle to make this word and several others generic is underway. In 2010, Manley Toys Ltd. challenged WHAM-O, arguing that the terms Frisbee, Hula Hoop and Slip’n Slide have already become generic in the public lexicon. Personally, I think Ultimate Flying Disc sounds cooler than Ultimate Frisbee anyway.

Chapstick is a brand name of lip balm produced by Pfizer. In the event that you find yourself enjoying this product too much, websites dedicated to helping Chapstick addicts are available.

The perfect time to remind a friend or family member that Kleenex is a brand name for a tissue is right when they are desperately begging you to hand them one.

Ping-Pong was trademarked in 1901 as a brand of table tennis products named for the sound the ball makes when it hits the table.

On their website, Microsoft suggests that unless you are using their software, your PowerPoint is a “presentation graphics program.”

When Q-tips were originally released, they were called Baby Gays. The name was changed to Q-tips—the “Q” standing for quality—in 1926. Although they have changed hands several times since then, Unilever owns the brand today.

Two hockey-player brothers designed Rollerblade inline skates from a pair of old roller skates in 1979. They were the only brand of inline skates until the mid-eighties, when several other companies emerged.

According to legend, Scotch tape earned its name when a frustrated customer told a 3M scientist to “take it back to your Scotch bosses and tell them to put more adhesive on it.” Today, Scotch “Magic Tape” is only manufactured in one place in the world: Hutchinson, Minn.

The permanent marker was invented in 1956, but the Sharpie wasn’t introduced until 1964. Today, the products are almost synonymous with one another.

In 1899, Pearle Wait sold his recipe for Jell-O to Orator Woodward for $450. In 1902, sales for the product were around $250,000. Today, the gelatin dessert is owned by Kraft.

Tupperware is a brand that got its name from its creator, Earle Silas Tupper.

George de Mastreal invented Velcro when he discovered that burrs stuck to matted dog fur. Today, it is the world’s most prominent brand of hook and loop fasteners.

Weed Eater is owned by Husqvarna Outdoor Products.

Don’t ask BIC what’s in their line of correction fluid. The exact ingredients of Wite-out are confidential.

Johnson & Johnson manufactured gauze and adhesive tape separately until Earle Dickinson had the idea to combine them to create Band-Aids for his accident-prone wife.

The Zamboni is an ice resurfacer named after its inventor, Frank Zamboni.

TASER is a trademark of TASER International, and shouldn’t technically be used as a verb. To be fair, “Don’t hit me with that electroshock weapon, bro!” is probably hard to shout under duress. Bonus fact: TASER is an acronym. It stands for “Thomas A. Swift’s Electric Rifle.”

Strategic marketing efforts thrust the Rollerblade brandname high into public awareness Skating enthusiasts began using Rollerblade as a generic term for all in-line skates, putting the trademark in jeopardy.

Dry Ice was trademarked by the first company to sell dry ice.

The British use the word Hoover to mean any vacuum cleaner.

Aspirin, originally a trademark of Bayer AG.

Kerosene, originally a trademark of Abraham Gesner.

Phillips-head screw, named after Henry F. Phillips.

Pogo for the toy Pogo stick.

Thermos, originally a trademark of Thermos GmbH.

Yo-yo, originally a trademark of Duncan Yo-Yo Company.

However, Linoleum, coined by its inventor and patent holder Frederick Walton, is the first product term ruled by a court as generic, it was never used as a trademark.

Tongue Twister

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.

If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,

Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

If you want a decent return on your investment the best language to learn is Brazilian Portuguese...

Some lunatics learn languages for fun. The rest of us are looking for a decent return on our investment. That means choosing a language with plenty of native speakers. One spoken by people worth talking to, in a place worth visiting. One with close relatives, so you have a head start with your third language. One not so distant from English that you give up.

There really is only one rational choice: Brazilian Portuguese. Brazil is big (190m residents; half a continent). Its economic prospects are bright. São Paulo is Latin America’s business capital. No other country has flora and fauna more varied and beautiful. It is home to the world’s largest standing forest, the Amazon. The weather is great and so are the beaches. The people are friendly, and shameless white liars. You’ll be told “Your Portuguese is wonderful!” many times before it is true.

You won’t need a new alphabet or much new grammar, though you may find the language addicted to declensions and unduly fond of the subjunctive. You’ll learn hundreds of words without effort (azul means blue, verde means green) and be able to guess entire sentences (O sistema bancário é muito forte: the banking system is very strong). With new pronunciation and a few new words you’ll get around in Portugal and parts of Africa. If you speak Spanish, French or Italian, you’ll find half the work is already done — and if not, why not try? With Portuguese under your belt you’ll fly along.

Best of all, you’ll stand out. Only about 10m Brazilians have reasonable English, and far more Anglophones speak French or Spanish than Portuguese, of any flavour. I did not choose this language; it was thrust on me by the offer of a job in São Paulo. But when I think of my sons, now ten and five, one day being able to write “fluent Brazilian Portuguese” on their CVs, I feel a little smug.

Helen Joyce is The Economist's São Paulo correspondent

Expressão do Dia | Idiom of the day | Modismo del Día

Português: ESTRAGA-PRAZERES

English: WET BLANKET 

Español: AGUAFIESTAS.

Procurando por um curso de idiomas?

Hoje em dia, por exigência do mercado, é imprescindível que um profissional qualificado fale fluentemente um segundo ou, até mesmo, um terceiro idioma. 

Em vista disso e preocupados em atender àqueles que buscam tal diferencial, nós propomos o ensino da língua estrangeira com aulas centradas no aluno, o que motiva o aprendizado de forma natural. 

Nosso método de ensino é holístico, ou seja, utilizamos diferentes metodologias a fim de atender às necessidades, às expectativas e, principalmente, à realidade de cada aluno. Porque diferente da maioria das escolas de idiomas onde é o aluno que tem que adaptar-se ao método, visamos adaptar o método ao aluno. 

Utilizamos uma abordagem flexível ao plano de aulas, que é feito sob medida priorizando os interesses específicos de cada aluno e situações reais do cotidiano, para que, em um trabalho conjunto com o professor, possamos alcançar os objetivos do aluno. 

As aulas - presenciais ou via Skype - de Inglês, Espanhol ou Português para Estrangeiros são lecionadas por professores com experiência em diversos cursos de idiomas e vivência internacional. 

Aprender um idioma conosco é muito mais do que aprender outra língua. O aluno é preparado para alcançar sucesso pessoal e profissional e, acima de tudo, é preparado para o mundo. 

Fonética y Fonología Española

Fonética y fonología son ramas de la Lingüística General encargadas de estudiar los sonidos de una lengua.

La fonética los estudia describiendo sus diferencias articulatorias o acústicas mientras que la fonología se encarga de estudiar los fonemas de dicha lengua. Siendo fonemas cada uno de los modelos ideales de los sonidos que pronunciamos, que al oponerse o diferenciarse entre sí, sirven para formar o distinguir signos lingüísticos. Así que la fonética es la que abarca un campo mayor de actuación que el de la fonología.

En la primera hay una base meramente acústica, mientras que en la segunda se tiende a considerar el imagen mental de lo que percibimos.

El sistema fonológico español está formado por los 24 fonemas que componen la lengua castellana. Los sonidos del habla serían realizaciones concretas de estos fonemas. El sistema para identificar fonemas consiste en sustituir uno de ellos por otro en idéntico contexto. Si esta situación da lugar a palabras con significado distinto estamos ante dos fonemas diferentes.

Cada fonema se define por una serie de rasgos comunes (redundantes) propios que lo hace distinto de los demás. Sin embargo, lo que permite diferenciar unos fonemas de otros son los rasgos pertinentes (exclusivos). 

Por los rasgos redundantes [p] [b] son labiales. Por al menos un rasgo exclusivo que le diferencia de otros fonemas, [p] es sorda y [b] es sonora.

De este modo se establecen las llamadas “oposiciones fonológicas” que caracterizan el sistema de la lengua. Entre éstas se destacan las oposiciones neutralizables (neutralización).

En castellano sólo existen cinco vocales: i (inicial cerrada), u (final cerrada), e (media inicial central), o (media final central) y a (central abierta). Las vocales /a/, /e/, y /o/ son las llamadas vocales fuertes o abiertas, mientras que las vocales /i/ y /u/ son llamadas vocales débiles o cerradas..

Cuanto a eso, dice Alfredo Maceira Rodrigues:

El cuadro de las vocales en portugués. En portugués hay vocales orales y nasales. La vía oral [o] y [e] en posición tónica, que pueden ser abiertas o cerradas. Estrictamente se clasifica en abierta solamente la [a], la más baja de las vocales. La [i] y la [u] fonemas vocálicos y altos, la [e], la [o] [, además de  la realización de una [a] cerrada, más común en el cuadro:  Portugal. Por lo tanto, en el portugués de Brasil existen 7 vocales orales  y cinco vocales nasales. Total: 12 fonemas vocálicos en posición tónica. En posición átona no existen  vocales abiertas y posición átona final, el cuadro de las vocales en portugués, se reduce a tres fonemas vocálicos: a, i y u porque la e y la o cerradas  quedan reducidas respectivamente a la a, la i y la u: la piel['peli], dedo ['dedu].

El cuadro vocálico español es muy simple. Consta de sólo cinco fonemas: No hay en español  vocales abiertas con distinción  fonológica, aunque foneticamente haya  realizaciones con mayor o menor apertura vocálica. Los fonemas vocálicos abiertos vienen desde el latín vulgar – se mantuvieron  en portugués, pero se convirtieron en diptongos en  español: Petra>piedra (esp) piedra; forte> forte(esp) Fuerte. El  mismo cuadro  vocálico se mantiene en posición átona, pues no hay elevación vocálica ni siquiera en la posición final: leche [´letfe], dedo [´dedo]. La 'nasalización' de las vocales tampoco se produce en español sino por el valor fonológico. 

Al encuentro de una vocal débil y una fuerte en una sola sílaba formando una sola vocal llamamos diptongo. Los triptongos se forman cuando hay tres vocales juntas y siempre que la primera y la tercera sean débiles y la segunda sea fuerte.

Se llama hiato al encuentro de vocales sin formar diptongo o triptongo. También se forma hiato cuando, en un diptongo, el acento tónico cae en la vocal débil. En estos casos, el diptongo se deshace y se transforma en hiato.

Cuanto a la estructura verbal, el verbo español cuenta con morfemas (la menor unidad gramatical que se pode identificar) que le permiten expresar siete conceptos (o accidentes) gramaticales diferentes: el tema, la voz, el modo, el aspecto, el tiempo, la persona y el número.

Así como en portugués, la lengua española comparte los mismos aspectos gramaticales:  el tema (es la vocal que define el infinitivo), la voz (activa o pasiva); el modo (indicativo, subjuntivo y imperativo), el tiempo (presente, pasado y futuro), la persona (1ª persona – el hablante, la persona que habla;  2ª persona - el receptor, la persona para quien se habla y 3ª persona – el objeto, la persona o cosa de quien se habla) y el numero (singular o plural). De los siete accidentes, sólo uno – el aspecto – no se asemeja al portugués.

En lingüística, el aspecto gramatical es la propiedad que expresa el desarrollo interno de una acción verbal. Se trata de una categoría gramatical que expresa si el verbo ha concluido o no al momento de la enunciación.

Es importante diferenciar entre el aspecto gramatical y el tiempo. Éste señala el momento  que ocurre algo en relación a todo lo demás. El aspecto, en cambio, es el tiempo interno de la acción, la fase de desarrollo o la modificación de la misma.

Por lo que es el aspecto gramatical, en el español hablado en Sudamérica no se utiliza muy a menudo, por ejemplo, el pretérito perfecto compuesto (Hoy me he despertado tarde). Dan preferencia de uso al pretérito indefinido incluso para describir acciones recientes en el tiempo (Hoy me desperté tarde).

Por lo tanto, al aprender un nuevo idioma – una segunda lengua (L2) – se nos deparamos  con fonemas inexistentes en el idioma materno (L1), lo que hace con que uno se obligue a aprender a articular algunos sonidos totalmente nuevos.

Los conocimientos de fonética pueden ayudar en este punto. Por ejemplo, el conocimiento exacto del punto de articulación del fonema /θ/, en español (zapato), ayudará a un hablante que tenga el portugués como L1 a pronunciarlo correctamente.

Tradicionalmente, la enseñanza de idiomas no ha tomado en consideración estos dos aspectos inherentes a cada lengua. En efecto, cada lengua suele tener sus propios patrones de entonación, que varían de idioma a idioma.

Una vez establecido el punto de articulación de cada fonema, este conocimiento se puede aplicar a la enseñanza de la correcta articulación de éstos. Así, se puede enseñar la correcta articulación de los fonemas vibrantes a las personas que no pueden articularlos al hablar. Igualmente, se pueden tratar diversas disyunciones del habla provocadas por enfermedades físicas o mentales.

Sin embargo, el español y el portugués, aunque teniendo un núcleo común una lengua románica, difieren en todos sus aspectos, desde el fonético-fonológico al léxico, sin olvidar algunas diferencias morfológicas y sintácticas. No hay duda de que para una comprensión sencilla, especialmente el idioma escrito, la similitud puede ayudar, empero, con el objeto de aprendizaje como L2, la facilidad puede que sea más aparente que real. 

La adquisición de un lenguaje similar al estudio de la lengua y requiere mucha dedicación, como cualquier otro idioma extranjero dado que el conocimiento en profundidad de la lengua y su correcta expresión escrita facilita la comunicación.