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’