Different Tones of Christmas

Sleep for ten nights and Christmas is here! This means all things I've grown up knowing: Rudolph, pine tree, carols, Santa, goodies and gifts in a sock, snow...! Well, the latter is certainly only true if one lives above the equatorial line... nearer the North Pole for a matter of precision. I live in a tropical country in the Northern Hemisphere (N.H.), and so have never experienced snow myself ever! I'm ignorant of it. The idea of going to a cold place, to see firsthand falling snow, is exciting! If I travel to one in the Northern Hemisphere, it'll be in December for sure. What about a travel to a cold S.H. destination in the same month? I wouldn't see any snow! For the S.H. world is having a "red" Christmas. The meaning of "red" in this context is one of red being a warm color, and hasn't something to do with anger or emotions. So, just like the autumn leaves falling on the slowly freezing ground, Christmas, too, in a "whole" world perspective, is colorful! It's not only a celebration that people from the cold N.H. countries associate with that gloomy, sad season when things all around turns monochrome, black and white. For a few people "on the opposite pole of the magnet" have it during the season when it's bright and everyone seems to be busy moving, going to the beach etc. But why is it every time I bought Christmas cards or tags from a store, I would see a snowman, polar bears, snow flakes? Perhaps the world hasn't realized the two shades of Christmas yet. A beach scene on a card or tag, with Santa in swimming trunks and sunglasses enjoying some lemonade? Perhaps...
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É só dormir dez noites e o Natal está aqui! Isto quer dizer tudo que aprendi enquanto engrandecia: Rudolph, pinho, cânticos, Papai Noel, guloseimas e presentes metidos numa meia, oooh e neve também...! Bom, decerto o último na lista apenas é verdade se a gente viva acima da linha equatorial... mais perto do Polo Norte para ser mais preciso. Moro num país tropical do Hemisfério Norte (N.H.), portanto nunca experienciei neve mesmo! Estou ignorante disso. A idéia de ir a um lugar frio, a fim de poder ver diretamente a neve caindo, é emocionante! Se eu for para um desses do Hemisfério Norte, a viagem será certamente no dezembro. Que tal uma viagem para um do H.S. no mesmo mês? Eu não veria neve alguma! Pois o mundo do H.S. está tendo um Natal "vemelho". O sentido do "vermelho" neste contexto é o do vermelho sendo uma cor quente e não tem a ver com a raiva ou emoções. Então, assim como as folhas de outono que caem no solo congelando-se devagar, numa perspectiva dum mundo "inteiro", o Natal também é colorido! Ele não é só uma celebração que a gente do frio H.S. ligam com aquela estação escura e triste quando tudo em redor se tornem preto em blanco, monocromático. Porque a gente "do outro polo do ímã" celebram-no durante a época do sol quando toda a gente parece estar ocupada, indo para a praia etc. Mas por que é que cada vez eu comprasse cartões de Natal e etiquetas para presentes natalinos, eu me depararia com um boneco de neve, ursos polares, flocos de neve neles? Talvez o mundo não perceba os dois tons do Natal ainda. Que tal ver uma cena de praia no cartão ou etiqueta onde Papai Noel esteja de óculos de sol e sunga, curtindo um limonada? Talvez...

Scary Super Typhoon

Last Thursday afternoon, while I was doing some computer stuff rain began to fall suddenly. It turned furious. The raindrops were huge! The wind blew hard and it was cold. Lightnings flashed in the sky, as if the sky was a celebrity being photographed from every angle by paparazzis. The light was followed by thunderous sounds, although I was more frightened of the light than the sound. I just kept myself in a single spot, quiet, observant... until the ordeal was over. Then, I thought: "Is this super typhoon Yolanda (internationally, Haiyan)?" Then, the following day, from the TV, the newscaster said that that wasn't Yolanda, and that was the result of a "localized" thunderstorm. I felt relieved! I thought that was the scariest of all the typhoon experiences I've ever had, really...
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Na quinta da semana passada, enquanto estava fazendo algo com o meu computador, começou a chover de súbito. Enfureceu-se. As gotas da chuva eram tão grandes! O vento bem soprou e era frio. Havia raios no céu, como se o céu fosse uma celebridade, sendo fotografada de todos os ângulos por paparazzis. As luzes foram seguidas por sons estrondosos, embora ficasse mais assustado pela luz que pelo som. Apenas contive-me num só lugar, quietinho, observando... até que a chuva parou. Depois, pensei: "Será este é o super tufão Yolanda (internacionalmente conhecido de Haiyan)?" No dia seguinte, a partir da TV, a locutora disse que não foi Yolanda, e que foi uma trovoada localizada. Sinto um sossego! Achei que aquela fosse a mais assustador das experiências de tufão que já tive, mesmo...

Portuguese Day Names, strange

Hi. Today's Wednesday. Hoje é quarta-feira.
... and I am writing about day names. Yes, there are only 7 of them! :) (Not 8)

segunda(-feira) = Monday
terça(-feira) = Tuesday
quarta(-feira) = Wednesday
quinta(-feira) = Thursday
sexta(-feira) = Friday
sábado = Saturday
domingo = Sunday

As I speak a Spanish creole (native), I've learned how to say them exactly like in Spanish since childhood. Starting from "domingo" through "miércoles" until "sábado", they're exactly the same as in Spanish, although I doubt the spelling. We don't have the accent marks over vowels or consonants (á, é, ó etc), and there are other differences in spelling which I won't put here.
Curious is there's also a huge difference between the Portuguese version and the other Romance language version. Comparing among French, Spanish and Italian day names, one would see the huge similarities. Segunda, terça, quarta, quinta, sexta? Why are they all ordinal numbers? Haven't anyone discovered a translation similar to that in Spanish or French that is lost or forgotten?
Perhaps something like: lunes, martes, mércoles, joves, vérnes ...  Curious  (''.?

Sentence-building Challenge

At some random time of the day, such as now, I decided to test my Portuguese skill by constructing some short sentences in Portuguese out of a pool of 4 randomly-chosen words. For it to be really short, it should not have > 10 words. I have to use them all 4.
The words are swimming in the pool above!

First: O João tinha unhas atraentes, mas recordou de cortá-las.
Too bad, he has to wait for it to grow again. Years?

"O João era atraente", recordou a minha unha.
This is weird, as if I have a talking, live fingernail!  ... OR toenail ...

O João atraente recordou de pintar as unhas dele.
OMG! Is he gay or what?

Roendo as unhas, o João recordou que não é atraente.
Definitely not an attractive habit, especially when done around guests at dinner...

Translation:
John had attractive fingernails, but remembered to trim them.
"John was attractive", my fingernail recalled.
Attractive John remembered to color his nails.
Biting fingernails, John remembered that doing it isn't attractive.

It was fun! Although not really sure if my Portuguese is correct.
See if you can create funny sentences. Post them in the comments!

A Little Breakfast!

It's a new day! Aside from new hope, it means new ideas for breakfast. Unfortunately, I hadn't had a good one. Perhaps, I was just too lazy to prepare that I only ate an egg. Yes, a single egg this morning! Nevertheless, it was healthy. So, what's the point of this? Nothing. I just thought of writing down what I thought when I ate it. What I thought was how would the Portuguese describe the breakfast I had. Um pequeno pequeno almoço? What do you think?

Welcome to Translate from Portuguese to English blog!

Hello! Olá! Welcome! Seja bem-vindo!

On this blog, you shall find information and updates about my fiverr gig, which you can see at: http://fiverr.com/amourpartout/translate-from-portuguese-to-english

I offer translation service for only $5. If you send in your article or text in Portuguese, I will translate it to English. I do NOT translate from English to Portuguese. I do NOT use machine translation, since it's inaccurate most times! You will receive your translated document in an average of 3 days. However, depending on the complexity or length, I could send you within a day! Be sure to run word count (most word processors show the number of words) on your document before submitting to me for translation. It should not have more than 400 words.

To give you an idea what types of documents I translate, here are some examples:

-song lyrics
-articles, mostly science topics
-blog articles
-subtitles
etc.

Texts to AVOID: legal and medical documents!

You can get in touch with me anytime for questions or suggestions through this blog! Tune in to this blog for Portuguese to English translation samples to be posted.

HAPPY TRANSLATING!