Living not at home

How do we remember words? How many reminders do we need before the link between sound and meaning is stable and permanent in our minds? My TEFL training claimed it took between seven and fifteen repetitions to learn a new word. I've noticed that as well as repetition, embarrassment aids my memory. Embarrassment creates a strong memory and the new word is baked into that memory.   One example: I learnt the word bolor from my youngest child. It was in a graphic novel and she explained that it translated as mould . (Translation of the speech bubbles: frame one –  Dad, I think you should let go of your screens and find something to do . Frame two –  The weather's too good to stay indoors gathering mould. )   I repeated bolor to myself around the house but the first time I used the word in conversation, I fluffed it. It happened like this. At the housing charity I met a Greek art conservator. She was doing an internship in Portugal. Speaking in English, she t...

Estou à procura de emprego. Semana passada, tive um atendimento no IEFP (Instituto do Emprego e Formação Profissional). Funcionário: Qual é a sua profissão? Eu: Minha formação era em literatura e tradução. Trabalhei com editor e leitor de provas. (Metade verdade e metade pensamento positivo) Queria retomar este tipo de trabalho. Funcionário: Muito bem. (Som do teclado do computador) Eu: Mas ... sei que este tipo de trabalho é raro cá no Porto. Funcionário: E se fosse outro emprego? Eu: Estou também à procura de trabalho em hotelaria e turismo. Funcionário: Isso não é uma profissão, é uma área de atividade. Eu: … Funcionário: Muito bem. Há uma oferta de emprego em Espinho: empregado de balcão . Desculpe, não é isso o nome oficial do cargo. Momento. (Pergunta ao colega) Assistente de atendimento ao cliente – é isso o nome! Quer candidatar-se? Mas, atenção, é irreversível. Eu: Irreversível? O que quer dizer? Funcionário: Se eu lhe dar esta ficha, tem de se candidatar ao emprego...

How many translation mistakes can you spot on this disposable paper place mat? I found three — one howler, one blip and one neologism. They're hard to ignore once you've noticed them but do they matter? Do they get in the way of communication?  The blip is ‘I’ve already had a date at Praça D. João I.’ The source sentence used já . Já is a hardworking word. It can mean both right now or already . And it’s used in Portuguese more liberally than already is in English. The translation into English sounds a little unbalanced but it roughly communicates the meaning. The howler is ‘I’ve mistakenly went to Rivoli…’. It should be ‘I’ve mistakenly been to Rivoli …’. Here the translation loses some clarity – by mixing two forms of the past tense the reader is left unclear if it means that the trip took place at a particular moment ( ‘ I mistakenly went to... ’ ) or that it was sometime before the present but the precise moment is not important ( ‘ I've mistakenly been to... ’ ). ...

EXCLUSIVE LIVING HOTEL. Is this a hotel that is both exclusive and alive? Or is it a hotel where one can live in an exclusive manner? Depending on the order in which they combine the three words, the reader will hear one meaning or the other. The intended meaning is, of course, the second one, in which the first two words are grouped together as a compound adjective. Question: What kind of hotel is it? Answer: One that enables exclusive living. Yet although we know it’s not intended, the other meaning lingers on, ghostly and tenacious: a living hotel, a dying city centre. The forces of life and death haunt tourism just as pervasively as the notions of authentic and false. The hotel in this image is in Porto, and Porto attracts tourists because it is vibrant. It is a dense city full of life: washing hanging from balconies, pedestrians, tiny cafés and greengrocers and bakeries in almost every street, odd-shaped doorways, steep alleys, views over crowded rooftops, students in traditional...