English As She Is Spoke

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English as She Is Spoke  
Author José da Fonseca
Pedro Carolino
Country Portugal
Language Portuguese and English
Genre(s) phrase book
Publication date 19th century

English as She Is Spoke is the common name of a 19th century book credited to José da Fonseca and Pedro Carolino, which was intended as a Portuguese-English conversational guide or phrase book, but is regarded as a classic source of unintentional humour.

The humour appears to be a result of dictionary-aided literal translation, which causes many idiomatic expressions to be translated wildly inappropriately. For example, the Portuguese phrase chover a cântaros is translated as raining in jars, whereas an idiomatic English translation would be raining buckets.

Mark Twain said of English as She Is Spoke that "Nobody can add to the absurdity of this book, nobody can imitate it successfully, nobody can hope to produce its fellow; it is perfect."[1]

Contents

[edit] Origin

It is widely believed that neither of the authors credited with the work could speak English, and that they used a French-English dictionary to translate an earlier Portuguese-French phrase book O Novo guia da conversação em francês e português, which had been written by José da Fonseca alone. The Portuguese-French phrase book is apparently a competent work, without the defects that characterise English as She Is Spoke.

In 2002, Alexander MacBride of the UCLA Department of Linguistics suggested that it is more likely that the Portuguese-English book was an unauthorised translation by Pedro Carolino without the involvement of José da Fonseca. [2] [3] [4]

Stephen Pile mentions this work in The Book of Heroic Failures, and comments: "Is there anything in conventional English which could equal the vividness of 'To craunch a marmoset'?"[citation needed]

[edit] Phrase examples

Sentence in Portuguese Given translation Idiomatic translation
As paredes têm ouvidos. The walls have hearsay. (The) walls have ears.
Anda de gatinhas. He go to four feet. He crawls / He is crawling.
A estrada é segura? Is sure the road? Is the road safe?
Sabe montar a cavalo. He know ride horse. He knows how to ride a horse.
Quem cala consente. That not says a word, consent. He who doesn't object, consents.
Que faz ele? What do him? What does he do? / What is he doing?
Tenho vontade de vomitar. I have mind to vomit. I think I'm going to be sick.
Este lago parece-me bem piscoso. Vamos pescar para nos divertirmos. That pond it seems me many multiplied of fishes. Let us amuse rather to the fishing. This lake seems like it's full of fish. Let's have some fun fishing.
O criado arou a terra real. The created plow the land real. The servant plows the royal land.
Bem sei o que devo fazer ou me compete. I know well who I have to make. I know very well what I have to do and what my responsibilities are.

[edit] Publication history

  • 1853 - In Paris, J.-P. Aillaud, Monlon e Ca published a Portuguese-French phrase book entitled O Novo guia da conversação em francês e português by José da Fonseca. The Portuguese Biblioteca Nacional has a copy of this book with catalogue number L.686P. Another copy of this book is in the Bibliothèque nationale de France under the catalogue number FRBNF30446608.
  • 1855 - In Paris, J.-P. Aillaud, Monlon e Ca published a Portuguese-English phrase book entitled O Novo Guia da Conversação, em Português e Inglês, em Duas Partes (literally, The new guide to conversation, in Portuguese and English, in two parts), with authorship attributed to José da Fonseca and Pedro Carolino. A copy of this book is in the Bibliothèque nationale de France under the catalogue number FRBNF30446609. Another copy is in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
  • 1883 - The book was published in London as English as She is Spoke. The first American edition, published in Boston also came out this year, with an introduction by Samuel Clemens.
  • 1969 - The book was re-published in New York by Dover Publications, under the title English as she is spoke; the new guide of the conversation in Portuguese and English (ISBN 0-486-22329-9).
  • 2002 - A new edition edited by Paul Collins was published under the Collins Library imprint of McSweeney's (ISBN 0-9719047-4-X).
  • 2002 - Brazilian edition of the copies of the 1855 edition held in the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Bodleian Library, published by Casa da Palavra, Rio de Janeiro (ISBN 85-87220-56-X).
  • 2004 - A revised paperback version of the above Collins Library edition was published (ISBN 1-932416-11-0).

[edit] Related titles

The phrase inspired some other publications, notably:

  • English as she is wrote (1883)
  • Britain as she is visit, a spoof tourist guide in similar style to the original book. By Paul Jennings, British Life (M Joseph, 1976)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Mark Twain, English as she is taught: Being genuine answers to examination questions in our public schools, 1887
  2. ^ "The Collins Library: The Mystery of Pedro Carolino". Archived from the original on 2002-04-15. http://web.archive.org/web/20020415183419/http://www.collinslibrary.com/pedro.html. Retrieved on 2009-01-15. 
  3. ^ "The Origins of English as She is Spoke". Archived from the original on 2003-02-02. http://web.archive.org/web/20030202143018/http://www.collinslibrary.com/pedro2.html. Retrieved on 2009-01-15. 
  4. ^ "The Evolution of "English as She is Spoke"". Archived from the original on 2002-12-07. http://web.archive.org/web/20021207121403/http://www.collinslibrary.com/english.html. Retrieved on 2009-01-15. 

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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