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| Author | Pedro Carolino and José da Fonseca (credited) |
|---|---|
| Original title | O novo guia da conversação em portuguez e inglez |
| Language | Portuguese and English |
| Genre | Phrase book |
| Publisher | J.P. Aillaud |
Publication date | 1855 |
| Publication place | France |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 182 |
| Text | English as She Is Spoke atWikisource |
O novo guia da conversação em portuguez e inglez,[a] commonly known by the nameEnglish as She Is Spoke, is a 19th-century book written by Pedro Carolino, with some editions creditingJosé da Fonseca as a co-author. It was intended as aPortuguese–English conversationalguide orphrase book. However, because the provided translations are usually inaccurate orunidiomatic, it is regarded as a classic source of unintentionalhumour in translation.
The humour largely arises from Carolino's indiscriminate use ofliteral translation, which has led to manyidiomatic expressions being translated ineptly. For example, Carolino translates the Portuguese phrasechover a cântaros as "raining in jars", when an analogous English idiom is available in the form of "raining buckets".
It is widely believed that Carolino could not speak English and that aFrench–English dictionary was used to translate an earlier Portuguese–French phrase bookO novo guia da conversação em francês e português, written by José da Fonseca. Carolino likely added Fonseca's name to the book, without his permission, in an attempt to give it some credibility. The Portuguese–French phrase book is apparently a competent work, without the defects that characterize the Portuguese–English one.[2][3][4]
The titleEnglish as She Is Spoke was given to the book in its 1883 republication, but the phrase does not appear in the original phrasebook, nor does the word "spoke".[1][5]
Mark Twain said ofEnglish as She Is Spoke "Nobody can add to the absurdity of this book, nobody can imitate it successfully, nobody can hope to produce its fellow; it is perfect."[6]
Stephen Pile mentions this work inThe Book of Heroic Failures and comments: "Is there anything in conventional English which could equal the vividness of'tocraunch amarmoset'?"[7] The original has "to craunch the marmoset", an entry under the book's "Idiotisms and Proverbs". This is the author's attempt to translate the French slang idiomatic expressioncroquer le marmot, used to indicate "waiting patiently for someone to open a door",[8] withcroquer referring to the "knocking" or "rapping" sound, andmarmot, a term for thegrotesque door knockers in vogue at the time. "Craunch" is an archaic term meaning 'to chew' or 'crunch'. In Modern French,croquer usually means "to crunch" (cf.croque monsieur); its use in this idiom is a survival from the Middle French meaning ofcroquer,crocquer, which meant "to slap, hit, strike".
Tristan Bernard wrote a very short comedy with a similar name,L'Anglais tel qu'on le parle (1899).Ionesco'sLa Cantatrice chauve (1950) is mostly made of lines used out-of-context from inter-lingual conversation books. British comedy television seriesMonty Python's Flying Circus made use of the theme of the mistranslating guide in the sketch "Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook" (1970), which may have been inspired byEnglish as She Is Spoke.[9]
| 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's on all fours. |
| A estrada é segura? | Is sure the road? | Is the road safe? |
| Sabe montar a cavalo. | He know ride horse. | He can ride a horse. |
| Quem cala consente. | That not says a word, consent. | He who is silent 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 want to vomit. |
| 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 looks full of fish. Let's have some fun fishing. |
| O criado arou a terra real. | The created plough the land real. | The servant ploughed 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. |
| Eu ganhei mais de trinta mil réis. | I had gained ten lewis. | I won more than thirty thousandréis. |
| Entendeste ou entendeu o que eu disse? | Have you understant that y have said? | Did you understand what I said? |
| Elle dá coices pelo que vejo. Olhe como eu o soube domar. | Then he kicks for that I look? Sook here if I knew to tame hix. | [To a horse rider] From what I see, he kicks. Look at how I was able to tame him. |
In addition to the examples above, Carolino managed to create a number of words which added to the book's unintentionally comic effect. Many can be found in the "Familiar Dialogues" section and include the above "Sook here if I knew to tame hix".
The phrase inspired some other publications, notably:
The phraseEnglish as she is spoke is nowadays used allusively, in a form of linguistic play, as a stereotypical example of bad English grammar.[14]
In January 1864, then US PresidentAbraham Lincoln and Secretary of StateWilliam H. Seward laughed as Lincoln's private secretaryJohn Hay read aloud from the book.[15] The book has been cited as one example of many diversions that Lincoln used to lighten his heart and mind from the weight of the USCivil War and his cabinet's political infighting.[16]
InJerome K. Jerome's bookThree Men on the Bummel, set in the late 1800s, the character George comedically tries to use a badly written German–English phrasebook to do some shopping and errands around London.
In theMonty Python's Flying Circus sketch "Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook", a man unknowingly causes trouble by reading from aHungarian–English phrasebook with deliberately mistranslated phrases that are absurd or inappropriate. The sketch ends with the publisher of the book being questioned in court.[9]
The English prog rock bandCardiacs used passages from the book in their 1999 albumGuns, most notably in the songs "Cry Wet Smile Dry" and "Sleep All Eyes Open."[17]
A more subtle reference occurs in Series 3, Episode 10 "The Affair at the Victory Ball" of the seriesAgatha Christie's Poirot. This episode ends with Poirot offering to give Inspector Japp "my personal copy of 'The English as She Should be Spoken.'"[18]
English as She Is Spoke public domain audiobook atLibriVox