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The Schwa

  Banana, about, waiter, similar, occur, citrus. Although all these words have different vowels, they all contain the same sound. In the International Phonetic Alphabet (as used by many dictionaries), it is depicted as ‘ ə’, and is, I believe, the only one with its own name - the ‘schwa’. When they created the symbols in the nineteenth century, the easiest way to create the extra symbols they needed was to turn the typeface upside down. It is a neutral, unstressed sound, so you could say it is a vowel that is losing its distinctiveness and in some words it disappears entirely. ‘Banana’ has two, the first and last ‘a’. It is also the sound of the -er, -ar and -ur endings ( ə r). ‘Occur’ has two schwas; as well as the ending, the ‘o’ at the beginning is one too. ‘Similar’ is interesting because the second ‘i’ is also a schwa, but is also virtually silent. Likewise, another word, ‘difference’ can certainly be reduced to two syllables, where the schwa (-er-) in the middle disappears....
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English and Other Cultures

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 I came across this advert today and thought how well it illustrates how other cultures affect the use of English. English is not just the language of the UK, USA, Canada, Australia etc., it is also used as a lingua franca by many non-native speakers. Consequently it isn't always written in the same way, with the same cultural principles behind it. Take a look at this:    Firstly, there is nothing wrong with the English at all. However, it is produced from a different cultural basis. Despite the existence of the monarchy in Britain and a reputation for formality and ceremony, the English have always had a strong suspicion of authority: democracy can be traced back to the Witan (parliament) of the Anglo-Saxons and there is a reason why 'Kowtow' is a loan word and broadly used pejoratively. So, 'patronage' is fine, but what exactly is ' high patronage'? From an English-speaking point of view, it means the King is too important to be an ordinary patron. You als...
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Words with ‘ough’ in English

  This is about words such as ‘tough’, ‘brought’ (and words like ‘daughter’), ‘cough’, ‘though’, ‘thorough’, ‘plough’ (or ‘bough’ for Americans). The reason why these words have different sounds is because...they are all different. Bear with me. It is important to remember that for most of our history, most people couldn’t read, and so there was not a direct connection between written and spoken language - written language was not intended to be phonetic. The original words in Old English were therefore all different because there was no standard written format: ‘bought’ was pronounced like ‘bawhte’, ‘bough’ more like ‘bowh’, ‘thorough’ was ‘thorweh’, while ‘cough’ was ‘cohhian’. Most of these words end in ‘h’ sounds, which in time came to be reproduced as ‘gh’. In addition, -gh was a common way of representing guttural sounds common in Celtic languages (e.g. loch (lake)) in English, and so also applied to strong ‘h’ sounds like in ‘cohhian’/’cough’. Also significant is an event ca...
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Why Literal Translation Is Not Always the Best Option

 When translating from Portuguese to English, it’s easy to fall into the trap of translating word for word. After all, it feels “faithful,” right? But the truth is: literal translations often sound unnatural and miss the point . 🔍 Real communication is more than words Good translation isn’t just about replacing words — it’s about conveying meaning , tone , and style in a way that feels natural to the reader. For example: 🗣️ “Fazer vista grossa” literally means “to make thick eyes” — that doesn't make any sense in English, we would say “turn a blind eye.” Both expressions refer to the same idea, but only one would make sense to your English-speaking audience. ✅ What to do instead: Think about what the sentence really means Use equivalent expressions in English Focus on clarity and tone , not just structure Read your translation out loud — does it sound like something a native speaker would say? If you are not sure, try googling it - but check that any results...
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Quick Checklist for Reviewing Your English Translation Before Sending It to the Client

 Introduction: Have you ever sent off a translation and then spotted a small mistake immediately after? 😬 It happens, but taking the time to do a quick, focused review can make all the difference between a “good enough” result and a polished, professional one. Below is a quick checklist to help you catch some of the most common issues when translating from Portuguese to English and make sure your final version sounds smooth, natural, and client-ready. ✅ Final Review Checklist (PT → EN) 1. Does it sound natural in English? Read your text out loud , or use a text-to-speech tool like Read Aloud (Chrome extension). Ask yourself: Would a native speaker say it this way? 2. Do the sentences seem overly long or complex? English prefers shorter, clearer sentences than Portuguese does. Cut out any unnecessary commas, simplify structure, and remove filler phrases. 3. Did you double-check for false friends and literal translations? Common traps: “Actually” ≠ atua...
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3 Common Mistakes Brazilians Make When Translating into English (and How to Avoid Them)

 Introduction: If you’re a translator or a student working from Portuguese to English, you know it’s not always easy to produce a natural, fluent English text. In this post, I’ll show you  three common mistakes Brazilian translators make when translating into English  and how to avoid them with a few practical tips. ✅ 1. Translating word-for-word Beginners often try to translate every word literally, assuming it’s the best way to be faithful to the original. But the result is often clunky and unnatural and sometimes doesn’t even make sense. Example: PT: Ele caiu na real. ❌ Wrong: He fell in the real. ✅ Natural: He came to his senses. / He had a reality check. Tip:  Be careful of expressions, they are often specific to the language. Find  natural equivalents , not literal matches. Use high-quality bilingual resources, like Linguee or Reverso Context, with care and always check how native speakers actually use the phrase. ✅ 2. Using Brazilian sentence...
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