Expressions from Minas Gerais
24 Sep, 2013
By Celeste Gattai
With a territorial area of 8,511,965 square kilometres spread between the equator and Tropic of Capricorn, it goes without saying that Brazil is a vast country with diverse landscapes and climates. Regional geographical and ecological features, a long history of migratory movements from Europe, Africa, and Asia and, let’s not forget, the meeting of these many different peoples with local indigenous Brazilian cultures, have all determined the daily habits and customs of Brazilians: from what they eat to what they wear, and even their outlook on life. What are the implications of this for Brazilian Portuguese learners?
As visitors travel across Brazil, they must adjust their ears to different regional accents, be wary of differences in vocabulary, and be sensitive to local customs. For example, it is not uncommon in Brazil for the same thing to have different names depending on where you are. So make sure you learn the different regional names for a bread roll before you travel to Brazil, or you might end up going hungry!
In view of the regional accents and variations of vocabulary in the country, it is not surprising that this year’s arrival of foreign doctors contracted to improve the amount of medical provision in cities all over Brazil, has prompted a lot of discussion within the community of Brazilian Portuguese teachers. How far can the standard variety of Brazilian Portuguese equip learners to communicate effectively and understand others outside Brazil’s big urban centres? It seems important for both teachers and learners to explore different Brazilian Portuguese varieties, in addition to the standard one, so that a more realistic image of the linguistic challenges learners might face can be formed.
Therefore, if you are a learner of Brazilian Portuguese, it would be very useful for you to start noticing and making notes of the differences in language usage and vocabulary variation you might come across, either during your visits to Brazil, or your interactions with other Brazilian Portuguese speakers. To get you started we would like to introduce you to some of the vocabulary and expressions used by the inhabitants of the Minas Gerais state, located in Southeastern Brazil. The people from Minas Gerais are called “mineiros” and the way they speak is affectionately referred to as “mineirês”.
You might perhaps be already familiar with the word “uai”, which is a very common interjection used in Minas Gerais to express surprise. Another common word used by the mineiros is “trem”, which literally means train, but could refer to whatever they might be thinking of:
“- Comi um trem muito bom ontem!” (- I ate a very nice thing yesterday!)
It can also be used as a synonym of the adjective bad (ruim, mau):
“ – Este livro é muito trem! “ (- This book is very bad!) The mineiros tend to cut words short when speaking: você (you) becomes ocê, senhor (mister) becomes sô, bocadinho (a little bit) becomes cadim, etc. The words mesmo, você, está, and brincando would all sound reduced if you were to hear them in a sentence being spoken by a mineiro:
“- É mes? Cê tá brincan!” (- Is it really? You are kidding!)
The diminutive form of nouns and adjectives are often used in Brazilian Portuguese. We normally use them to express endearment, affection, or conversely, derision. In Minas Gerais people are particularly fond of them and, by cutting them short when speaking, lend them their own special twist:
– Mas que filme ruinzim (instead of ruinzinho)! (- What a bad film!)
– Fique um cadim (instead of bocadinho) mais! (– Stay a little bit longer!)
Although the above-mentioned suggestions are by no means exhaustive, we hope that they will encourage you to start your own research. Now, in case you want to know, in São Paulo a bread roll is called “pão francês” or “pãozinho”, in the North “pão careca”, in the South “cacetinho”, and, last but not least, “pão de sal” in Minas Gerais.
See you next month!
