English As She Is Spoke by Pedro Carolino
A Jest in Sober Earnest
A hilariously misguided Portuguese-to-English phrasebook compiled in the 19th century intended to teach conversational English to Portuguese speakers but crippled by literal, word-for-word translations and reliance on imperfect references, producing grammatically bizarre, nonsensical, and often unintentionally comic English phrases. It assembles dialogues, vocabulary lists, and practical expressions whose renderings range from absurd to charmingly poetic, and has become a celebrated example of mistranslation and a cult classic of comic literature. Readers enjoy it both as a historical curiosity about language instruction and as a cautionary tale about the pitfalls of literal translation.
- Published
- 1855
- Nationality
- Portuguese
- Length
- Unknown
- Pages
- Unknown
- Original Language
- Portuguese
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- Alternate Titles
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