Thursday, June 22
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Thursday, June 22

Todd Marshall
3 min
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Translation answer keys

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Try to follow these important three steps:

  1. Read the full excerpt;
  2. Mark key words and expressions that might present some extra difficulty;
  3. Do not automatically translate the text before understanding its meaning and how it would be written in English.

“(...) Os críticos que estudaram Machado de Assis nunca deixaram de inventar e realçar as causas eventuais de tormento social e individual: cor escura, origem humilde, carreira difícil, humilhações, doença nervosa. 

“(...) The critics who/that studied Machado de Assis have never ceased to create/make up and highlight the occasional causes of social and individual torment: dark skin color, humble background, difficult career, humiliations, nerve disease/disorders.

Mas depois dos estudos renovadores de Jean-Michel Massa é difícil manter este ponto de vista. Com efeito, os seus sofrimentos não parecem ter excedido aos de toda gente, nem a sua vida foi particularmente árdua

But/Yet after Jean-Michel Massa’s groundbreaking studies, it is difficult to maintain this point of view/viewpoint. In fact, his misfortunes/sufferings do not seem to exceed/differ from those of regular/everyday people, nor was his life particularly hard/harsh/arduous/tough.

Mestiços de origem humilde foram alguns homens representativos no nosso Império liberal. Homens que, sendo da sua cor e tendo começado pobres, acabaram recebendo títulos de nobreza e carregado pastas ministeriais. Não exageremos, portanto, o tema do gênio versus destino. Antes, pelo contrário, conviria assinalar a normalidade exterior e a relativa facilidade da sua vida pública. 

Persons of mixed-race from a humble background were some of the notorious/representative/important men in our liberal Empire. Men of his color and who started from the bottom ended up receiving titles of nobility and ministerial offices/positions. Therefore, we should not overdo/exaggerate the theme of genius versus destiny. By contrast, one should first note/underline/emphasize the exterior normality and the relative ease of his public life.

* Half-breed is a term now considered offensive. 

(...) Se analisarmos a sua carreira intelectual, verificaremos que foi admirado e apoiado desde cedo, e que aos cinquenta anos era considerado o maior escritor do país, objeto de uma reverência e admiração gerais, que nenhum outro romancista ou poeta brasileiro conheceu em vida, antes e depois dele.”

(...) If we analyze his intellectual career, we can/will see that he was admired and endorsed/supported early on, and that at the age of fifty he was considered the greatest writer of the country, object of overall reverence and admiration, which no other Brazilian novelist or poet has ever known in his lifetime, before and after him.”

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s Newsletter! 

We will work with some grammar points highlighted from this specific translation!!