Thursday, November 17
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Thursday, November 17

For the vast majority of candidates, Portuguese to English translation is the most difficult exercise on the CACD exam. First, the structure of the sentence in Portuguese is challenging, with long and inverted sections. Vocabulary can also de...

Todd Marshall
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Translation answer keys

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For the vast majority of candidates, Portuguese to English translation is the most difficult exercise on the CACD exam. First, the structure of the sentence in Portuguese is challenging, with long and inverted sections. Vocabulary can also demand a lot from less experienced candidates. That is why you must read and practice translations with regularity and discipline. 

With these three simple steps you’ll be able to minimize errors:

  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.

Now see if you translated yesterday’s text correctly and remember that there are multiple ways to say the right thing. The CACD board is fairly sympathetic to style variances.

“A conspiração militar caminhou rapidamente. (...)

The military conspiracy developed/progressed/marched rapidly. (...)

Jovens militares, comandados por Benjamim Constant, conseguiram convencer o marechal Deodoro a liderar o movimento (...) 

Young military (men), commanded by Benjamim Constant, were able to/managed to convince marshall Deodoro to lead/conduct/head/spearhead the movement. [here you could end the sentence and begin a new one in English] (...)

com os argumentos de que o governo queria retirar as tropas do Exército da capital e fortalecer a Guarda Nacional e a polícia.”

They argued that the Government would withdraw the Army troops from the capital and strengthen/boost/enhance/make (...) stronger the National Guard and the police.”