English as she is spoke
by Pedro Carolino · first published 1970
30mentions
6recommended by
26HN commenters
2012–2026first – last mentioned
23% recommend77% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Famous unintentionally absurd Portuguese-to-English phrasebook, prized for its bizarre, memorable phrasing; readers enjoy it as a comic curiosity and a case study in how not to translate.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
…goodness, the author's English is 1000 times better than my... whatever their native language is. And I'm glad they shared this fun list with us. :-) BTW if you enjoy this phrasebook, I heartily recommend English as She is Spoke: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=english+as+she+is+spoke
on “American Phrase Book” ↗Funny, I felt the same! My favourite Portugese to English phrasebook of all time, incidentally, is English As She Is Spoke, which I learned of in Stephen Pile's book, The Book of Heroic Failures, where he comments: "Is there anything in conventional English which could equal the vividness of 'to craunch a marmoset'?"
on “Minimal Ring Alarm Clock for Couples” ↗In my experience "My postillion has been struck by a lighting" works miracles in an English speaking audience: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_postillion_has_been_struck_... A few good ideas in "English as she is spoke": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_As_She_Is_Spoke
on “I Can Eat Glass” ↗I wonder if she also has "English as she is spoke". One of the most important books in learning English https://ia904707.us.archive.org/28/items/englishassheissp00a...
Led me to this, previously unknown-to-me, pot of gold: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_as_She_Is_Spoke "Nobody can add to the absurdity of this book, nobody can imitate it successfully, nobody can hope to produce its fellow; it is perfect."
on “Which word begins with "y" and looks like an axe in this picture? (2017)” ↗If you haven't come across "English as She Is Spoke" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_as_She_Is_Spoke), your proverbs remind me of that. Craunch the marmoset!
on “Why do people keep writing about the imaginary compound Cr2Gr2Te6?” ↗From the Wikipedia: > O novo guia da conversação em portuguez e inglez, commonly known by the name English as She Is Spoke, is a 19th-century book written by Pedro Carolino, with some editions crediting José da Fonseca as a co-author. It was intended as a Portuguese–English conversational guide or phrase book. However, because…
on “English as She Is Spoke” ↗The title’s a pun on a legendarily bad English phrasebook English as She Is Spoke: https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/pedro-carolino_jose-da-fon...
on “Elvish as She Is Spoke [pdf]” ↗The classic example of this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_as_She_Is_Spoke > It is widely believed that Carolino could not speak English and that an unknown French–English dictionary was used to translate the earlier Portuguese–French phrase book O novo guia da conversação…
on “Research papers using "kidney disappointment" instead of "kidney failure"” ↗> Mark Twain said of English as She Is Spoke that "Nobody can add to the absurdity of this book, nobody can imitate it successfully, nobody can hope to produce its fellow; it is perfect."[6] Maybe a weekend playing with gpt-3 will prove otherwise.…
on “English as She Is Spoke” ↗The title is a reference to an (in) famous 19th century Portuguese to English translation guide that was so unintentionally bad it remains in print. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_As_She_Is_Spoke
on “English as she isn’t spoke (Part 4)” ↗Google translate is just as humorous and reasonably similar. eg: Este lago parece-me bem piscoso. Vamos pescar para nos divertirmos. Google -> This lake looks very fishy to me. Let's go fishing for fun. English as She is Spoke -> That pond it seems me many multiplied of fishes. Let us amuse rather to the fishing. English version -> This lake looks full of fish. Let's have some fun fishing.
on “English as She Is Spoke” ↗Has there been a time when authenticity was guaranteed? Books like "English as She is Spoke", Pliny's "Natural History", "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion", fanciful paintings and drawings of exotic animals, explorers' dubious memoirs, paid mourners/celebrants/demonstrators, nasty allegations…
on “Hocus focus: how magicians made a fortune on Facebook” ↗It's pretty commonly known but this sketch has some inspiration from a real life phrase book "English as she is spoke". It was written by someone who did not speak English who used a Portugese->French and then a French->English dictionary to produce the phrasebook. Complete unintentional and amazing humor. In line with…
on “Phrasebooks are dying out” ↗You make grins. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/English_As_She_Is_Spoke
on “Phrasebooks are dying out” ↗