btw: Stan, your phrase-book in Portuguese was probably published in Portugal: it sounds very "old-world" to me, not ancient...
 
JM: “Colloquial Portuguese,” M E De Alvelos Naar, LONDON, Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd, 1968. “The reading practice is designed to give students an outline of the Portuguese and Brazilian personality, and an insight into our ideas of about English people.” (how many !!!!s should I add? -- skb)

The truth, Jansy, is that all but the most factual, mundane, non-idiomatic texts defy what you call a “perfect” translation* Think for a moment of the difficulties we have in interpreting a non-trivial English text using the self-same English language. This is a form of translation of the author’s choice of English words/syntax into our choices of English words/syntax whereby we hope better to glean the author’s intentions. There are sufficiently daunting linguistic, historical and cultural hurdles ahead to humble us long before we dare tackle the more “extreme rendition” into different languages. But life goes on.

skb

* Luckily, God writes His Cosmic Laws in the universal language of Mathematics © Galileo.  I offer lessons at 250 guineas per second.

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