The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #27896   Message #344195
Posted By: Allan C.
20-Nov-00 - 06:18 PM
Thread Name: Help: Girl from Ipanema
Subject: RE: Help: Girl from Ipanema
Okay. Here ya go...

Portuguese is a little like Spanish spoken with a French accent. Well, sorta. As in Spanish, the accents are normally on the next to last in multi-syllable words. Vowels are generally "short". Vowels that are to be made to sound "long" will be shown here in capitals. I have put in double ll's in some places for emphasis. The word, "do" (of the) is pronounced, either "dew" or "dough" depending on where in Brazil you are and whether a consonant follows. Cariocas (people of Rio) would normally say "dew". The "ão" dipthong sounds somewhat like saying the exclamation of pain, "ow" through your nose. Some linguists express this by writing it phonetically as "oung".

Much of speaking in languages has to do with how you hold your mouth much of the time. Brazilian Portuguese can be spoken for the most part with your mouth held as though you were starting to make a "w" sound. A notable exception comes when making a long "E" sound. Then you smile and show most of your teeth.

This thing may not sound 100% accurate. However, you will be close enough to impress most folks (if you can make sense of my notes).

Olha que coisa mais linda
Ol-yah kAy koy-sah mIce leen-dah
Mais cheia de graça
MIss shAy-ah dee grah-sah (First word is like "mice")
É ela menina
eh el-lah men-nee-nah (the eh sounds like the "e" in "blemish")
Que vem e que passa
Kay vAym E kay pah-sah, (This time the E means "and" rather than "is" and has a long sound.)
Num doce balanço, a caminho do mar
Noom dOs-sAy bah-lahn-sO ah kah-meen-yO dew mar
Moça do corpo dourado
MO-sah dew kOr-pO dO-rah-dew
Do sol de Ipanema
Dew sOl dee E-pahn-A-mah
O seu balançado é mais que um poema
O sAoo (clipped dipthong) bah-lahn-sah-dew eh mIss kAy oom pO-ehm-ah
É a coisa mais linda que eu já vi passar
Eh ah koy-sah mIss leen-da kay ehoo (clipped dipthong) zha vee pahs-ar (eu sounds somewhat like what someone might say when stepping in a dog pile except the "e" is short.) (passar has the accent on the second syllable.)

Ah, porque estou tão sozinho
ah, por-kAy es-tO tão sO-zeen-yO (accent on the last syllable of estou)
Ah, porque tudo é tão triste
ah, por-kAy toodoo eh tão tree-stay
Ah, a beleza que existe
ah, ah bay-lay-zah kay eh-zhee-stay (slur the kay eh together)
A beleza que não é só minha
Ah bay-lay-zah kay não eh sO meen-ya (slur the não eh together) (sort of quietly add on that final "ya")
Que também passa sozinha
Kay tom-bAym pah-sah sO-zeen-ya

Ah, se ela soubesse
Ah, say el-lah soo-bess-E
Que quando ela passa
Kay kwandew el-lah pah-sah
O mundo sorrindo se enche de graça
O moon-dew sO-reen-dew say en-chay day grah-sah
E fica mais lindo Por causa do amor
E fee-kah mIss leen-dew por cow-sah dew ah-mOr (This time the E means "and" rather than "is" and has a long sound.)

Good luck!