Portuguese Lit Coming Soon

Just an update to let everyone know that the (Brazilian) Portuguese version of Lit is on the way. We've had numerous requests for a Portuguese version of the site over the years, and it's in progress right now.

If you have Portuguese stories on the site, we'll be moving those into the new Portuguese section once the translation is completed. Eventually, we'll also be adding a Portuguese language vBulletin option as well as some other Lit vBulletin languages.

Thanks to all of the Portuguese speaking Lit writers and readers for all of your feedback and help with this new addition!

I had noticed the little flag earlier today, and I'm very pleased. It's about time!

One thing, though. Why specify Brazilian Portuguese and not simply Portuguese? All the stories in Portuguese, be it from Brazil, Portugal, Angola or East Timor will go in there anyway, won't they? It seems silly to say Brazilian Portuguese, especially considering that there isn't a section for American English, Argentinian Spanish, and Quebecois French. The little flags at the index page are of UK, Spain, and France, and that's enough for everyone to know they're inclusive. (By the same token, it should be a Portuguese flag in there, not a Brazilian, by the way )

Anyway, if you need any help with getting stuff translated and this section up and running at full speed, I'm available.

Thanks for the reply, Lauren.

I have to admit that I don't know much about the difference between the two (or more) main versions of Portuguese. I was doing some research on the web and it seemed like Brazilian Portuguese was the native language of more people than European Portuguese, so I thought that might be a good starting point. I didn't want to offend our friends from Portugal, so I thought it better to go with the Brazilian flag.

Of course, we would rather stick with a single version of any language - as you said, it might be silly to have versions for both UK and American English.

As someone who speaks the language, can you read both Brazilian and European versions? Do you have a suggestion for creating one translation that would be usable by all Portuguese speakers?

I would also like to hear comments from others who speak Portuguese about the issue, if anyone's reading this!

We can still change the way it's setup right now, because it's not live on the site yet, so I'm glad that you jumped in when you did!

I don't speak Portugese my self, but I am proud to be among one of the first to post here
Welcome Brazilians!!!

Manu said:

Thanks for the reply, Lauren.

I have to admit that I don't know much about the difference between the two (or more) main versions of Portuguese. I was doing some research on the web and it seemed like Brazilian Portuguese was the native language of more people than European Portuguese, so I thought that might be a good starting point. I didn't want to offend our friends from Portugal, so I thought it better to go with the Brazilian flag.

Of course, we would rather stick with a single version of any language - as you said, it might be silly to have versions for both UK and American English.

As someone who speaks the language, can you read both Brazilian and European versions? Do you have a suggestion for creating one translation that would be usable by all Portuguese speakers?

Click to expand...

Hi, Manu!

The difference between the two really isn't that significant here.

I mean, a person can't utter a single word without it being clear if they're from Brazil or Portugal, but we can certainly understand each other. The difference lies mostly on pronunciation and on spoken street slang, the same way you may have some initial trouble understanding an Englishman or an Irishman.

When it comes to written word, however, the differences aren't that much more important than the ones that exist between American and British English. Certainly not important enough to create a language barrier of any kind. In informal situation, we use personal pronouns differently, but that difference is so widely known that it's more like a national trademark than a difficulty. There are several words with different spelling (as happens in English with Color/Colour or Theater/Theatre, although probably a bit more often), there are a few things for which we use different names (probably about as often as it happens in English with Elevator/Lift, Truck/Lorry or Sidewalk/Pavement), and there are a few different things for which we use the same (mostly slang) name (as in English with fag). None of these things are impeditive of understanding. I have had to read several Brazilian editions of books at school, and it wasn't uncommon for me having to reach the 5th or 6th page before coming to a differently spelt word that would tell me it was a Brazilian edition. By their nature, the stories here at Lit are usually easier to spot, but it may also take 4 or 5 paragraphs to make sure.

When it comes sheer numbers, you're right. There may be 190 million people speaking the Brazilian and 30 million speaking the European version in the world. The bulk of your web-traffic may very well be coming from Brazil. But English may well have close to a thousand million speakers worldwide, of which only 60 from the UK, and you had no doubt about using the UK flag on the index page. That's the origin of the language and more accepted, more inclusive graphic. The same could be said of all other languages in the site, except Italian and Romanian.

And besides, the number of stories currently posted at Lit in Brazilian and European Portuguese are pretty even. All the stories posted in 2006 until now have been in the European variant. There are still a few more in Brazilian, but with a bit of taunting and a dare, I bet that between the two or three authors that have been posting regularly at the Other Languages forum, we could have more stories in European Portuguese than Brazilian Portuguese within a month.

My suggestion would be this:

For the sake of coherence with what happens with other languages in the site, using a Portuguese flag on the index page and losing the -br of the url. Brazilians would know this refers to Portuguese language, which includes everyone, the same way Americans know what the UK flag there refers to.

As for the text of the index page, it's perfectly possible to come up with a translation that cleverly avoids most if not all problematic expressions and feels natural on both sides of the Atlantic. When in doubt, if it becomes unavoidable to use one or the other, I don't think anyone would be terribly offended if the Brazilian version took precedence, in view of the numbers, the same way American English takes precedence (as in the category title Humor & Satire).

If you want me to, I'll be thrilled to have a go at translating the index page, or any other page you need.

I guess we all know that Brazil is quite a popular country in the world and that Portugal isn't. No need to further rub that in the face of portuguese users.

As Lauren pointed out, it's a matter of coherence. The same way as spanish isn't represented by a mexican flag or english isn't represented by an american flag, the portuguese language should be represented by a portuguese flag. Portuguese language. Portuguese flag. The reason should be quite obvious, I think.

And I am pretty sure that brazilian people won't be offended by this. The same way as americans, australians and canadians aren't offended when they have to click on a flag of Britain.

As for which version of the language to use, I have nothing against two different versions in standard portuguese and brazilian portuguese. But if you are going to make just one, it should be in standard portuguese (the european version). After all, it is called "standard."

Another thing. Nobody needs to know geography or history. And I'm not being agressive when saying this so don't jump me. But it feels a bit awkward when someone mentions how nice it is to have a portuguese version of the site and then say "welcome brazilians." I am aware that Portugal became an irrelevant country but if you know that the language spoken in Brazil is called portuguese and not "brazilian", you could wonder where that came from, right?

Good News

Hi Manu

I´ll be very proud clicking the Portuguese flag.

Yes, "pt" in the URL, please.

HUGS (Abraços)

efevece said:

Yes, "pt" in the URL, please.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't go that far. Right now, the URL is portuguese-br.literotica.com - I think simply portuguese.literotica.com would be the most inclusive.

The bottom line is, we all understand each other fine.

the pt/br conflit

IT'S NOT REAL!!!

Altough portuguese as many variations from country to country in were it's spoken, the real diferences between the common language are very few (in Brasil, the main diference will be found in pronoun use and accent; in Angola, Nova Guiné, Timor Lorosae and other former portuguese colonies the language will have minor diferences, manly in pronounciation and mixed use of local/cultural expression). Given this, there is no sence in make use of the "br" condition in the portuguese branch of Literotica.

Like all english-speaking countrys spread all over the world, allthough every single one has a unique cultural expression of the same language, the mother language still is recognized as being the british english. With portuguese mother language countrys there will be no trouble as well. Cultural diferences are easily recognized but represent no obstacle in mutual understanding between people. There is in fact a somewhat "federation" of portuguese speaking countrys and the common language - portuguese - is the unification and proximity factor.

Given all this there won't be any problem to simply reunite all portuguese texts under one banner.

Manu still hasn't posted, but the man's a machine! He's always working: As of today (that I have noticed), there is a Portuguese flag on the index page!

Sorry for the delay in replying, everyone!

The flag has been replaced!

This is what we're going to try - please let me know how wrong I am. We will see if we can come up with a single Portuguese version of the site that will make everyone happy. It might not be the first translation, or the second, but we can keep on trying.

The first crack at translating will go to the person who was originally going to do it. He is Brazilian, so please don't get angry if the first version isn't exactly as you would have done it. Once that first version is in place, then we can have a discussion about which parts need some updating and we can fix those parts.

This is similar to what we did with Spanish. The first Spanish translation wasn't great, but then someone came in and cleaned up the weak areas and we haven't had many complaints since that second version went live.

Lit is a growing changing beast, so I'm sure that we'll have some growing pains here and there. I didn't mean to offend anyone - I'm just dumb when it comes to some of this stuff.

I will update you once the first version of the translation is done and we can go from there.

If you think this is fun, wait until we get started on the various Indian languages - it'll be interesting to see if there's anyone we won't offend with my lack of knowledge on those.

Thanks again for the comments and help with this. I'm learning.

Manu said:

This is what we're going to try - please let me know how wrong I am. We will see if we can come up with a single Portuguese version of the site that will make everyone happy. It might not be the first translation, or the second, but we can keep on trying.

The first crack at translating will go to the person who was originally going to do it. He is Brazilian, so please don't get angry if the first version isn't exactly as you would have done it. Once that first version is in place, then we can have a discussion about which parts need some updating and we can fix those parts.

Click to expand...

That seems like an excellent plan. I'm sure the end result will be great.

Manu said:

If you think this is fun, wait until we get started on the various Indian languages

Click to expand...

I don't know much about those, but from I do know, it's bound to be an interesting discussion to say the least.

And let me just say that you rule! Thanks for everything, Manu.

The flag is perfect.

so how does it get decided which language is next? do we get to vote somewhere? i want quechua! it is a very important language!

Manu said:

Sorry for the delay in replying, everyone!

The flag has been replaced!

This is what we're going to try - please let me know how wrong I am. We will see if we can come up with a single Portuguese version of the site that will make everyone happy. It might not be the first translation, or the second, but we can keep on trying.

The first crack at translating will go to the person who was originally going to do it. He is Brazilian, so please don't get angry if the first version isn't exactly as you would have done it. Once that first version is in place, then we can have a discussion about which parts need some updating and we can fix those parts.

This is similar to what we did with Spanish. The first Spanish translation wasn't great, but then someone came in and cleaned up the weak areas and we haven't had many complaints since that second version went live.

Lit is a growing changing beast, so I'm sure that we'll have some growing pains here and there. I didn't mean to offend anyone - I'm just dumb when it comes to some of this stuff.

I will update you once the first version of the translation is done and we can go from there.

If you think this is fun, wait until we get started on the various Indian languages - it'll be interesting to see if there's anyone we won't offend with my lack of knowledge on those.

Thanks again for the comments and help with this. I'm learning.

Click to expand...

now thats a great plan and I am sure as all in here that it will defenatly work, thank u manu for making the forum, it was about time...and Portuguese is portuguese no matter what part of the world u are, all of the "other" portuguese is just different versions of it, so the Portuguese flag is very appropriate and it should stay...