words, words, words

This isn’t a survey course. I’ve just been trying to communicate at the gym and have been trying to write down the words as I learn them. I figure, since other people might be in a similar situation someday I should publish my notes.

First of all, a caveat, I have a bad habit of trying, mentally, to bridge the gaps between Spanish and Portuguese. This is not a good idea. I mean, basic structure and some vocabulary is similar, but the I do not advise attempting a shotgun wedding of different and distinct Romance languages.

Some of the things they say in English are said as Brazilian words. So things like “Roll”, as in “Nice roll” are pronounced “Hole”. Learning to understand English words in Portuguese is like learning an entirely new language. Susi’s favorite, “Red Hot Chili Peppers” is pronounced “Hedgey Hodgey Shilly Peppers”. “Titanic” is pronounced “Chi Cha Nee Key”.

Oh and this isn’t supposed to be a definitive guide, I am learning Portuguese in Porto Alegre, and I’ve been here a month and a half. They have a bunch of distinctive Gaúcho words for things… so your mileage may vary! By the way, if anyone has any words to add or corrections, please let me know!

Something else I noticed. Learning people’s names is nearly impossible. You ask them their name and they tell you , and then you never hear it again. I’ve been training for about 6 weeks and I have about 4 names myself, so don’t be surprised if they person that told you their name is called by a million different nicknames.

Oh and here is a bonus one, this one is a reverse Portuguese to English, since we don’t have a word for it. You know during the warm up, there is a stretch where you roll back and put your feet on the floor by your head. Hmm… it is hard to describe, it is sort of half of a plow pose in yoga. This is called gangorra in Portuguese. It is pronounced “gahn go ha”, and it means “seesaw”. The Brazilians tend to rock back-and-forth a few times, as well.

Slang.  This is another tricky topic, because along with the regional dialects, for example, Gaúcho versus Fluminense, the slang can vary almost from neighborhood to neighborhood.  I could write a PhD about this, so I’ll leave the topic alone for now. But some of the words might not make a whole lot of sense from one gym to another.

Hospital = Hospital.  But the real difference is the price.  In America it is too expensive to go.  In Brazil, you can afford it.

* = This one is a bit tricky, it sounds like “poo-shay” , so you would think it means push. It doesn’t.

** = “em poo hey” Like Spanish.

*** = These are really Japanese words, aren’t they.

**** = This is to pummel for underhooks, but the direct translation in Portuguese is “fence”, the sport, not the barrier to entry.

(A brief note: this page gets a lot of traffic from all over the world, which is awesome. I like to think people find what they are looking for on the page, and I am going to keep updating the list as I learn more helpful words, but if anyone has any specific questions, let me know. I will ask at the gym the very next day. It is easy for me to overlook things that might be useful to others. It doesn’t have to be only BJJ technique specific things. For example porrada is a good word to know. Feel free to write a comment at the bottom of the page or email me: bkoplitz@gmail.com)