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Article: This could spell trouble
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Jun 15, 2009

This topic is for discussion of the ProZ.com translation article "This could spell trouble".
 
David Andersen
David Andersen  Identity Verified
Australia
Local time: 04:21
Indonesian to English
+ ...
Details of the changes Nov 23, 2011

I'd appreciate a link to a site which explains in English what the main changes in the spelling are. As someone who has been involved in developing orthographies in Indonesia, it would be interesting to see what the differences in the competing spelling systems are.
 
Aline Pereira
Aline Pereira  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 10:21
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Great article and tip Jul 25, 2013

"...may want to check out a small utility developed by Brazilian language services company Ccaps. It can be used to convert translation units in SDL Trados TMs from the old Brazilian Portuguese spelling to the new orthography."

Thanks for the helpful article and tip. I really appreciate learning about the Ccaps tool and look forward to trying it.
 
Paul Dixon
Paul Dixon  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 15:21
Portuguese to English
+ ...
An memwa de
Bad May 30, 2020

The new spelling is very bad, mainly because it does not show pronunciation. In the good old days, pronunciation was shown by accent marks, so we knew that 'sêde' (thirst) had a closed E, while 'sede' (site of a company) had an open E. Now, without the accent mark (both are 'sede') there is no way of knowing. Similarly, there is no indication that cinquenta (formerly cinqüenta) has the qu pronounced as KW while queijo (which never had an accent) has the qu pronounced as K /kay-zhoo/.
Whi... See more
The new spelling is very bad, mainly because it does not show pronunciation. In the good old days, pronunciation was shown by accent marks, so we knew that 'sêde' (thirst) had a closed E, while 'sede' (site of a company) had an open E. Now, without the accent mark (both are 'sede') there is no way of knowing. Similarly, there is no indication that cinquenta (formerly cinqüenta) has the qu pronounced as KW while queijo (which never had an accent) has the qu pronounced as K /kay-zhoo/.
While this is not a problem for native Portuguese speakers, it is very bad for children and for foreigners learning Portuguese. I am sure we will start hearing the incorrect 'seen-kenta' soon.
I feel the solution would be to revert to the pre-1971 spelling, much clearer. You even learnt new words through the old spellings. For example, when we learnt the old accent on 'tôda' (every), we ended up learning that there is a bird called 'toda' (with open O), which we would never have imagined otherwise.
In writing (except in jobs, where the client is king) I refuse to use the new spelling rules. For me it will always be 'idéia' and 'cinqüenta'. The post-1971 spelling is difficult to change as it is now well-established. There is still time to change or block the most recent changes, however. ▲ Collapse


MollyRose
 


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Article: This could spell trouble






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