A Dictionary of Informal Brazilian Portuguese: With English Index [Hardcover]

Bobby J. Chamberlain (Author), Ronald M. Harmon (Editor), Gregory Rabassa (Designer)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: Portugese, English

Product Details

• Hardcover: 701 pages
• Publisher: Georgetown University Press (October 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0878400915
• ISBN-13: 978-0878400911
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,220,454 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An indispensible tool, January 13, 2000

By 

Troy Chinen (Fremont, California, U.S.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Dictionary of Informal Brazilian Portuguese: With English Index (Hardcover)

I am truly astonished at the amount of research the authors put into this text; I would have considered it a bargain at triple the price. It covers a very wide range of levels of informality ranging from merely "colloquial" all the way down to "vulgar."

Many of my Brazilian friends have commented that the book is accurate and the examples quite humorous. If you are studying Portuguese, you must have a copy of this book.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Usefulness NEVER goes out of "style", August 28, 2002

By 

D. McClure "Magnum Opus" (Wilmington, DE United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Dictionary of Informal Brazilian Portuguese: With English Index (Hardcover)

Beware the temporal snob I always say, as a good colloquial saying never goes out of style. This book is FANTASTIC. I've worked many of the expressions from this book into my conversations with Brazilians and they not only knew what I was talking about, it always produced a great laugh and the question "where does a gringo ever learn to say such things?" From this book I tell ya! CERTAIN (not all) slang expressions do fall from usage, and some new ones are added - does that erase the value of this incredible text? Not for a second. Can you imagine how old our expression "take a hike" is? Or how about "What's up?" (I'm sure it was around before Bugs Bunny said it in 1939) "What's up?" Is as hip now as it was over 60 years ago, as are the expressions used in this book. But it's not about being hip, it's about understand figurative language and being able to express yourself figuratively. That's what this book does for you, and I assure you that as much as people said "that's diesel" 5 years ago, we never needed that expression to begin with (but I doubt we'll ever stop saying "what's up"...case closed). The good ones never die. Buy it! And to you guys who don't like the fact that whatever was said in the latest rap cd isn't in here - deixa de encher o saco, PQP~!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book's the bomb, February 3, 2001

By 

James G. Dangelo (Brookline, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Dictionary of Informal Brazilian Portuguese: With English Index (Hardcover)

I must disagree with the other reviewer who said this book was out of date. This book is amazing and super-useful. I just came back from a year in Brasil (I returned in January of 2001) and I carried this book everywhere. It was very helpful when it came to reading, drinking and brandishing insults.

At first glance the book does look old. It looks like it might be xeroxed pages from a typewriter, but after a couple moments with the book all my friends were trying to steal it from me. It made me feel local so much faster than any other book, tape or video I had packed in my arsenal. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.