In a common day of class, correcting a composition, I've noticed that a student wrote: “She gave me the cake”. I immediately thought where the cake could be in that context, then, I realized that the student was trying to say that a person didn’t arrive where he/she was waiting, “giving him the cake”.
This is a common mistake in English, because the students don’t know that for many expressions in Portuguese there is another one totally different in English.
Give the cake is only one example.
When someone doesn’t appear in a meeting, we usually say in Portuguese that he/she gave us a cake. But in English the expression is “Stand somebody up”.
E.g.: “John stood me up at the mall”.
After all we laugh at the situation!!
Do you want to know a specific expression? Send us an e-mail: nataliadenisethais@gmail.com!
See you!
It happens to me sometimes when I´m correcting compositions, I have to stop for a while and try to understand what the students are really trying to say. I´ve noticed they have the terrible habit of translating word by word. =/
ResponderExcluirIt happens all the time! I've heard things like "I book you face" (livro sua cara) "tea with me" ('xa' comigo) hahaha
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