Silver Coast Life - Lost in Translation!

I moved to Portugal almost 5 years ago and now definitely consider the Silver Coast my home. It is such a great place to live and has so much to offer me and my family.

Since moving to the Silver Coast I have tried my hardest to learn Portuguese and can now make myself understood in most situations, although I am very far from fluent. Our five year old son has managed to pick up the language with no trouble at all speaking fluently to his teacher and school friends with a perfect Portuguese accent.

Learning Portuguese has been a great source of entertainment to both myself and my husband, with many translations causing no end of amusement. For instance, the word for dog in Portuguese is ‘Cao’, which is pronounced ‘cow’. The word for turkey (as in Christmas) is ‘peru’, apparently this is because the Portuguese assumed the bird originated from Peru just as us Brits thought it came from Turkey!

The Silver Coast has many little towns and villages with highly amusing names, such as Cabeça Gorda, which in English translates to ‘Fat Head’, Manteigas which means ‘Butters’ and I have noticed several villages with the name of Chaos! The more I learn of this Latin based, romantic language and this wonderful country the more I love it.

Welcome to Portugal, Bem Vindo a Portugal!


By Stephanie Johnson