In Brazil the beautiful game is called football, or futebol in Portuguese, not soccer. The sport started to be played in Brazil when the Sao Paulo-born Charles Miller brought it over, in 1895, from the English football association that was played in the UK.
The Football association’s governing body is FIFA (Federation Internationale Football Association) and its main event is the World Cup, which is played every four years and will take place in just a few days in Brazil.
The Brazilian pronunciation of futebol is foo tee BAL. As in other anglicismos, that is, words borrowed from English, each consonant is pronounced with a vowel and every consonant/vowel combination is pronounced separately. Sometimes a slight change in spelling might occur. Let’s take a look at some more examples. Notice that the meaning is not always the same either.
| English | Portuguese version | Portuguese meaning | Pronunciation |
| ketchup | catchup or catchupe | same | catSHOO pee |
| Internet | internet | same | een ter NEH tee |
| outdoor | outdoor | billboard | OW tee dohr |
| tennis | tênis | game or sneakers | TUH neez |
| flash | flash | photo flash | FLAH shee |
| stereo | estéreo | same | ehs TEH reh oh |
| hotdog | cachorro quente | same | roh tee DOH guee |
For anyone studying Portuguese with our Complete Edition or online course, Unit 4 of the Intermediate Brazilian Portuguese expands on this theme and adds some vocabulary that the English borrowed from Portuguese, such as marmalade. You’ll hear some anglicisms in the flashcards from this unit on our Language Lab.
In addition, Lesson 10 of the Essential Brazilian Portuguese has more vocabulary for sports and leisure activities for you to practice. Learn how to say “Do you like soccer?” and use other sports words from the flashcards for this lesson on our Language Lab.
Photo Credit: APM Alex via Compfight cc
