Massachusetts: For immigrants, hybrid language helps bridge divide

Mon Dec 24 14:40:48 UTC 2007

 For immigrants, hybrid language helps bridge divide
By Patrick Cassidy

STAFF WRITER December 23, 2007 6:00 AM

HYANNIS — Most people know Spanglish as the language hybrid of Spanish
and English. So what happens when you mix Brazilian Portuguese and
English? Branglish? The mixture of languages is a normal and necessary
part of language acquisition, according to Rosianne Doane, a
Portuguese interpreter at Cape Cod Hospital, and other linguists. The
thousands of Brazilian immigrants on the Cape and Islands do what
comes naturally, Doane said. They substitute and mix Portuguese with
English. "I don't want to pretend that this purity exists," she said.
"As an interpreter, I try to watch myself but everybody does it."

For example in Brazil, homes seldom have basements, Doane said. But,
for better or worse, the damp subterranean spaces are a fixture on
Cape Cod. For a Brazilian who moved here without the Portuguese word
for basement — "porão" — in their daily vocabulary, reliance on the
English word is acceptable, Doane said. "You combine both languages to
really express yourself," said Elizabeth Barraso, a colleague of
Doane's.

Language is, by its nature, dynamic. As cultures and language groups
collide, words are borrowed and manipulated to fit circumstances.
Words and phrases from different languages are combined as immigrants
learn a new lexicon.

"There's something called inter-language when you're in between the
two languages," said Karyn Van Kirk, program coordinator for the
college transition program for non-native English speakers at Cape Cod
Community College. "It's a natural thing."

The mixture occurs more frequently among larger populations than it
does in smaller groups, Van Kirk said.

Most people are familiar with the term Spanglish — now the title of a
popular movie — but there are plenty of other modern examples of
language blends.

Because of the Cape's large Brazilian population, the most obvious
combination of languages locally is between English and Portuguese.

It is less prominent among the smaller waves of eastern Europeans who
have recently come to the Cape, Van Kirk said.

Busy is a word mixed often with a Portuguese suffix because of the
Brazilian work ethic on the Cape, Doane said. While there is a
Portuguese word used for busy, it does not connote the same frenzied
activity as the English word, she said.

The only direct translation would be to say something akin to "'I
almost died of working,'" Doane said.

Therefore busy becomes "bizado" in casual conversations among Cape Brazilians.

After 17 years in the United States, Barraso has forgotten some
Portuguese words and goes back and forth between the two languages all
the time, she said.

But in speaking with other Brazilians who have been here for a long
time, everybody understands each other, she said.

And when talk turns to something as important as a person's health,
the tendency to use the most familiar words possible is overwhelming
despite any efforts to learn English, Doane said. "There's a very
strong tendency to go back to your native language."

Examples abound.

Basquete is used for basket even though Portuguese for basket is
cesto. Chalk the combination up to the proliferation of basketball
around the world.

Small bags are beguinas, a word that combines the English for bag and
the Portuguese diminutive ending.

The Portuguese suffix -ar is attached to words like park and order and
the words immediately become more familiar to Brazilians.

The use of multiple languages expands the range of communications, Van
Kirk said. "It might happen more often when its a word that is so
evocative."

One such example is the word saudade, Van Kirk said. There is no
direct translation but in English pining or to have nostalgia for
someone or someplace is a close approximation.

"It's not always coming from a deficit place," she said. "You just
can't say that a better way."

Brazilians far from home use saudade often even when the rest of a
sentence is in English.

"I have saudade for my family," is not an uncommon phrase to hear from
the Cape's Brazilians when they speak to a native English speaker.

In English-as-a-second-language classrooms there is little room for
any language but English, said Kathleen Busse, a teacher at the
Hyannis branch of Cape Cod Community College. "Our overall policy is
when they are in the classroom they must speak English for the obvious
reason in that this is what you are there for," Busse said. In Busse's
classroom last week another problem with mixing languages was
immediately evident. The class was filled with people from Nepal,
Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Brazil. As more than a dozen students
recited a popular Christmas poem, the thought of introducing other
languages appeared far from anybody's mind.

Movements and laws in many countries encourage the use of particular
languages in all classrooms and businesses. And some language purists
say that the mixture of languages corrupts the original lexicons. But
mixing and matching words is a transitional stage in the process of
language acquisition, Busse said. Out of the classroom she fully
expects students to play with the two languages. "No one just walks in
and starts speaking pure English." The temptation to mix and match
words and phrases is powerful, even for longtime residents and native
English speakers. Van Kirk does it with Italian, she said.

"I've done it with my friends who are Greek," said George Carras,
another English teacher at the Hyannis branch of the college. "We'd
start a sentence in Greek and finish it in English."
Patrick Cassidy can be reached at pcassidy at capecodonline.com.

Words that bridge the gap:

apontamento - a Portuguese word for notes, often used to mean
appointment because of its similarity to the English word

beguinha - a combination of the English word bag and the Portuguese
diminutive suffix -inha, meaning small
basement - many Brazilians use the English word even when speaking
Portuguese because there are so few basements in Brazil, porão is
Portuguese for basement
basquete - from the Portuguese for basketball, it is used for baskets
by Brazilians
bizado - this combination of the English word busy and the Portuguese
suffix -ado is used often by Brazilians trying to express often
harried working lives
parquear/ordear/serapiar - the English verbs park/order/set up are
combined with the Portuguese suffix -ar, used for many verbs
saudade - there is no English translation that means the exact same
thing but the closest is to pine for or have nostalgia for someone or
someplace

Source: Rosianne Doane, interpreter, Cape Cod Hospital - some
spellings are approximations as many words are only used verbally

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071223/NEWS/712230340
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