Translation Apps

Hi, I have been looking for a translator like “google translate” but for European Portuguese. Is there one available that anyone knows of? Seems they say they are European, but end up being Brazilian. Thanks :slight_smile:

2 Likes

I’ve wondered about this before. Google Translate is ok, but there’s a lot of Brazilian Portuguese mixed in. I haven’t found a better alternative yet, though.

2 Likes

UPDATE: We have our own translator tool now, powered by DeepL: European Portuguese Translation Available to members on the website and in our mobile app.

Old message: I wish! I have not come across anything like this yet. It seems like every translation app defaults to Brazilian Portuguese.

This is not the same as Google Translate, but you might find this site useful: www.linguee.com. It’s focused on translating just words or short phrases, but the nice thing is that you can see how the words are used in context. It returns examples of how a word was translated in other sources across the internet.

It definitely doesn’t give you the quick, full answer you get from Google Translate, but I think it’s still worth mentioning because it has the advantage of allowing you to read through the examples and try to match to the meaning that was most similar to what you intended. You’ll get both Brazilian and European translations back, so at least you have both to compare, rather than only seeing Brazilian.

3 Likes

But actually, Google Translate sometimes includes European Portuguese as well, at least in the additional possible translations that are listed. But you have to know enough of both Portuguese variants to sort through that mess. I didn’t know about Linguee, seems pretty nice!

1 Like

Linguee is a must have.

2 Likes

@joelrendall you must have a look at the free app buffl when you are a fan of flashcards.

1 Like

I agree Molly. I have Google Translate, Linguee, Portuguese Dictionary, & Portuguese Verbs on my iPhone. You can search in either English or Portuguese for verbs in both Linguee and Portuguese Verbs which is really handy and you can listen to the conjugations in Portuguese Verbs as well. Very handy tools.

2 Likes

Awesome resources! Thanks everyone. Super helpful. I am going to Portugal for 3 weeks! Gotta get my practice on! I’ll use these in my toolbox :smile:

1 Like

Hope you have a good time, @Chrissyri1223!

1 Like

My girlfriend is a translator and she rates deepl.com as the best tool for Portuguese.

3 Likes

@andreas.schubert.de, good timing. Just a few days back, @kiwijock suggested Deepl on this topic. It does seem really fast and accurate. Also, welcome to the forum!

1 Like

Hi Andreas. Does deepl.com translate to/from European or Brazilian Portuguese?

Hey, @john.jardin. From what I could tell, it doesn’t distinguish between European and Brazilian Portuguese in the language menu, so you might get a mix of translation options from both variants. But then, each option has a little note saying [Braz.] or [Port.], so you know which is which. You have to scroll down to see it.

2 Likes

Hi Joseph. Thanks for the input. I’ve tried out a few searches on their website and I can’t find one instance where they display [Braz] or [Port].

For example. I type “dog” in, as they are different in Brazil (cachorro) and Portugal (cão). As usual though, I get the Brazil term back in the search result, with “cão” as one of the 3 alternatives.

Unfortunately, as a beginner, I don’t know which is for Brazil or Portugal. Not your problem of course, but most definitely an issue in general for those wanting to learn European Portuguese.

1 Like

Ah, interesting. Yesterday, I tried searches such as “train ride” and “bus ticket” and that’s where I saw the distinction between [Braz.] and [Port.]. Maybe “cão/cachorro” falls into a grey area, because both words exist in both variants. Anyway, there’s room for improvement :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Ah, I see. I did a “train ride” search now and see what you mean. I suppose it’s better than Google Translate, if it at least tries to help you with distinction in some cases :+1:

1 Like

I use the microsoft translate app. The speaking has a European Portuguese function that I have used with good success. The type in and camera functions on the same app, not so good.

1 Like

I uses the translator from PONS. PONS is a german company for language learning (i think🤔) and they have dictionarys for a lot of languages. You can combine every language with every other available language.
The translator works pretty well - even from european portuguese to german - and you can decide if you want to have the translation in brazilian or in european portuguese and you can decide the same for the pronounciation.
I pay 1,99 Euro the year to have no waste of time with commercials but for free it works too.

2 Likes