Practice your Portuguese by listening to and translating songs from Portuguese to your native language. This song is called “Rumo ao Sul” (Southbound) interpreted by Ana Moura. The translation into English is after the lyrics below.
If you’re here from the 30-day Challenge for your daily goal, the task for today is to listen to the song a few times and try to follow along with the lyrics in Portuguese. At the end of the task, try to rate yourself and include the date. This is so you can later come back to this exercise and see how you have improved over time. Let’s jump in. (You don’t need to be a part of the challenge to do these suggested exercises 😉 )
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Tasks for the 30-Day Portuguese Challenge
- Beginners: Really actively listen to how the words are being pronounced. Before looking at the translation, underline the words you know and circle the ones you don’t. Write the words you don’t know into a list on your paper and save them for later. The main goal is to listen to the sounds of the language and be introduced to new vocabulary. If you’d like to take a step further, now look up words in the online dictionary and make notes if they are used in other contexts.
- Intermediates: After listening and looking at the lyrics – BUT NOT the translation yet – analyse the words more closely. Write down a summary of what you think the song is about. Then compare that to the translation. Then separate the words into different categories such as which ones are the verbs (actions), which ones are the nouns (names of things and people or animals) and which ones are the adjectives (descriptions). You can go a step further and indicate what tense the verbs are in. The main goal is to see how your comprehension is progressing and what you need to work more on.
- Advanced: After listening and looking at the Portuguese lyrics, your task is to translate the lyrics without any help. If you come across a word you’ve never seen, try an educated guess before looking it up in the dictionary. It doesn’t always have to make perfect sense. As I’m sure you know, sometimes artists will use a word or pronounce it in an uncommon way so it fits with the rhyme. Then compare it to the translation and see how you did. If you have the opportunity to go a little further, write a composition stating your opinion on the song. And that can be anything you like: the lyrics, the melody, the voice, the feelings, how you would change it if you didn’t like it, you name it. Try to include compound tenses and the subjunctive mood in your composition.
The following video is not mine.
“Rumo ao Sul”
Estou na estrada da volta pra onde
Eu já não quero ir
No escritório esta tarde foi tudo
Pra me deprimir
A buzina apressada de um carro
Que me quer passar
Na portagem um rosto indiferente
Diz-me pra pagar
Rumo ao sul, sem amor, devagar
O meu sonho faz-se ao mar
Sem amor rumo ao sul
O meu céu perdeu o azul
Volto as costas às luzes brilhantes
Da cidade mãe
Sou a sombra impiedosa do apego
A quem já não se tem
Sei que ao fim desta estrada há uma casa
Que suponho ter
E a vontade indomável que teima
Em me querer perder
Rumo ao sul, sem amor, devagar
O meu sonho faz-se ao mar
Sem amor rumo ao sul
O meu céu perdeu o azul
Rumo ao sul, sem amor, devagar
O meu sonho faz-se ao mar
Sem amor rumo ao sul
O meu céu perdeu o azul
O meu céu perdeu o azul
O meu céu perdeu o azul
Translation
“Southbound”
I’m on the road back to where
I no longer want to go
At the office this afternoon it was all
To depress me
The hurried horn of a car
That wants to pass me by
At the toll booth an indifferent face
Tells me to pay
Towards the south, without love, slowly
My dream takes to the sea/gone to sea
Without love heading south
My sky has lost its blue
I turn my back on the bright lights
Of the mother city
I am the merciless shadow of attachment
To the one you no longer have
I know that at the end of this road there’s a house
That I suppose I have
And the indomitable will that insists
In wanting to lose me
Heading south, without love, slowly
My dream takes to the sea/gone to sea
Without love heading south
My sky has lost its blue
Southward, without love, slowly
My dream takes to the sea/gone to sea
Without love heading south
My sky has lost its blue
My sky has lost its blue
My sky has lost its blue
For more songs in Portuguese click here. To learn more about the 30-Day Portuguese Challenge click here or sign up below.