Have you ever tried to translate the word saudades?
It is almost impossible. I have tried and took me a while to understand that
this is a hard task. A study shows that the word saudades is the seventh most difficult word to translate. Many
teachers say that there is no translation. The closest translation would be “I
miss you”.
The reason why it is not easy
to find an equivalent word in English for saudades
is quite simple: it is not a verb but a feeling. And how can you translate a
feeling? You can’t explain something you do not feel. It sounds dumb but you
must feel it.
You may wonder if I am capable
of doing that or if I can give you the right translation. Well, there is no
right or wrong because like I said it is a feeling. And yes, I can help you
because I am feeling it right now while I am writing these humble lines.I will give
you some examples so you can have a slight idea of what it is.
Mom
She passed away 2 years ago and
left a hole that will never be fulfilled. She was awesome. She was lovely to
everybody. I miss her love and caring but what I miss the most is the pudding. I
don’t miss the pudding itself but all the trouble she had to make it and in the
end it was as hard as wood. Kkk… Oh, and I remember when I went to her house she used to
prepare some salad for me. Just for me. That got my brothers really mad and jealous.
I miss that. I miss my mom.
Dad
He was a very nice guy, being
funny and serious at the same time. He always took good care of us. We cannot
complain about anything. My father loved watching soccer games. He was… how can
I say this… it is so embarrassing… he was curintianu… aff… and I remember him
in front of the TV cursing the players. That was funny. I used to say “you understand
you are talking to the TV, right?” He got mad and cursed me too. That was
hilarious. But one thing I do not understand. My father was curintianu and I am
palmeirense. I can’t explain that. But I have to say that I am very glad for
that. I love Palmeiras and today we are the champions of Copa do Brasil.
Uhuuuuuuuuu…. Yeeeeesss…. We are the champions, my friend… and we’ll keep
fighting till the end… We are the champions… Oh, sorry. As I was saying, I
loved him. I miss watching soccer games on TV by his side. I miss my dad.
Pets
I cannot say I miss any pet in
particular but I know people who still cry for their pets. It is really funny.
They were really attached to the animal and every now and then they remember
the good times they spent with their pets and just cry. A good example how a
person can get close to an animal is the movie Marley. Marley is a dog that
literally destroys the house of its owner. It is funny to see the battle
between the woman and the dog. But in the end, when the dog dies, she feels it.
She finally realizes how happy she was with Marley. She remembers the good
moments they had together. And she misses him. She misses Marley. And this is
just one example. If you talk to people, many of them will say they care more
about their pets than to their friends or relatives. People who have pets miss
them when they are gone.
Spectreman / Ultraseven
If you are younger than 30 you
might not know Spectroman. Or Ultraseven. But if you are older, which is not my
case, you know what I am talking about. Record used to broadcast them and I
used to watch every single episode. I just loved it. I remember that after the
program, my friends and I used to go to the street and play. We imagined that a
monster was destroying our neighborhood and Spectroman and Ultraseven would
save the day. Gosh, I miss that. I miss the programs. I miss my childhood
friends.
Caverna do dragão (Dungeons and Dragons)
Even if you did not have the
opportunity to watch it, you are aware of what I am talking about. Dungeons and Dragons was a cartoon, a hit on
Globo, more specifically within the program Turma da Xuxa. Oh My God. I woke up
early just to watch the program and sing… “Quem quer pão quem quer
pão quem quer pão que está quentinho tá quentinho tá quentinho tão gostosinho
gostosinhogostosinho quero mais um... MAIS UM.” The song is still in my head. And the cartoon is one
of the best ever. I will never forget Turma da Xuxa (He-man, She-ha, Paquitas)
and Dugeons and Dragons. I miss them.
Teachers
I loved going to school. I cannot say the same about my son. He is not what I can call a big fan of Math and Portuguese. But anyway, I am talking about my childhood and I must say again: I loved going to school. I loved my classmates, my notebooks, my pens, my pencils. I was a very organized student, different from the other boys, whose notebooks looked like trash. In fact, the teachers, more specifically my Portuguese teacher, used to say that my notebooks were so neat that they looked like a girl’s. She also said that my handwriting was too beautiful for a boy. It looked like a girl’s handwriting. Was I gay and did not know that? Aff… do not want to talk about it. And speaking of Portuguese teacher, I loved mine. Dona Janice. I wanted to marry her. Silly, right?But not for a 12-year-old boy. I miss her. And I also miss my Geography teacher (Dona Floripes), my Sciences teacher (a Japanese guy that I cannot recall his name), my Geometry teacher (a guy with a huge mustache. I wanted to have a mustache like his), etc. All good professionals. All excellent teachers. I loved them all. I miss them.
Bolinho de batata
As I already told you I loved going to school. I really did. Why? Because of the teachers, my friends, the games we used to play on the patio, my notebooks, my books, my Portuguese teacher and I cannot forget the ‘bolinho de batata’. Oh yes. On the street in front of the entrance school gate there was a woman who used to sell the most delicious ‘bolinho de batata’ of the whole universe. It was so good that we students used to fight for them. Why? Because we were irrational animals?Maybe. But we used to fight because in less than one minute the ‘bolinhos’ were gone. Imagine many children/teenagers together and waiting for the woman to arrive and set up her tent. The first glimpse of her there would be someone screaming ‘boooooolinho de batataaaaaaaaaaa’ and we would transform ourselves into wild beasts, fighting for it. Giving our blood for it. Sometimes even our lives. That’s right. A girl died trying to buy a ‘bolinho de batata’. Of course I am kidding. We were crazy but not that crazy. Well, I miss those bolinhos de batata.
Physical Education
One of the best moments of my
life. We had the best Physical Education teacher ever. And why is that? Because
he was lazy andwomanizer. Let me explain. The girls were crazy about him. So to
get rid of us he would give us a soccer ball and let us play soccer all day
long. That’s right. Play soccer all day long. Oh my God. There was nothing
better than that. I do not want to sound rude but I was a fine player. And
needless to say I just loved playing soccer. I miss that.
MacGyver
If you are crazy about House,
Friends, Big Bang Theory and all the American TV shows you would be crazy about
this guy: MacGyver. He could disarm a bomb with a paper clip. Amazing.Awesome.
I loved the show. I spent hours thinking about it. ‘How did he do that?’ And I
also liked his voice. Not the original but the Brazilian version. I miss that
show.
Legião Urbana
Restart? Cine?NXZero? No. No
and No. When I was a teenager I had the opportunity to listen to the greatest
Brazilian band of all times. Renato Russo was a poet, philosopher, genius. He
could right about anything. To give you an idea about his greatness take the
song FaroesteCabloco. It is a 10-minute song without a single repetition.
Something simply amazing. How could he do that? He was so intelligent that
sometimes it was difficult to understand what he wanted to say. For example the
song 29. He uses this number a lot of times and I just don’t know why. Some
friends of mine don’t like them. They say Legião is depressive. Well, I like
them. I miss them.
Blue Lagoon
There was a place near my house
where my friends and I used to in the afternoons to swin in a lake. The famous
Blue Lagoon. And I remember my nickname was Indio
da Lagoa because of my hair. And of course because I loved to go to this
place. But I have to confess it wasn’t safe. We had to pass through lots of
obstacles to get there and my father once said he didn’t want me to go there.
One day it was raining cats and dogs and we diced to go there. My friend almost
got killed trying to cross a stream. I really thought he would die. Well, my
father found out (damn neighbors) and spanked me. I miss that. I mean, the blue
lagoon not the spanking thing.
I hope these examples can help
you to have a slight idea of what the word saudade
means. And I do hope you have had the chance to feel it.
Eddie – August 2012
