São Paulo – Publishing house Adonis launched last weekend the Manual prático ilustrado Português/Árabe [Portuguese-Arabic illustrated practical handbook] for Brazilian Portuguese and Arabic speakers to work on conversation in both languages. The book was written by author, essayist, poet and folklorist Norma Simão Adad Mirandola, who was born in Catalão, Goiás state, and descends from Arabs.
Her childhood amongst Arab immigrant parents and grandparents from Homs, Syria, served as inspiration to create the handbook. “The written material came from a simple request by my daughter, who was then just a teenager. She wanted a practical way to better understand and even speak Arabic, the language her grandparents spoke at home,” Mirandola is quoted as saying in a statement released by the publishing house.
To help her daughter, she started listing Arabic’s most common words alongside their translations. Then the Catalão-born author realized it would be best to display the Portuguese words in alphabetical order as dictionary entries featuring their translations. “That’s what made it work, I think. So that’s what I’m sharing with readers now.”
The list remained shelved for a long time, but upon the arrival of the pandemic, the author decided to get back to it. Besides presenting the words, the book also refers to elements of the ancient Mediterranean culture and reveal aspects and customs that remain preserved in the Middle East. Thematic illustrations, idiomatic phrases and other features contribute for a better understanding of the words in context and open doors for more comprehensive language studies.
Portuguese-Arabic handbook by a Doctor of Letters
Mirandola holds a degree in Romance Languages and Literature from the Pontifical Catholic University (PUC) in Goiás, a master’s degree in Languages and Literature from the Federal University of Goiás (UFG) in agreement with the University of São Paulo (USP), and a PhD in Languages and Literature from USP. She also holds a specialization in Reading Techniques and Children’s Literature, as well as French and Latin. The Arab descendant wrote As tecedeiras de Goiás: estudo linguístico, etnográfico e folclórico [The weavers of Goiás: A linguistic, ethnographic and folkloric study] Poemas escolhidos [Selected poems], and Frases de para-choques de caminhões: seus saberes [Bumper stickers: Their wisdom], and coauthored Vegetais tintoriais do Brasil Central [Tinctorial plants from Central Brazil].
The launch of the handbook took place in the Adonis Comelato Auditorium in Americana, São Paulo state, on Saturday (08).
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Translated by Guilherme Miranda