Foreign Language Portuguese - Basic study materials
Foreign Language Portuguese - Basic study resources

Faithful mediation to a host

Foreign Language Portuguese - Basic · Put your knowledge to work in context.

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Faithful mediation to a host

A fictional German source says that a Friday school visit will begin at ten instead of nine and asks visitors to bring identification. The learner must send an appropriate Portuguese message to an adult host who will accompany the group and ask whether the revised time is possible. A draft switches between address forms, preserves the old start time and invents a free lunch. It also omits identification because the writer considers that condition a minor detail. The task gives no universal word count or examination penalty; it asks for faithful information, a coherent register and a clear request. The source establishes conditions for this particular invented visit only, not a general legal identification rule or a promise of extra services. The recipient should be able to act without reading the German source.

1. Which information must be preserved or removed?

Read the worked answer

Preserve Friday, the new time of ten and the source’s identification request, then ask about availability. Replace the superseded time of nine and remove the unsupported free lunch. A condition affecting the recipient’s action is not an irrelevant detail.

2. Provide an appropriate Portuguese core message.

Read the worked answer

«Cara Senhora Silva, a visita de sexta-feira começará às dez, e não às nove. Pede-se aos visitantes que levem um documento de identificação. Poderá acompanhar o grupo no novo horário? Com os melhores cumprimentos». The message preserves the conditions and maintains a coherent formal address.