Localizing a Museum Audio Guide from Brazil to Portugal
A museum in Lisbon is adapting a 12-minute audio guide recorded in São Paulo for a photography exhibition. The audience is estimated at 60% Portuguese, 25% Brazilian, 15% other nationalities; the museum wants one Portuguese version, not two. Subtitles must fit two lines of 42 characters and should not expand the spoken script by more than 15%. The Brazilian narrator's script includes: 'Se o celular tocar, não atendam'; 'o curador ficou a ver navios quando o trem atrasou'; 'no fim, o manobrista quis uma propina para deixar o carro'; and 'quem paga o pato é sempre o visitante'. The curator wants the Lisbon version to sound natural to Portuguese ears without erasing the Brazilian origin of the exhibition. You must decide what to localise, what to keep, and what to explain. The museum has no budget for a second recording, so the same voice track will be used; only the subtitles and a printed glossary can change.
1. Decide how to render 'celular' and 'trem' in the Lisbon subtitles. Justify using the audience split and the 42-character constraint.
Read the worked answer
Use 'telemóvel' for 'celular' and 'comboio' for 'trem'. Reasons: 60% of the audience is Portuguese, and the subtitle is a written EP text; 'celular' and 'trem' are marked BR in EP and would read as unlocalised, not as charmingly foreign. The 25% Brazilian share does not justify keeping BR lexis in a subtitle track because Brazilians generally understand 'telemóvel' and 'comboio' from exposure, whereas Portuguese viewers may misread 'trem' as 'train' only after a beat; 'celular' is transparent but still marked.
Character count: 'telemóvel' (9) fits; 'comboio' (7) is shorter than 'trem' (4) but the line has room. If the line were tight, 'trem' could stay in a quotation, but here it is narration. Keep the Brazilian voice track; the glossary can note the original terms.
2. Explain 'ficar a ver navios' and 'pagar o pato'. Propose subtitles for both and state what is lost.
Read the worked answer
'Ficar a ver navios' literally means 'to stay watching ships'; idiomatically it means to be left waiting with nothing, often after being promised something. In context, the curator waited while the train was delayed, so he was left stranded or empty-handed. Subtitle options: 'was left stranded' or 'was left waiting for nothing'. 'Left high and dry' is idiomatic but more dramatic; 'was left watching ships' would be literal and confusing.
'Pagar o pato' means to be the one who pays or suffers for others, roughly 'to foot the bill' or 'to carry the can'. 'The visitor always foots the bill' fits the exhibition's tone. What is lost is the animal image and the informal flavour; 'carry the can' keeps some idiom but is British and may be too slangy for a museum. The glossary can carry the literal images, but the subtitles should carry the sense.
3. The line contains 'manobrista' and 'propina'. Explain the false-friend risk and propose a Lisbon-safe rendering.
Read the worked answer
'Manobrista' is a Brazilian term for a parking attendant or valet; EP would say 'arrumador' or 'empregado do parque'. 'Propina' is the dangerous one: in BR it commonly means a bribe; in EP it primarily means a tuition fee. A Lisbon reader could parse 'quis uma propina' as 'wanted a fee', which is wrong in context.
Propose: 'o arrumador quis um suborno' or, more colloquially, 'o arrumador pediu dinheiro por baixo da mesa'. The first is compact and fits the subtitle limit; the second is longer but still fits two lines. Do not write 'propina = bribe' in the subtitle; that is a glossary note. The glossary should flag the BR/EP split because the exhibition's origin is Brazilian, but the main subtitle must translate the scene, not the dictionary.