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quite few

Portuguese translation: bem poucos/pouquinho/quase nada/muito pouca coisa/muito poucos

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:quite few
Portuguese translation:bem poucos/pouquinho/quase nada/muito pouca coisa/muito poucos
Entered by: Erik Bry

00:12 Aug 31, 2008
English to Portuguese translations [PRO]
Idioms / Maxims / Sayings
English term or phrase: quite few
Estou revisando um texto no qual "poucos" foi traduzido como "quite a few". Sei que isto está errado, pois "quite a few" significa "muitos" (http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/quite a few). Minha dúvida é se, como suspeito, "quite few", de fato significa "poucos".

Portanto, como vocês traduziriam "quite few"? O complemento são coisas contáveis, ou seja, "quite few cars", "quite few people", etc.
Edimilson Ferreira
Armenia
Local time: 02:17
pouquinho/quase nada/muito pouca coisa
Explanation:
quite few=very few
Selected response from:

Erik Bry
Local time: 16:17
Grading comment
Thanks again.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +2pouquinho/quase nada/muito pouca coisa
Erik Bry
5 +2bem poucos
bannedboox
4 +3muito poucos
Maria Meneses
5(AmEng)=very few=muito pouco;(BrEng)=fairly few=bem pouco/bastante, sofrivelmente.
marco lessa (X)
4muitos
Lúcia Leitão
Summary of reference entries provided
Fernando Domeniconi

Discussion entries: 13





  

Answers


11 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
muitos


Explanation:
Encontrei algumas "dicussões" em fóruns sobre essa dúvida e parece-me que a conclusão final é mesmo a que supunha. "Quite a few" é muito e não pouco.

"Many X quite a few
As vezes pode parecer confuso, principalmente para os estudantes de Inglês que se encontram no nível básico ou até mesmo no intermediário.
Many, todos sabem que é usado para quantificar coisas que podem ser contáveis, por exemplo, many cars, many books, etc. Agora, num primeiro momento a expressão quite a few parece ter um significado contrário, ou seja, pouco, pouquissímos.
Mas isso é o que parece mas não é, quite a few e many, tem o mesmo sentido.
There are many cars in the city = There are quite a few cars in the city.
I bought many books = I bought quite a few books."

englishcaffe.blogspot.com/2008/05/many-x-quite-few.html - 90k -



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Note added at 11 mins (2008-08-31 00:24:00 GMT)
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Correcção - "discussões"

Lúcia Leitão
Portugal
Local time: 23:17
Native speaker of: Portuguese

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Lucio C P Soluchinsky: a large number. We watched quite a few of the World Cup matches on TV.
4 mins
  -> Obrigada Lúcio
neutral  Katarina Peters: desculpe Lucio, mas eu nunca vi "quite few", que foi a pergunta. Veja acima...
18 mins
  -> Tem razão. Eu é que vi mal a pergunta.
disagree  Erik Bry: quite few and quite a few are not the same
28 mins
  -> Sim, eu sei, foi erro meu, distracção. Vi mal a pergunta
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33 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +2
pouquinho/quase nada/muito pouca coisa


Explanation:
quite few=very few

Erik Bry
Local time: 16:17
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 20
Grading comment
Thanks again.
Notes to answerer
Asker: Hello! Sorry, but I feel I must grant Fernando Domeniconi the 4 points. It's true you were the first to provide a valid answer, but he provided solid reference material, and this was essential here. But thanks anyway!

Asker: Well, it turns out I blew it. He didn't really provide an answer, so I can select yours. Thanks!


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Fernanda Rocha: Any references/examples/explanation?? I think that could help us all! :))
16 mins
  -> Sometimes you just know exactly what it is and don't take the time to reference. Abraços.
agree  felidaevampire: "Quite a few"- a lot; in "quite few", "quite" is used to intensify the meaning of "few"; thus, I agree. (Info from my friend Oxford Advanced Learner's.) "Bem poucos" is also an option; I will post I agree, too.
1 hr
  -> Thank you. The latter entries are merely slight variations of my answer. Maybe I should've listed all! The translation had been done.
agree  Flavia Martins dos Santos
12 hrs
  -> obrigado
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +2
bem poucos


Explanation:
Yes you can say quite few - how many were there? Quite few, after all.
But the two references from Google are both errors and should be written quite a few.
1. We’ve had a quite few server issues --> We’ve had quite a few server issues
2. we have quite few guidance available. in English
This is wrong also because guidance is not a counting noun so you can't say few or many guidance, you have to say a lot or a little. They mean quite a lot of guidance, or quite a few guides. But if my Chinese was as good as their English!

bannedboox
Local time: 15:17
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  felidaevampire: As I mentioned, another option. So is "muito poucos". I will agree to that, too.
38 mins
agree  marco lessa (X): A1. BrEng=QUITE=fairly!
12 hrs
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
muito poucos


Explanation:
Ex. Muito poucos alunos estiveram presentes na apresentação

Maria Meneses
Local time: 23:17
Native speaker of: Native in PortuguesePortuguese

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  felidaevampire: Mantendo minha palavra, estou concordando com todas as opções que considero válidas.
23 mins
  -> Obrigada Felida
agree  Claudio Mazotti: exactamente!
10 hrs
  -> Obrigada Cláudio, mas prevaleceu outra hipótese. Como temas simples originam respostas complexas. É assim a língua. Bom domingo
agree  marco lessa (X): A1. In AmEng!Quite=very!
12 hrs
  -> Obrigada
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13 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
(AmEng)=very few=muito pouco;(BrEng)=fairly few=bem pouco/bastante, sofrivelmente.


Explanation:
Usage.
In American English, QUITE can be used to mean 'VERY' in sentences where in British English it means 'FAIRLY': that dress is quite nice means 'VERY NICE' in AmEng and 'FAIRLY NICE' IN BrEng.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 14 hrs (2008-08-31 14:14:02 GMT) Post-grading
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In BrEng, QUITE A FEW=A CONSIDERABLE NUMBER, Oxford, Fowler.

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Note added at 15 hrs (2008-08-31 15:40:50 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

'FEW' means NOT MANY and emphasizes the smallness of the number. It is distinguished from 'A FEW', which means AT LEAST SOME.
FEW:
DON'T SAY: Altough the question was wasy, A FEW boys were able to answer it.
SAY: Altough the question was easy, FEW boys were able to answer it.
A FEW:
DON'T SAY: He slept LITTLE and felt better.
SAY:
He slept A LITTLE and felt better.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 15 hrs (2008-08-31 15:49:02 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

Fitikides, Common Mistakes in English , 1963, Longman.
***********************************************************
Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow;
He who would search for pearls must dive below.
JOHN DRYDEN
***********************************************************

Example sentence(s):
  • fairly=to some degree, quite=Cut the meat fairly small, but not too small. Fairly, rather, and quite. Fairly is the least strong and rather the strongest of the three.

    The Concise Oxford, Fowler. Longman, Summers.
marco lessa (X)
Brazil
Local time: 19:17
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in PortuguesePortuguese
PRO pts in category: 20
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Reference comments


1 hr peer agreement (net): +5
Reference

Reference information:
Edimilson, veja se ajuda:

Quantifiers in Language and Logic - Google Books Stanley Peters, Dag Westerståhl, Inc NetLibrary - 2006 - Grammar, Comparative and general - 528 pages

The misconception may be connected with the fact that American quite a few and British a good few mean 'more than a few", unlike quite few, which means 'very few'.

http://books.google.com/books?id=cCaNEzH0vAMC&pg=PA169&lpg=P...

Fernando Domeniconi
United States
Native speaker of: Native in PortuguesePortuguese
Note to reference poster
Asker: Muito obrigado por essa referência, que para mim fechou a questão. Minha suspeita foi confirmada, mas eu não tinha conseguido encontrar nada tão sólido na internet. Bem que eu queria que os pontos pudessem ser seus. Obrigado!


Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
agree  felidaevampire: At last! Someone to explain what I meant! Thanks!
4 mins
  -> :) Thanks, felidaevampire!
agree  rhandler: Excelente contribuição, Fernando!
17 mins
  -> Obrigado, rhandler!
agree  Jorge Freire
4 hrs
  -> Obrigado, Jorge!
agree  Maria José Tavares (X)
8 hrs
  -> Obrigado, Maria José!
agree  Fernanda Rocha: That's what I was talking about: solid reference! :)) Excellent, Fernando! - Definitely, my (hidden) answer was wrong. Thanks for this valuable contribution!! ;-D
10 hrs
  -> Thank you and you are more than welcome, Fernanda. :) I believe the idea is to help one another...
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