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Portuguese to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature / Fado
Portuguese term or phrase:não vou
Hello, everyone! I have a very limited knowledge of Portuguese, but like fado very much. Trying to translate some lyrics, namely from "Chaves da vida"
Context:
Tanta ilusão que tinha e foi perdida,
e tantas esperança no amor foi destroçada
não sei porque me queixo desta vida,
se não quero outra vida para nada
Se foi para isto que nasci
se foi só isto que hoje sou
se foi só isto que mereci
não vou não vou
I'm having trouble with the last line. My understanding is that despite all the misery in her/his life, the author wouldn't want any other life. Still, I can't figure out what "não vou" refers to. Please help!
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 6 mins (2011-01-11 00:48:14 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Fado, for us portuguese, is full of meaning. The entire fado is a description, like telling a story. So, more of the story would be needed to tell exactly what is she referring to.
However, sometimes a sentence is only there to provide a certain flow in the sound/rhyme. In any case, you should translate de lyrics just like that to not change it neither in rhyme nor meaning.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 25 mins (2011-01-11 01:06:30 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
I know this fado. It's a very nice one. In it she is grieving over the opportunity she once had to be happy (that is simbolized by having the keys of "life"). She lost that chance, missed it. So the "nao vou, não vou" is a statement like saying: if it is to fall in love again (at some point) and having to pass through the disappointment/all this pain again, iwont go i wont go - meaning wont allow to fall in live again. That is why she says: the most beuatiful/attractive love can pass me "não vou, nou vou"." In the sense I just explained above.
That's great dennis_bg! This is a very nice fado! Fado is not always easy to understand at first but it always has meaning, a story in it. In this case is the story of someone who doesn't want to take the chance of losing a love again. So, the solution is "not going anywhere" in the sense of not falling in love again to prevent such disappointment/pain again.
This is a copy of what is in my comment box below almost since the biginning:
I know this fado. It's a very nice one. In it she is grieving over the opportunity she once had to be happy (that is simbolized by having the keys of "life"). She lost that chance, missed it. So the "nao vou, não vou" is a statement like saying: if it is to fall in love again (at some point) and having to pass through the disappointment/all this pain again, i wont go i wont go - meaning wont allow to fall in love again. That is why she says: the most beuatiful/attractive love can pass me "não vou, nou vou"." In the sense I just explained above.
So I guess the text is ambiguous even to a person fluent in Portuguese. I thought maybe I couldn't figure it out because I didn't know some idiom or something.
I think what is a potentially meaningless refrain can be saved by looking at the second time it appears, i.e. "pode passar o amor mais lindo, não vou não vou" i.e. the woman has been so crushed by life and her lot in it that she prefers the misery she knows to the risks of a new love. So the whole context of the song is an invitation to a new love, which she is unable to accept and explains why. Tem dito!
I think it´s a woman: "Eu tinha as chaves da vida e fui roubada". "Roubada" tells me it was a woman; for a man it would be "roubado".
But I couldn't work out what the "Não vou" refers to, after examining the whole fado. I won´t go away? There´s nothing about going away... I won´t change to another life? Nothing about that either... "Não vou" could be translated as "I´m not going to..." and could therefore refer to anything. But I can´t see anything it logically refers to. Maybe it just sounds nice, and it´s a nostalgic/tragic kind of thing to say!
Eu tinha as chaves da vida e não abri
as portas onde morava a felicidade
eu tinha as chaves da vida e não vivi
e a minha vida foi toda uma saudade
Tanta ilusão que tinha e foi perdida,
e tantas esperança no amor foi destroçada
não sei porque me queixo desta vida,
se não quero outra vida para nada
Se foi para isto que nasci
se foi só isto que hoje sou
se foi só isto que mereci
não vou não vou
podem passar-me ao castigo
olhos em fogo tudo acabou
pode passar o amor mais lindo
não vou ,não vou
Eu tinha as chaves da vida e fui roubada
mataram dentro de mim toda a poesia
deixaram-me a tristeza que há no fado
e a fonte dos meus olhos que eu não queria
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
2 mins confidence:
i wont go i wont go
Explanation: sug.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 6 mins (2011-01-11 00:48:14 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Fado, for us portuguese, is full of meaning. The entire fado is a description, like telling a story. So, more of the story would be needed to tell exactly what is she referring to.
However, sometimes a sentence is only there to provide a certain flow in the sound/rhyme. In any case, you should translate de lyrics just like that to not change it neither in rhyme nor meaning.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 25 mins (2011-01-11 01:06:30 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
I know this fado. It's a very nice one. In it she is grieving over the opportunity she once had to be happy (that is simbolized by having the keys of "life"). She lost that chance, missed it. So the "nao vou, não vou" is a statement like saying: if it is to fall in love again (at some point) and having to pass through the disappointment/all this pain again, iwont go i wont go - meaning wont allow to fall in live again. That is why she says: the most beuatiful/attractive love can pass me "não vou, nou vou"." In the sense I just explained above.
Jorge & Julie Soares Local time: 01:47 Works in field Native speaker of: English, Portuguese PRO pts in category: 8
Grading comment
Muito obrigado!
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks Jorge and Julie! Could you elaborate, please, what exactly this refers to? As far as I can tell the refrain says: "If this is what I was born for, if this is what I deserve" and then "I won't go". The "I won't go" part doesn't make sense in English.
39 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): -1
I won't
Explanation: See comments and discussion
MARK ROBERTSON Local time: 01:47 Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 4
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): -1
