1
00:00:03,136 –> 00:00:05,796
Júlia: A vida está complicada…
{{Júlia: Life is complicated…}}
2
00:00:05,796 –> 00:00:10,096
Alberto: Pois… Passa num piscar de olhos.
{{Alberto: Yeah… It passes in the blink of an eye.}}
3
00:00:10,106 –> 00:00:13,736
Júlia: Já não é nada como antigamente.
{{Júlia: It’s nothing like the old days.}}
4
00:00:13,736 –> 00:00:21,726
Alberto: Ora nem mais! Os jovens só querem é festas e viajar.
{{Alberto: That’s right! Young people just want to party and travel.}}
5
00:00:21,726 –> 00:00:24,716
Júlia: Pensam que é fácil…
{{Júlia: They think it’s easy…}}
6
00:00:24,716 –> 00:00:27,576
Depois vão ver o que a vida custa.
{{Then they’ll see what life costs.}}
7
00:00:27,576 –> 00:00:33,736
Alberto: O meu neto de treze anos anda sempre a pedir dinheiro aos pais
{{Alberto: My 13-year-old grandson is always asking his parents for money}}
8
00:00:33,736 –> 00:00:37,036
para comprar sapatilhas e jogos.
{{to buy sneakers and games.}}
9
00:00:37,036 –> 00:00:40,376
Júlia: E eles dão?
{{Júlia: And they give [it to him]?}}
10
00:00:40,376 –> 00:00:42,076
Ai meu Deus!
{{Oh my God!}}
11
00:00:42,085 –> 00:00:47,976
Alberto: Então não dão? Eles dão tudo ao menino,
{{Alberto: Of course they do! They give the boy everything,}}
12
00:00:47,976 –> 00:00:52,036
em vez de o mandarem trabalhar para ganhar o seu.
{{instead of sending him to work to earn his own.}}
13
00:00:52,046 –> 00:00:57,006
Com a idade dele, já eu trabalhava há 3 anos!
{{Alberto: At his age, I had been working for 3 years!}}
14
00:00:57,006 –> 00:01:05,126
Júlia: E eu comecei a trabalhar desde os oito anos de idade. Tratava da casa
{{Júlia: And I started working from the age of eight. I took care of the house}}
15
00:01:05,126 –> 00:01:09,356
e ainda tinha de fazer comida para o meu pobre pai.
{{and I still had to make food for my poor father.}}
16
00:01:09,356 –> 00:01:13,076
Alberto: São todos uns mimados que não querem trabalhar!
{{Alberto: They are all spoiled people who don’t want to work!}}
17
00:01:13,076 –> 00:01:17,595
Júlia: O nosso país está miserável com esta juventude!
{{Júlia: Our country is miserable with this youth!}}
18
00:01:17,596 –> 00:01:20,596
Alberto: Só vão trabalhar para o estrangeiro,
{{Alberto: They will only work abroad,}}
19
00:01:20,596 –> 00:01:24,936
e investirem no próprio país está quieto!
{{and investing in their own country — not at all!}}
20
00:01:24,936 –> 00:01:28,176
Júlia: Já não há respeito.
{{Júlia: There is no respect anymore.}}
21
00:01:28,176 –> 00:01:35,176
Alberto: É! Andámos a trabalhar que nem cães para eles e nem nos respeitam!
{{Alberto: Yeah! We’ve been working like dogs for them and they don’t respect us!}}
22
00:01:35,176 –> 00:01:40,676
Júlia: Eles deviam ver como era no tempo do Salazar…
{{Júlia: They should have seen what it was like in the time of Salazar…}}
23
00:01:40,686 –> 00:01:47,466
Aí é que iam ver o que é bom para a tosse. Trabalhar e calar!
{{They would see how hard it was. Work and shut up!}}
24
00:01:47,466 –> 00:01:53,896
Alberto: Pois, andei eu a trabalhar até cair e estes só se sabem queixar
{{Alberto: Yeah, I’ve worked myself to the bone (“until falling”) and all these [young folks] do is complain}}
25
00:01:53,896 –> 00:01:58,536
por causa de uns feriados e dumas dorzinhas nas mãos.
{{about some holidays and a little pain in their hands.}}
26
00:01:58,545 –> 00:02:02,996
Júlia: Ora aí está… Agora é que disseste tudo…
{{Júlia: Well, there it is… Now you said everything…}}
Listening to the Shorties is a favorite part of learning for me. I love many of the expressions in the dialogues but I think a better translation for “até cair” would be “until almost keeling over” which is a common expression in English. It was so hot today, I almost keeled over!
Glad you’re enjoying the Shorties! You’re right that “keeling over” sounds a bit more similar to the idea of falling/”cair”. With these idioms/expressions, it’s usually not possible to translate them literally, so we try to determine which expression (as a whole) is the closest in meaning and the closest in usage.
In this case, I think the idea of ‘working myself to the bone’ (or even ‘working myself to death’) is slightly closer to ‘trabalhar até cair’, only because it is typically used in instances in which someone is talking about working over a long period of time. ‘Almost keeling over’ is similar, but to me it implies something that happened more suddenly or as a one-time occurrence (e.g. because it was particularly hot that day).
This is definitely open to interpretation, of course! There is rarely a one-to-one association between these phrases. I really appreciate your comment because it helps us explore the expression in more depth. Thanks!