English as she is spoke; or, a jest in sober earnest

This work presents a bilingual phrasebook that pairs Portuguese entries with literal English renderings and phonetic guides, resulting in frequent garbled and comic expressions. Organized vocabulary sections cover topics such as clothing, food, household items, games, and social ranks, often misplacing or oddly translating items. A second part offers familiar dialogues in which calques from another language and adherence to native grammar produce eccentric idioms and syntactic distortions. The accumulation of literal translations creates sustained, unintended humor while illustrating the hazards of word-for-word transfer and the difficulties inherent in compiling practical conversational aids.