ICNC Glossary of Key Terms - Portuguese (Brazilian)
The first step in creating high-quality translations in the field of civil resistance is translating key terms.
Initially, we developed a list of 91 key terms that had specific meaning in the field of civil resistance and worked with translators to translate these terms. We have subsequently expanded this list to 159 terms, and ICNC President Hardy Merriman and ICNC Senior Advisor Nicola Barrach have produced a glossary (to be published in 2019) that defines each of these terms and provides commentary on each and examples of usage.
You can see standardized translations of key terms in Brazilian Portuguese below.
| English | Portuguese (Brazil) | Comments | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Accommodation (as a result of civil resistance) | ||
| 2 | Accommodate (as a result of civil resistance) | ||
| 3 | Accountability | Prestação de contas; responsabilização; responsabilidade | Choice will very much depend on the context./ You can use the terms he added as well, but the exact translation is what I wrote. |
| 4 | Activist | Ativista | I beg to differ. In this case, if there was such a thing as an exact translation, it wouldn’t be two different terms (responsabilização and responsabilidade) meaning different things in Portuguese). Accountability is one of those English words that require the translator to examine the context carefully and see which of the options is the best fit. |
| 5 | Adversary | ||
| 6 | Agency (human agency) | Atuação; capacidade para agir | The translation into Portuguese for agency in the Trifecta text is “atuação.” It would be advisable to change the translation here as well or include it as a second option. |
| 7 | Agent provocateur | ||
| 8 | Ally (verb) | ||
| 9 | Ally (noun) | ||
| 10 | Alternative institutions | Instituições alternativas | |
| 11 | Authoritarian rule | Regime autoritário | |
| 12 | Authority | Autoridade | |
| 13 | Backlash | Repercussão | |
| 14 | Backfire (verb) | ||
| 15 | Backfire (noun) | Produzir efeito negativo; sair pela culatra; “tiro no pé” | |
| 16 | Banners | Bandeiras; banners | |
| 17 | Blockade (associated with civil resistance) (noun) | Bloqueio | |
| 18 | Blockade (associated with civil resistance) (verb) | ||
| 19 | Boycott (noun) | Boicote | |
| 20 | Boycott (verb) | ||
| 21 | Campaign (associated with civil resistance) (noun) | Campanha | |
| 22 | Campaign (verb) | Capacidade | |
| 23 | Capacity | ||
| 24 | Civil disobedience | Desobediência Civil | |
| 25 | Civil resistance | Resistência Civil | |
| 26 | Civil society | Sociedade Civil | |
| 27 | Civilian-based defense | ||
| 28 | Coalition | ||
| 29 | Commission, tactic(s) or act(s) of | ||
| 30 | Concentration, tactic(s) of | ||
| 31 | Conditions | ||
| 32 | Consent (political) (noun) | ||
| 33 | Consent (political) (verb) | ||
| 34 | Conflict (noun) | ||
| 35 | Constructive programme (or “constructive program”) | ||
| 36 | Conversion | ||
| 37 | Coup d’etat (or “coup”) | Golpe de Estado | |
| 38 | Crackdown (noun) | Repressão; Medidas severas | Both are correct as well, depending on the context. If you must choose one I’d stick with his translation. |
| 39 | Crackdown (verb) | ||
| 40 | Defect (associated with civil resistance) (verb) | ||
| 41 | Defection | Deserção | |
| 42 | Demonstration | ||
| 43 | Dictatorship | Ditadura | |
| 44 | Dilemma action | ||
| 45 | Direct action | ||
| 46 | Disintegration (associated with civil resistance) | Desintegração | |
| 47 | Dispersion, tactics of | ||
| 48 | Disrupt | ||
| 49 | Dissent (noun) | Dissidente | |
| 50 | Dissident | ||
| 51 | Disruption | Intervenção; distúrbio; ruptura; rompimento; interrupção; desordem | “Intervenção” does not appear to be a good translation for disruption. A few suggestions, whose use will depend on the context: distúrbio, ruptura, rompimento, interrupção, desordem. Yes all of the terms can be used; it depends on the context. When activists are planning a “disruption” we call it “intervenção”. |
| 52 | Dynamics (of civil resistance) | Dinâmica(s) (de ações não violentas) | The singular form “dinâmica” can also be a valid translation. |
| 53 | Empower | ||
| 54 | Empowerment | ||
| 55 | Escalate (in conflict) (verb) | ||
| 56 | Escalation (in conflict) (noun) | ||
| 57 | External actor | ||
| 58 | External support | Apoio externo | |
| 59 | Failure (associated with civil resistance) | Fracasso | |
| 60 | Frame (communication) (verb) | ||
| 61 | Frame (communication) (noun) | ||
| 62 | Freedom (political) | Liberdade (política) | |
| 63 | Freedom of Assembly | ||
| 64 | Freedom of Association | ||
| 65 | Freedom of Speech (or freedom of expression) | Liberdade de expressão | |
| 66 | Goal | ||
| 67 | Grassroots (adjective) | Base (movimentos de base) | |
| 68 | Grassroots (noun) | ||
| 69 | Grand strategy | Estratégia global; estratégia “chave” | |
| 70 | Grievances | Queixas; reclamações; injustiça | The most commont translation is “queixas” or “reclamações”. “Injustiça” will be seen in very specific cases.True. His translation is better; both all terms apply depending on the context. |
| 71 | Human rights defender (HRD) | ||
| 72 | Leadership | ||
| 73 | Legitimacy | Legitimidade | |
| 74 | Loyalty shift | ||
| 75 | Mass demonstration | Grande manifestação; protesto em massa | A demonstration is a “manifestação” or “protesto” in Portuguese. We had “grandes manifestações” for “mass demonstrations” in the Trifecta article. Nope. We do use the translation I gave “demonstração em massa”. His terms might also apply, but between activists the one I choose is most commun. |
| 76 | Mechanisms of change | Mecanismos de mudança | Demonstração is a false cognate. If it is used in the field, it is the wrong word to mean something else. Try doing a google search for “demonstração em massa”, and you will get very few hits and almost none that is relevant to our context. |
| 77 | Methods of nonviolent action | Métodos de ação não-violenta | for here and all of the other translations that he added “não violento”, or “não violência”, we, activists do not speak like that in Brazil. We will say for example “methods of action”, and that’s it. The most we will add is “pacific” into it. I know that in your vocabulary you want to empasize “non-violence”, and that is okay if we start introducing this cvocabulary in Brazil, but it is not commonly used. |
| 78 | Marches | Marchas (não-violência, não-violento) | |
| 79 | Mobilization | ||
| 80 | Mobilizing | Mobilizar | |
| 81 | Movement | Movimento | |
| 82 | Non-state actor | ||
| 83 | Nonviolent (or non-violent) | Não-violência | |
| 84 | Noncooperation | Não-cooperação | |
| 85 | Nonviolent action | Ação não-violenta | |
| 86 | Nonviolent coercion | Coerção não-violenta | |
| 87 | Nonviolent conflict | Conflito não-violento | |
| 88 | Nonviolent direct action | ||
| 89 | Nonviolent discipline | Disciplina da não-violência | |
| 90 | Nonviolence (religious, ethical, etc.) | Não-violência (religiosa, ética, etc.) | |
| 91 | Nonviolent intervention | Intervenção não-violenta | |
| 92 | Nonviolent struggle | Luta não-violenta | |
| 93 | Obedience | Obediência | |
| 94 | Obey | ||
| 95 | Objective (noun) | ||
| 96 | Omission, act(s) or tactic(s) of | ||
| 97 | Opponents | Oponentes, adversários | |
| 98 | Opposition groups | Grupos oponentes; grupos adversários | |
| 99 | Organizer | Organizador | |
| 100 | Parallel institution | Instituição paralela | |
| 101 | People of support | ||
| 102 | Pillars of support | Pilares de apoio | |
| 103 | Plan (noun) | ||
| 104 | Plan (verb) | ||
| 105 | Political defiance | Desafio político | |
| 106 | Political ju-jitsu | Jiu-jítsu político (quando o governo usa da violência para reprimir um movimento pacífico, isso pode ser usado para expor o governo, transformando seus aliados em aliados do movimento). | |
| 107 | Political noncooperation | Não-cooperação política | |
| 108 | Political power | Poder político | |
| 109 | People power | Poder do povo | |
| 110 | Power | ||
| 111 | Power holder | ||
| 112 | Planning | Planejamento | |
| 113 | Pragmatic non violence | Pragmático | |
| 114 | Protest (Noun) | Protesto | |
| 115 | Protest (verb) | ||
| 116 | Rally (noun) | ||
| 117 | Resistance movement | Movimento de resistência | |
| 118 | Repress | ||
| 119 | Repression | Repressão | |
| 120 | Resilience | Resiliência | |
| 121 | Revolution (social, political, or economic) | ||
| 122 | Sanctions | Sanções | |
| 123 | Self-determination | ||
| 124 | Self-organize | ||
| 125 | Self-organization | Auto-organização; autogestão | |
| 126 | Self-reliance | Autoconfiança | |
| 127 | Skills (in civil resistance context) | Habilidades | |
| 128 | Sources of power | Fontes de poder | |
| 129 | Strategic nonviolent struggle | Luta não-violenta estratégica | |
| 130 | Semi-authoritarian rule | ||
| 131 | Self-rule | Autonomia | |
| 132 | Sit-in | Protesto pacífico sentando-se num lugar; sentada | There is always the temptation of coming up with one word to translate a word in another language, but the best solution here is to phrase the sentence to convey the idea that people are sitting in to demonstrate pacifically. Sentada, although it exists in Portuguese in a more informal context, does not appear to be a good translation. Desagree. Both are okay. |
| 133 | Student Strikes | Greves estudantis | I strongly disagree with sentada. A Google search does not produce many relevant hits. How is it used in Portuguese in this specific context? Vamos fazer uma sentada, vamos dar uma sentada? |
| 134 | Strategic plan | Plano estratégico | The problem here is that we are trying to find a noun to translate another noun. It won’t work in this case. We would have to produce a turn of phrase to express the same idea. Let’s take an example: |
| 135 | Strategize | ||
| 136 | Strategy | Estratégia | Protesters staged a sit-in Saturday at the entrance to Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility. |
| 137 | Strike (noun) | Greve | No sábado, os manifestantes sentaram-se em protesto (sentaram-se para protestar) na entrada da unidade de armazenagem de gás natural de Aliso Canyon. |
| 138 | Strike (associated with civil resistance) (verb) | ||
| 139 | Structural conditions (see also conditions) | Condições estruturais | Os manifestantes fizeram uma sentada? That does not sound right. Even if it is used in the field, it would be too informal for a written text. |
| 140 | Success | Sucesso; êxito | |
| 141 | Tactic | Tática | |
| 142 | Tactical innovation | ||
| 143 | Tactics of commission | Táticas de comissão | |
| 144 | Tactics of concentration (see also Concenration, tactics of) | Táticas de agrupamento (concentração de pessoas) | |
| 145 | Tactics of dispersion (see also Dispersion, tactics of) | Táticas de dispersão | |
| 146 | Tactics of omission | Táticas de omissão | |
| 147 | Tactical sequencing | Sequência de táticas; sequenciamento tático | |
| 148 | Third party (or “third-party”) | ||
| 149 | Train | ||
| 150 | Training | Treinamento | |
| 151 | Unarmed Insurrection | Insurreição desarmada | |
| 152 | Unite | ||
| 153 | Unity | Unidade | |
| 154 | Uprising | Insurreição; revolta; rebelião | |
| 155 | Violence | Violência | |
| 156 | Violent Flank | Flanco de violência; foco de violência | |
| 157 | Vision (of a civil resistance movement) | Visão | |
| 158 | Walk-out (or “walkout”) (noun) | Abandono de recinto | |
| 159 | Walk-out (verb) |