Portuguese Surfer Vocabulary: A Guide To “Surfistês Brasileiro”

Portuguese Surfing Vocabulary: A Guide To “Surfistês Brasileiro”

Maya Gabeira (born April 10, 1987 in Rio de Janeiro) is a professional big wave surfer from Brazil, already a two-time winner of Best Female Surfer in the world.

Basic Surfing Vocab

o surfista – surfer

a prancha de surfe (or just prancha) – surfboard

pranchão – long board

cera para a prancha, parafina – board wax

leash (pronounced “lésh” in “surfistês brasileiro” – brazilian surfer language), or cordinha – board leash

roupa de neoprene (known more commonly in brazil as a “long john“) – wet-suit

Talking About The Wave  (Falando das Ondas)

tubo – barrel

parede – shoulder, or face

crista (da onda), a parte mais alta da onda – lip (the highest part of the wave)

espuma – whitewater, foam

ressaca – the surf, undertow (this word also means “hangover” in brazil – “estou de ressaca” – “i’m hungover.”)

Talking About The Wind (Falando Sobre o Vento)

terral – offshore winds

maral – onshore winds

Talking About Maneuvers (Falando das Manobras)

cavada – bottom turn

rasgada – re-entry

batida – off-the-lip

pegar um tubo, entubar – tube ride / barreling

drop – take-off

joelinho, golfinho, furar a onda – duck dive

tartaruga – turtle roll / eskimo roll

Expressions From “Surfistês Brasileiro”

-Cera é importante para manter o equilíbrio na prancha. – Board wax is important to help balancing on the board.

-Se tomar um caldo, a cordinha impede que você perca a prancha. – If you wipe-out, the leash prevents the loss of the board. 

-Caso planeje começar a surfar, precisará de um long john. – If you plan on taking up surfing, you will need a wet-suit. 

-Pegar um tubo é o ponto alto do dia do surfista. – Getting barreled is the highlight of a surfer’s day. 

-Conforme o surfista entra na onda, ele passa a mão livre na parede. – As the surfer drops in, he puts his free hand in the face of the wave.

-Manobras na crista da onda são estilosas. – Turns on the lip of the wave are stylish. 

-A parte branca da onda é chamada de espuma. – The foamy part of a wave is the whitewater.

-O terral produz ondas perfeitas no oceano. – Offshore winds make perfect ocean waves.

-O maral não oferece boas condições para o surfe. – Onshore winds do not offer good surfing conditions.

-A cavada é uma das manobras mais importantes. – The bottom turn is one of the most important maneuvers.

-Na rasgada, o surfista desce de volta com a espuma. – In a re-entry, the surfer comes back down with the white.

-Para a batida, você quase sai da onda e, daí, vira rápido e volta. – For an off-the-lip, you almost exit the wave and then quickly turn around to get back.

-Pegar um tubo é uma manobra que pontua alto em competições. – The tube ride or barreling is a very high scoring trick in competitions.

-Antes do drop, observe a etiqueta do surfe para ver se a onda é sua. – Before taking off, observe surf etiquette to see if the wave is yours.

-Para o joelhinho, o surfista precisa remar com velocidade ao se aproximar da onda. – To duck dive, the surfer needs to paddle quickly when approaching the wave.

-Num pranchão, os surfistas usam a tartaruga para remar e passar a rebentação. – On a long board, surfers use the turtle roll to paddle out and get past the breaking point.

Slang Surfing Phrases

-“Tirar Onda” – means to show off

–“Tem que ir na onda” – “you have to go with the flow”

-“Segurar a Onda” – literally means to hold on to the wave. But when used in a conversation, it means to deal with a situation without losing one’s composure. In English, we’d translate it as “hanging in there” or “sticking it out,” since it means to put up with something you don’t want to put up with. Basically it means to deal with something difficult.

Examples:

Vai segurando a onda ai com a criança que a mãe já está a caminho. – Just hang in there with the kid, since her mother is on the way.

Acho que é melhor segurar a onda até a empresa falir. – I think it’s better to wait it out until the business goes bankrupt.

A menina não conseguiu segurar a onda, e acabou ligando para o pai dela pedindo para buscá-la. – The girl couldn’t stick it out, and ended up calling her dad to ask him to pick her up.

Quanto tempo você consegue segurar a onda sem comer chocolate? – How long can you go without eating chocolate?

It’s also helpful to see the expression in its literal form, with this news report about surfing in Rio de Janeiro:

List of Brazilian Portuguese Beach Vocabulary & Expressions

The Beaches Of Brazil – Some Portuguese Vocabulary

Brazilians are very serious about their beaches, partially because they have so many beautiful ones to choose from. From Amapa to Rio Grande do Sul, there are thousands of miles of coastline.  I have visited so many stunningly beautiful beaches in Brazil, but still have many left to see, including those on Fernando de Noronha island, rumored to be the best in the country. I have so many favorites it’s impossible to chose, but I think some of the best states to beach hop in are Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina, and Bahia.

Fernando de Noronha island, brazil

a praia – the beach

a barraca de praia – beach hut, cabana

a cadeira de praia – beach chair

a casa de praia – beach house

o guarda-sol  – umbrella

o biquini – bikini

maiô – bathing suit

a bermuda – swimming shorts for guys

a sunga – men’s speedo

a duna – sand dune

o salva-vidas – lifeguard

a areia – sand

o castelo de areia – sand castle

o mar – ocean

a onda – wave

o tubarão – shark

o sol – sun

the famous beaches of rio de janeiro

os óculos (de sol) – sunglasses

o protetor solar – sunscreen / sun block

o isopor – a cooler (made of styrafome)

mergulhar – to go under water / to dive

nadar – to swim

boiar – to float

“tomar um banho de sol” – to sunbathe

bronzear – to tan

queimar – to get tan / burn

canga – sarong

festa na praia – beach party

festa na praia

Portuguese Beach Slang

“farofeiro” – this is a slang word used for sort of a low income tourist from the interior who goes to the beach for a day trip, suually they come in groups by bus or van. They come bringing everything they need to survive on the beach for a day, usually large quantities of food (including a bag filled with farofa), drinks and clothes, so that they do not have to spend any money.

“pegar um bronze” – slang for the verb “se bronzear”

Examples:

“nossa! hoje só tem farofeiro na praia.” – “Jesus! today there’s only farofeiros on the beach”

“domingo vamos fazer uma fartofada na praia o Morra em Guarapari”

Portuguese Beach Expressions

“rato de praia” – you know those types of people who like to go to the beach every day, and stay there all day. In Brazil we call them “ratos de praia,” sort of like a “beach bum.”

“amor de praia não sobe a serra” – this is a common Brazilian expression literally saying “beach love doesn’t go up the mountain” it’s meaning is along the lines of: “summer love doesn´t last.”

“nadar, nadar e morrer na praia” –   this expression is said of someone who worked their fingers to the bone, almost succeeded, yet was defeated just as they were about to see victory .” Those who are unlucky enough to be shipwrecked (naufregar) – they may “swim, swim, swim” to the shore, only to “die on the beach.” The expression in Brazil is frequently used to talk about soccer teams (the archetypical example for American sports teams would be the Boston Red Sox).

“não é a minha praia” – this one has nothing to do with the beach. it means: “it’s not my cup of tea”

“tirar onda” – this is a great portuguese slang expression, which means “to show off.” For example: “Peguei o carro do meu tio emprestado e fui tirar onda na avenida com os amigos.” – “I borrowed my uncle’s car and went to show it off in the street with my friends.”

Types of Beaches

Though Brazil is a highly stratified society, one thing Brazilians pride themselves on is the democracy of their beaches. Unlike other locations like restaurants, clubs, and stores, the beaches are open to all, and all beaches in Brazil are considered public. The beach is supposedly a place where people of any social class can feel welcome.

Just as a side note, although Cariocas of all social classes feel comfotable at the beach, they usually go to specific beaches and sometimes even specific points on the beach. In Ipanema, for example, Posto 9 is known for being the spot for the young and wealthy, while farther down the beach in Arpoador, the crowd is mostly working class.

So, this was the only vocab word that i could think of for this section:

praia de nudismo – nudist beach

…i accidentally walked into one of these when i was in Florianopolis. There are many.

Beach Games In Brazil

altinha – stand in a circle and keep a soccer ball off of the ground, using everything but your hands…i wrote a whole post about this Here

frescobol – this beach paddle ball game played with small ping-pong-like rackets is a very popular activity on the beach in brazil (it’s “the #1 sport played on the beaches throughout Brazil,” according to frescobol.com)

frescobol

futevôlei – beach volleyball with no hands

“bater uma pelada” – slang, for playing soccer on the beach

fazer parapente, voar de asa-delta – to go hanggliding, parasailing (parapente is a parasail)

Also…

Click Here for portuguese surfing vocab

Click Here for a list of aquatic animals in portuguese

Culture: Brazilian Beach Sports – Red Bull Roda De Bola – Altinha Competition

Brazilian Beach Sports – Red Bull Roda De Bola – Altinha Competition 

Here’s a great video for: a) seeing the gorgeous views on the beach of Rio de Janeiro, b) practicing your portuguese and c) learning about a sport played on the beach in Brazil called “altinha” where basically you stand in a circle and pass a ball around in an improvised fashion, using any body part except your hands without letting it fall to the ground. In this case, though this is a sport usually played by men, we see people talking about how skilled the girls are becoming in these altinha circles, and this all results in Red Bull putting on an impressive women’s-only altinha showdown. This is definitely worth watching, except that it made me feel so homesick for Brazil….:(

 

 

Altinha, being played in Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro

altinha