# about time and phrases.



## Empo

Hi, 

I am translating an automated system that will give spoken phrases, including prompts about when a person will be back from an appointment. I don’t know Portuguese, but I am still trying to complete at least a prototype translation, that can then be sent to professional translators for verification.

For this kind of use you want short and very standardized – but no awkward – wording and during prototyping.

For instance, in English, the automated voice may combine these phrases into a sentence (actual example):

“Eric”
“is in a meeting”
“and”
“will return”
“the fifth of”
“January”
“at”
“ten”
“thirty”
“a.m.”

In this real word example, we omit “on” in “will return on the fifth” for simplification reasons in programming, since will return might also be followed by “tomorrow” for instance. We also use the somewhat less natural “ten-thirty” instead of “half past nine” since that also simplifies coding and is considered good enough.

I hope this example works as background of what I am doing. Now for the questions, since I have already run into some problems.

1) Does it sound OK (does not have to be perfect, as illustrated above) to use “dez e trinta” instead of “dez e meia”? Or is the latter clearly more correct or natural sounding?

2) Is this sentence OK for the use I have outlined: ”Eric está em uma reunião e retornará o quinto de março, às dez e meia da manhã”? 

3) Do you normally use the 24-hour system in Brazil (instead of am/pm)?  

4) Are these reasons for absence OK, or do you have any better sounding suggestions for any of them (they will replace “está em uma reunião” in the example in the second question):
a) está em uma reunião = is in a meeting
b) está no almoço = is at lunch
c) saiu para o dia = has left for the day
d) está temporariamente fora do escritório = is temporarily out of the office
e) está de férias = is on vacation
f) está em licença por doença = is on sick leave
g) atualmente não está disponíve = is currently not available
h) está ocupado = is busy
i) está cuidando de uma criança doente = is caring for a sick child
j) está em uma viagem de negócios = is on a business trip


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## pfaa09

Minhas sugestões:



Empo said:


> 1) Does it sound OK (does not have to be perfect, as illustrated above) to use “dez e trinta” instead of “dez e meia”? Or is the latter clearly more correct or natural sounding?


Both ok.


Empo said:


> 2) Is this sentence OK for the use I have outlined: ”Eric está em uma reunião e retornará o quinto de março, às dez e meia da manhã”?


"... e regressa/regressará a cinco de março, pelas 10:30 da manhã."


Empo said:


> 3) Do you normally use the 24-hour system in Brazil (instead of am/pm)?


Both systems can be used with normality by people when they speak, but we tend to simplify the speach. we use "da manhã" and "da tarde" and "da noite", informally.

a) está em reunião = is in a meeting
b) Está a almoçar = is at lunch
c) Já foi embora /já saiu do trabalho/terminou por hoje = has left for the day
d) está temporariamente fora do escritório = is temporarily out of the office
e) está de férias = is on vacation
f) está de baixa médica = is on sick leave
g) de momento está indisponível = is currently not available
h) está ocupado = is busy
i) está cuidando de uma criança doente = is caring for a sick child
j) está em viagem de negócios = is on a business trip


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## Ari RT

1) I'd use "dez e trinta". Sounds neutral, not pompous nor too coloquial. And, if you want to improve the temporal resolution, you can always add "15", "45", or even "10", "20" etc

2) Quinto de março does not work. Use "Voltará dia" - [options - day] "de" [options - month]. The days are:
- primeiro;
- dois;
- três;
- quatro; etc
Yes, the first is ordinal, all others are cardinal.

3) Both 12h and 24h are used. For appointments, people often prefer the 24h system.

4c) "saiu para o dia" does not work. If I got it right, he/she does his/her duties on field, not in the office. In this case, suffices to say that the employee is out of office, as in 4d.

4f; 4i) Are you sure you want to pass on this kind of information? Not usual at all in Brazil. Looking at that from the customer point of view, I need to know whether Employee is available and, if not, when he/she will be. What he/she is doing is none of my business. From the employee point of view, I would never set this option of automatic response. And I'd consider really intrusive would my boss or a coworker do that on my behalf.

4g) no momento não está disponível.


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## Ari RT

Crossposted. Nice, you get double portion, European and Brazilian Portuguese at the same time.


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## guihenning

1) it is ok, cause it may be short for “dez horas e trinta minutos”. It won’t be the most common, but totally comprehensible.
2) Eric está em uma reunião e retornará (no dia) quinze de março, às dez e meia
3) Yes, we do. It’s simpler that way, cause then there is none to say “da manhã/da tarde/ da noite”
4B) em em horário de almoço or está almoçando
c) saiu mais cedo
f) está de atestado
g) não está disponível no momento

P.S cross-post


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## GabrielH

Ari RT said:


> 1) I'd use "dez e trinta". Sounds neutral, not pompous nor too coloquial. And, if you want to improve the temporal resolution, you can always add "15", "45", or even "10", "20" etc


Aqui na minha região dizemos frequentemente o "meia". Eu diria às 10:30. Não me parece algo diferenciado.


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## Empo

Thank you so very much for your prompt replies - amazing knowledge here and very helpful since I will prevent a lot of extra work if I can get it fairly right straight away in prototyping.

This will be used in Brazil (with a Brazilian voice) so I am extra interested in that it sounds OK to a Brazilian (although I assume it will be the same in just about all cases).

The examples posted are just examples. The return time will be given down to the minute, and if it is the same day it will only say the time etc.

In response to the question why there is such detailed information, it is optional to have this as a spoken cue. The information is primarily used internally for Switchboard attendants/secretaries/managers and such (to know where someone is). Also, it is the user who sets the status, so the company policy together with the users choices determines what is divulged (these are only the available options, many are never used in most organizations).

I will look closely at what you have suggested and then perhaps come back with some more finished phrases and such for your consideration.

Once quick question for now, if we go with the 24 hour system, how would you translate this sentence (please, if you can, write the numbers out with letters so that I can figure it out more easily):

“Eric, is in a meeting, and, will return, at, ten, forty, three, pm” (the commas just indicate where we splice the phrases, they are not necessary in a reply, but can give some guidance on the format structure)?


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## pfaa09

Eric está em uma reunião, e voltará às vinte e quarenta e três.


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## Empo

pfaa09 said:


> Eric está em uma reunião, e voltará às vinte e quarenta e três.


Thank you very much!

One question though, shouldn't it be:
Eric está em uma reunião, e voltará às vinte e dois e quarenta e três?


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## pfaa09

Empo said:


> Thank you very much!
> 
> One question though, shouldn't it be:
> Eric está em uma reunião, e voltará às vinte e dois e quarenta e três?


You're right, sorry.
Eric está em uma reunião, e voltará às vinte e duas e quarenta e três.
Vinte e duas *Horas *(feminino)


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## Empo

Ah, so it is:
Eric está em uma reunião, e voltará às vinte e duas e vinte e dois (since minutes is masculine)?

But the sentence itself is OK if you exchange Eric for a female name right? There is no change in the grammar because of that (I hope not because that would be hard for us to do since that is not a data point that is known)?


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## guihenning

Empo said:


> Ah, so it is:
> Eric está em uma reunião, e voltará às vinte e duas e vinte e dois (since minutes is masculine)?
> 
> But the sentence itself is OK if you exchange Eric for a female name right? There is no change in the grammar because of that (I hope not because that would be hard for us to do since that is not a data point that is known)?


If you replace “Eric” for a feminine name, the sentence will stay the same.


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## Archimec

Empo said:


> Eric está em uma reunião, e voltará às vinte e dois e quarenta e três?


... e voltará às vinte e *duas *(horas-f) e quarenta e três (minutos-m)


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## Empo

I have decided to include horas and minutos in the phrases.

When testing the spoken phrase generator, I realized that it actually pronounces “vinte *e* duas horas e quarenta *e* três minutos” as “vinte duas horas e quarenta três minutos” (without e:s between hours and minutes). 

Is that OK for pronunciation (omitting the e:s)? Is it OK in “casual” written form or does it look strange for a Brazilian to not have the e:s in there?


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## Ari RT

As far as I remember, all automatic response systems include the "e". Clarity is a figure of merit here, the "e" improves segmentation.


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## Empo

Perfect - thank you very much!


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## Empo

So, I am now done with the prototype and I have put in a few more expressions. I will put up both the new expressions and a few composites that the speech engine will say. Please let me know what could be improved, I would appreciate any feedback very much.

*EDIT* In applicable cases, I have put in corrected phrases in underlined italics based on the friendly suggestions below. With some of them, I have put questions/comments in parenthesis. *EDIT*

Expressions:

A) Unknown subscriber = Assinante desconhecido

B) The person you are trying to reach is currently not available = A pessoa que você está tentando alcançar não está disponível no momento.
_B) A pessoa que você está tentando contactar não está disponível de momento._

C) Maria is busy on the phone. = Maria está ocupado no telephone.
_C) Maria está ao telefone._

D) To leave a voicemail, press one, or say voicemail = Para gravar uma mensagem de voz, pressione o botão único, ou dizer mensagem de voz. (should it be único or um in this sentence? Should it be correio de voz instead of mesagem de voz? And should it be diga instead of dizer?)
_D) Para gravar uma mensagem de voz, digite um, ou diga mensagem de voz._

E) To be connected to the switchboard, press 2, or say switchboard = Para ser conectado à central telefônica, pressione o botão dois, ou dizer central telefônica.
_E) Para ser conectado à central telefônica, pressione dois, ou diga central telefônica._

F) You will now be connected to the switchboard = Agora você será conectado à central telefônica.

G) Thank you for calling and welcome back = Obrigado por sua chamada, bem-vindo de volta.
_G) Obrigado por sua chamada._ (Is there anything else that would be suitable for welcome back, like "please call again" or "we hope to hear from you again". From a system perspective, it is always nice to keep the content as similar as possible for all phrases).

H) That option is not valid = Essa não é uma escolha válida. (When you press a button on your phone that Is not defined.)
_H) Estsa opção é inválida._

I) For Portuguese, press nine, or say Portuguese. = Para português, pressione o botão nove, ou dizer português.
_I) Para português, pressione nove, ou diga português._

J) Welcome! = Bem-vindo!


Composites:

1) The person you are trying to reach is currently not available and will return the twenty-second of August at ten twenty-two pm. = A pessoa que você está tentando alcançar não está disponível no momento e voltará dia vinte e dois de Agosto às vinte e duas horas e vinte e dois minutos.
_1) A pessoa que você está tentando contactar não está disponível no momento e voltará dia vinte e dois de Agosto às vinte e duas horas e vinte e dois minutos._

2) Eric is on vacation and will return the first of January at twelve o’clock am. = Eric está de férias, e voltará dia primeiro de janeiro às zero horas.
_2) Eric está de férias, e voltará no dia primeiro de janeiro à zero hora._ (My Brazilian voice generator actually said "zero horas" by default, and I was kind of wondering about that. It is hard to do "midnight" since the system needs something that will also work for when it is over midnight. I take it "às vinte e quatro horas e vinte e dois minutos" will also work and sound good to a Brazilian?)

3) Anna is in a meeting and will return tomorrow at one o one am. = Anna está em reunião e voltará amanhã às uma hora e um minuto.
_3) Anna está em reunião e voltará amanhã à uma hora e um minuto._ (Here we may have a problem that is hard to solve in the system. When is it às and when is it à? If I can only pick one and use that all the time, which one would be better? Any other suggestions on how to solve this?


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## pfaa09

Empo said:


> A) Unknown subscriber = Assinante desconhecido
> 
> B) The person you are trying to reach is currently not available = A pessoa que você está tentando contactar não está disponível de/no momento.
> 
> C) Maria is busy on the phone. = A Maria está ao telefone. (if she's on the phone, she's busy, obviously)
> 
> D) To leave a voicemail, press one, or say voicemail = Para gravar uma mensagem de voz, pressione um (#1), ou diga "mensagem de voz". (should it be único or *um* in this sentence? Should it be  instead of *mesagem de voz *or voicemail (we use it as an anglicism)? And should it be *diga* (imperative form) instead of *dizer*?)
> 
> E) To be connected to the switchboard, press 2, or say switchboard = Para ser conectado à central telefônica, pressione dois, ou diga "central telefônica".
> 
> F) You will now be connected to the switchboard = Agora você será conectado à central telefônica.
> 
> G) Thank you for calling and welcome back = Obrigado por sua chamada, bem-vindo de volta
> 
> H) That option is not valid = Essa não é uma escolha válida *Or* Essa opção não é válida (When you press a button on your phone that Is not defined).
> 
> I) For Portuguese, press nine, or say Portuguese. = Para português, pressione nove, ou diga "português".
> 
> J) Welcome! = Bem-vindo!





Empo said:


> 1) The person you are trying to reach is currently not available and will return the twenty-second of August at ten twenty-two pm. = A pessoa que você está tentando *contactar* não está disponível no/de momento e voltará dia vinte e dois de Agosto às vinte e duas horas e vinte e dois minutos.
> 
> 2) Eric is on vacation and will return the first of January at twelve o’clock am. = Eric está de férias, e voltará dia *um* de janeiro às *vinte e quatro horas* Or *meia-noite.*
> 
> 3) Anna is in a meeting and will return tomorrow at one o one am. = (A) Anna está em reunião e voltará amanhã *à uma* hora e um minuto.


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## jazyk

Nunca ouvi um de janeiro no Brasil, só primeiro de janeiro, nem bem-vindo de volta. Parece decalque do inglês.


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## Empo

Thank you so much pfaa09 and jazyk, I really appreciate the time you both took to look it over!

I have made changes to my original post (changes are posted in underlined italics) based on your comments.

The application is in Brazil so I am extra interested in hearing any comments from Brazilians on the latest version of my edited post three posts up (#17). Particularly regarding the handling of 0:00 vs 24:00 and às vs à.


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## guihenning

Empo said:


> D) Para gravar uma mensagem de voz, pressione um, ou diga mensagem de voz.


Digite um.


Empo said:


> Essa opção não é válida.


Es*t*a opção é inválida.


Empo said:


> 2) Eric está de férias, e voltará dia primeiro de janeiro às vinte e quatro horas.


Eric está de férias e voltará no dia primeiro de janeiro à zero hora (meia noite is far more common) “24:00” does not exist. The system is as follows: 00:00h, 01:00h, 02:00h […] 17:00h, 23:00 > 23:59h > 00:00 > 00:01h…


Empo said:


> When is it às and when is it à? If I can only pick one and use that all the time, which one would be better? Any other suggestions on how to solve this?


à is singular > à uma hora (01:00h)
às is plural > às vinte horas (20:00h)

P.S if recording ‘um/uma’ (1) and ‘primeiro/primeira’ is difficult, you can drop the ordinals and simply use um, dois, três, quatro… It is not the correct way of saying the first day of each month, but automated systems often use the cardinal system because it’s simpler. It is totally acceptable that a system says “um de Fevereiro” because usually making the ordinal/cardinal difference is a hassle.


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## jazyk

Poderia explicar essa parte em que diz que "às 24 horas" não existe?


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## Empo

guihenning said:


> Digite um.
> 
> Es*t*a opção é inválida.
> 
> Eric está de férias e voltará no dia primeiro de janeiro à zero hora (meia noite is far more common) “24:00” does not exist. The system is as follows: 00:00h, 01:00h, 02:00h […] 17:00h, 23:00 > 23:59h > 00:00 > 00:01h…
> 
> à is singular > à uma hora (01:00h)
> às is plural > às vinte horas (20:00h)
> 
> P.S if recording ‘um/uma’ (1) and ‘primeiro/primeira’ is difficult, you can drop the ordinals and simply use um, dois, três, quatro… It is not the correct way of saying the first day of each month, but automated systems often use the cardinal system because it’s simpler. It is totally acceptable that a system says “um de Fevereiro” because usually making the ordinal/cardinal difference is a hassle.


Thanks a lot for this detailed reply! I have made the changes in my previous post. But I do have a few follow-up questions:

Is "digite um" better than "pressione um" even for a phone dial-pad rather than a real keyboard?

Is "no" in "voltará no dia" necessary for it to sound right? It makes it a bit more difficult if it has to be there, and I was hoping it was like "will return on the 1:st of January", where the "on" is OK to omit even if it is not 100% correct.

My TTS voice generator for Brazilian Portuguese (which is supposed to be professional) clearly reads 0:00 as "zero horas" (plural). I noted that you put it in singular, is both OK, or is my TTS generator wrong? Not super important since this time of night will probably never be used on a system like this, but still, always nice to get it right.

I already had the "primeiro"-thing fixed (no code changes was needed for that). However I had not understood that I would ever need "primeira". Is that because the months have different gender? I only have primeiro in the string "dia primeiro" that comes before each month. Will it sometimes change to "dia primeira" for certain months? If so, I guess I would have the same problem with um (it would have to change depending on month)?

The à and às situation unfortunately means I have to make some system changes for Portuguese (you always want to avoid that). Unfortunate, since it is only for 0 and 1 am times I will need à as I understand it (and those will once again rarely, if ever, actually be used).


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## guihenning

jazyk said:


> Poderia explicar essa parte em que diz que "às 24 horas" não existe?


Desconheço relógio que marque 24:30h, por exemplo. Somente 00:30h


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## Carfer

Em Portugal não é incomum falar de 24:00 horas, reportando-nos ao momento em que um dia termina, o mesmo que as 00:00 horas do dia seguinte. É mais frequente, aliás, referirmo-nos a esse momento como '_meia-noite_'.


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## Guigo

Empo said:


> Thanks a lot for this detailed reply! I have made the changes in my previous post. But I do have a few follow-up questions:
> 
> Is "digite um" better than "pressione um" even for a phone dial-pad rather than a real keyboard?
> _Digite um_ is OK.
> 
> Is "no" in "voltará no dia" necessary for it to sound right? It makes it a bit more difficult if it has to be there, and I was hoping it was like "will return on the 1:st of January", where the "on" is OK to omit even if it is not 100% correct.
> You can omit "no". Not a problem.
> 
> My TTS voice generator for Brazilian Portuguese (which is supposed to be professional) clearly reads 0:00 as "zero horas" (plural). I noted that you put it in singular, is both OK, or is my TTS generator wrong? Not super important since this time of night will probably never be used on a system like this, but still, always nice to get it right.
> Both are OK.
> 
> I already had the "primeiro"-thing fixed (no code changes was needed for that). However I had not understood that I would ever need "primeira". Is that because the months have different gender? I only have primeiro in the string "dia primeiro" that comes before each month. Will it sometimes change to "dia primeira" for certain months? If so, I guess I would have the same problem with um (it would have to change depending on month)?
> All months are masculine and so the 1st day of them is always "primeiro".
> 
> The à and às situation unfortunately means I have to make some system changes for Portuguese (you always want to avoid that). Unfortunate, since it is only for 0 and 1 am times I will need à as I understand it (and those will once again rarely, if ever, actually be used).
> You may omit the diacritic. People will understand.


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## jazyk

Ah, sim, relógio com essa configuração acho que também nunca vi, mas na língua existe 24 horas. Esclarecido.


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## Empo

Thank you very much Guigo, I think that pretty much means I am done. I could no longer edit the original post so I will repost the versions I am going with below.

On the last point you address, I do have a follow up question though. If I keep the "às" before every time stamp (hours and minutes) this would only be wrong at times between 1:00 am and 1:59 am, right? Those are times that will probably never be used (this is a business system), and if someone did use them, I think I could live with that. 


Expressions:

_A) Assinante desconhecido _= Unknown subscriber

_B) A pessoa que você está tentando contactar não está disponível no momento._ = The person you are trying to reach is currently not available.

_C) Maria está no telefone. _=  Maria is busy on the phone.

_D) Para gravar uma mensagem de voz, digite um, ou diga mensagem de voz. _= To leave a voicemail, press one, or say voicemail.

_E) Para ser conectado à central telefônica, digite dois, ou diga central telefônica. _= To be connected to the switchboard, press 2, or say switchboard.

_F) Agora você será conectado à central telefônica. _= You will now be connected to the switchboard.

_G) Obrigado por sua chamada._= Thank you for calling and welcome back. (Is there anything else that would be suitable for welcome back, like "please call again" or "we hope to hear from you again". From a system perspective, it is always nice to keep the content as similar as possible for all phrases).

_H) Esta opção é inválida. _= That option is not valid. (When you press a button on your phone that Is not defined.)

_I) Para português, digite nove, ou diga português. _= For Portuguese, press nine, or say Portuguese.

_J) Bem-vindo! _= Welcome!


Composites:

_1) A pessoa que você está tentando contactar não está disponível no momento e voltará dia vinte e dois de Agosto às vinte e duas horas e vinte e dois minutos. _= The person you are trying to reach is currently not available and will return the twenty-second of August at ten twenty-two pm.

_2) Eric está de férias, e voltará dia primeiro de janeiro  às zero horas _= Eric is on vacation and will return the first of January at twelve o’clock am.

_3) Anna está em reunião e voltará amanhã às uma hora e um minuto. _= Anna is in a meeting and will return tomorrow at one o one am. (I think I will live with às instead of à here since it will be right for all hours except between 12 and 1 am, that will probably never be used.)


Finally - thank you so much all of you!

 This has been so much fun thanks to your helpful input. I was just doing a quick prototype, but in fact, I think this is probably good enough for production. This means I may add a few more expressions for your consideration and then send it in for testing. Also, I may post a few sound files to get your feed-back on to evaluate the speech engine (to see if it is good enough to actually use).


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## Guigo

@Empo  I think it's all OK, except for:

B) _no momento_, not _de momento_;
C) _no telefone_, not _ao telefone_. *

* Brazlian Portuguese.

Cheers!


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## Carfer

Guigo said:


> @Empo  I think it's all OK, except for:
> 
> B) _no momento_, not _de momento_;
> C) _no telefone_, not _ao telefone_. *
> 
> * Brazlian Portuguese.
> 
> Cheers!



_'De momento'_ estaria bem no português europeu, se acaso fosse esse o alvo de Empo, que sabemos que não é. '_No momento_' significa, para nós, naquele instante, enquanto '_de momento_' tem igualmente o sentido de naquele instante mas com a conotação acrescida de temporariamente, transitoriamente: '_F..., de momento, não está_.' (mas vai estar), '_De momento, não temos esse produto'_ (mas vamos ter). É óbvio, no entanto, que o uso indiferenciado de uma ou outra locução não afecta grandemente o sentido e que são ambas correctas.
Dizemos igualmente '_estar ao telefone_' quando o sentido é o de estar ocupado a falar pelo telefone._'Estar no telefone_' soa-nos como se quisesse significar que o telefone é um local, mas, mais uma vez, são diferenças insignificantes entre uma variante e outra.


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## Empo

Guigo said:


> @Empo  I think it's all OK, except for:
> 
> B) _no momento_, not _de momento_;
> C) _no telefone_, not _ao telefone_. *
> 
> * Brazlian Portuguese.
> 
> Cheers!


Ah, OK, thanks Guigo, fixed it in my last post. So not it is:

_B) A pessoa que você está tentando contactar não está disponível no momento._ = The person you are trying to reach is currently not available.

_C) Maria está no telefone. _= Maria is busy on the phone.

Hope that is right. And yea, it is Brazilian Portuguese this time.

Here are a few more standard phrases that we supply as recurring phrase examples for users on hold (they are slight variations of the same thing, hence the similarity), it would be great to get help with them as well to make them sound as natural as possible to a Brazilian user:

*1) All our agents are currently busy. Please hold and we will answer your call as soon as possible. (“agents” is supposed to be more neutral than switchboard attendants to also work for contact-center agents that may be in various functions such as IT-support or whatever).  

2) All our agents are currently busy. Your call is very important to us. Please stay on the line and your call will be answered in the order it was received.”

3) Thank you for your patience. All our agents are busy. Please continue to hold and your call will be answered as soon as possible.

4) All our agents are busy. Please visit our website for useful information, or continue to hold and the next available agent will take your call.

5) Thank you for holding. Your call is very important to us. Please continue to hold and the next available agent will answer your call. (“holding” could be waiting or whatever sounds best).*

And the final one:
*
6) All our agents are currently busy or unavailable. Please hang up and try to call us again later. 
*


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## Empo

Here is a first simulated test phrase.

Note a few things about this "Auto Attendant" before listening:

* This is a simulated composite of files and since we cannot cut out words like "and" from running text, intonation and such will be far from perfect (the snippets are generated one by one).

* The simulation is done by high grade TTS, although reasonably good in languages that I have tried before (that I can speak), it is still a major compromise compared to recorded phrases (if you use recorded phrases, you can also fix much of the first problem). The generic phrases are always done in TTS though, then the different customers use their voices to record to get it perfect using the same structure.

* Finally note that this will be played over a phone-line in lower quality than when you hear it on your phone or computer. This will actually make the problem of the quality of the composite and TTS less noticeable.

This is the sentence, the "/" indicates the slices:

_A) A pessoa que você está tentando contactar / não está disponível no momento / e / voltará / dia vinte e dois de / Agosto / às vinte e duas horas / e vinte e dois minutos. _= The person you are trying to reach is currently not available and will return the twenty-second of August at ten twenty-two pm.

Download-link (takes a few sec to be allowed to download without premium account):

Phrase A.wav - SaberCat File Hosting

Is it clearly understandable?

Does it sound OK to you for a system of this kind?


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## Empo

OK, did some changes in the code to hopefully improve the structure. Here is a new file with the slices cut like this (and some segments re-recorded for clarity):

_A) A pessoa que você está tentando contactar / não está disponível no momento / e voltará / dia vinte e dois / de Agosto / às vinte e duas horas / e vinte e dois minutos. _= The person you are trying to reach is currently not available and will return the twenty-second of August at ten twenty-two pm.

Phrase A_2.wav - SaberCat File Hosting

Is this better clearer than the last version?


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## Empo

Sorry, missed the Portuguese phrases for input in the post above (#31), and now I can't edit, here they are again:

1) *Todos os nossos agentes estão ocupados no momento. Por favor aguarde e responderemos a sua ligação o mais rápido possível. *= All our agents are currently busy. Please hold and we will answer your call as soon as possible. (“agents” is supposed to be more neutral than switchboard attendants to also work for contact-center agents that may be in various functions such as IT-support or whatever).

2) _*Todos os nossos agentes estão ocupados no momento. Sua chamada é muito importante para nós. Por favor, permaneça na linha e sua chamada será respondida na ordem em que foi recebida.*_ = All our agents are currently busy. Your call is very important to us. Please stay on the line and your call will be answered in the order it was received.”

3) _*Obrigado pela sua paciência. Todos os nossos agentes estão ocupados.* Continue a aguarde e sua chamada será respondida o mais rápido possível._ = Thank you for your patience. All our agents are busy. Please continue to hold and your call will be answered as soon as possible.

4) _*Todos os nossos agentes estão ocupados. Por favor, Visite nosso site para obter informações úteis, ou continue a aguarde e o próximo agente disponível receberá sua chamada.*_ = All our agents are busy. Please visit our website for useful information, or continue to hold and the next available agent will take your call.

5) _*Obrigado por aguarde. Sua ligação é muito importante para nós. Por favor, continue a segurar e o próximo agente disponível responderá sua chamada.*_ = Thank you for holding. Your call is very important to us. Please continue to hold and the next available agent will answer your call. (“holding” could be waiting or whatever sounds best).

6) _*Todos os nossos agentes estão ocupados ou indisponíveis no momento. Por favor, desligue e tente nos ligar novamente mais tarde.*_ = All our agents are currently busy or unavailable. Please hang up and try to call us again later.


I also got input from a Brazilian acquaintance who listened to the test file and said that contatar was used instead of contactar in Brazil, so I made that change. I also put the prepared files in the system, so now this is the exact final version that will be used/generated by the system if you don't think it sounds bad/wrong:

Test Phrase_03.wav - SaberCat File Hosting


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## guihenning

Empo said:


> I also got input from a Brazilian acquaintance who listened to the test file and said that contatar was used instead of contactar in Brazil


Both are possible and used.


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## Empo

Ah, OK guihenning, good to know - thank you. Which did you think sounded better/more natural in the sound-files above?

She also suggested _"A pessoa que você está tentando entrar em contato"_ instead of _"A pessoa que você está tentando contatar/contactar". _Since short is good in this instance, I opted to stay with the latter. If the first sounds more natural, I would change though.


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## guihenning

Empo said:


> A pessoa que você está tentando contatar/contactar






Empo said:


> Todos os nossos agentes estão ocupados. Por favor, Visite nosso site para obter informações úteis, ou continue a aguarde e o próximo agente disponível receberá sua chamada


continue aguardando e o próximo agente disponível receberá a sua chamada


Empo said:


> _*Obrigado por aguarde. Sua ligação é muito importante para nós. Por favor, continue a segurar e o próximo agente disponível responderá sua chamada*_


Por favor, continue na linha


Empo said:


> Todos os nossos agentes estão ocupados ou indisponíveis no momento. Por favor, desligue e tente nos ligar novamente mais tarde.


Por favor, tente novamente mais tarde


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## Empo

Thank you so much again guihenning!

Here are the fixed phrases:

1) *Todos os nossos agentes estão ocupados no momento. Por favor aguarde e responderemos a sua ligação o mais rápido possível.* = All our agents are currently busy. Please hold and we will answer your call as soon as possible.

2) _*Todos os nossos agentes estão ocupados no momento. Sua chamada é muito importante para nós. Por favor, permaneça na linha e sua chamada será respondida na ordem em que foi recebida.*_ = All our agents are currently busy. Your call is very important to us. Please stay on the line and your call will be answered in the order it was received.

3) _*Obrigado pela sua paciência. Todos os nossos agentes estão ocupados. Continue na linha e sua chamada será respondida o mais rápido possível. *_= Thank you for your patience. All our agents are busy. Please continue to hold and your call will be answered as soon as possible.

4) _*Todos os nossos agentes estão ocupados. Para mais informações, por favor, visite o nosso site, ou continue aguardando e o próximo agente disponível receberá a sua chamada.*_ = All our agents are busy. Please visit our website for useful information, or continue to hold and the next available agent will take your call.

5) *Obrigado por aguardar. Sua ligação é muito importante para nós. Por favor, continue na linha e o próximo agente disponível responderá sua chamada.* = Thank you for holding. Your call is very important to us. Please continue to hold and the next available agent will answer your call.

6) _*Todos os nossos agentes estão ocupados ou indisponíveis no momento. Por favor, tente novamente mais tarde.*_ = All our agents are currently busy or unavailable. Please hang up and try to call us again later.

I now got good reviews on the last sound-file above (Test_Phrase_03.wav) from two Brazilian acquaintances, so huge kudos to all of you for helping me make a great prototype! We will see how many changes (if any) the professional language people make.

Muito obrigado!


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## guihenning

Empo said:


> Obrigado pela sua paciência. Todos os nossos agentes estão ocupados. Continue a aguarde e sua chamada será respondida o mais rápido possível.


Continue na linha.


Empo said:


> _*Todos os nossos agentes estão ocupados. Por favor, visite nosso site para obter informações úteis, ou continue aguardando e o próximo agente disponível receberá a sua chamada.*_


Para mais informações, por favor, visite o nosso site (you suggestion is ‘ok’, but it seems and sounds like it was a bad literal translation from English)


Empo said:


> Obrigado por aguarde. Sua ligação é muito importante para nós. Por favor, continue na linha e o próximo agente disponível responderá sua chamada.


Obrigado por aguardar


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## Empo

Thanks again guihenning - I fixed it above!


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## Empo

Team! After putting the phrases in, I have one additional question about this sentence:

_"A pessoa que você está tentando contatar *está de licença médica* e voltará amanhã."_ = The person you are trying to reach is on sick leave and will return tomorrow. 

Is that correct? Should the "de" be in there (remember this is meant to be right in Brazilian Portuguese)?


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## pfaa09

If you want to go that deep on details, leave it that way. If the "on sick leave" isn't important, then you might wanna consider this:
_"A pessoa que está tentando contatar *está doente* e voltará amanhã._
The person you are trying to reach is sick and will return tomorrow.


Empo said:


> Is that correct? Should the "de" be in there (remember this is meant to be right in Brazilian Portuguese)?


1) Yes, it's correct
2) Yes, it has to be there, otherwise there's no connection.


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## Empo

Thank you pfaa09!


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## Carfer

Não sei se a última pergunta ainda se integra no contexto do post inicial de mensagens pré-gravadas. Se for o caso, não me parece muito curial especificar o motivo da ausência. A questão não é linguística, visto que, efectivamente, dizemos que uma pessoa _'está doente_', que '_está de baixa_' (que habitualmente também é por doença) ou ou que '_está de licença de parto/de maternidade/de paternidade_', etc. Por isso, está um tanto fora do nosso âmbito. Mas dar essa informação num sistema de resposta automática, para onde qualquer um pode ligar, põe questões de privacidade do interessado. Quem é que tem de saber se está doente ou porque motivo está ausente? E que legitimidade tem o empregador (ou o operador do sistema de atendimento, ou quem quer que seja que não o próprio) para fazer publicamente essa revelação? Teria cautela com esses pormenores. Pelo menos na Europa, poderão causar aborrecimentos.


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## Vanda

Bem dito!


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## Empo

Good points Carfer. The system for which I am making a Brazilian Portuguese prototype has these absences codes available. However, that does not mean every organization will use all of them. Maybe they will just deploy one (like Busy), or maybe they will make their own altogether.

Secondly, the organization may set it up so that these absences - and return times - are not read externally, but only to colleagues – or perhaps only shown to private secretaries or switchboard operators. That is completely up to the administrators of the system.

Lastly, even in cases where an organization chooses to include something like “on sick leave”, it is the user themselves who sets that status on an appointment from a dropdown in their normal calendar. Hence – the user themselves always has the last say as to what they want to inform others about and what reason for absence they want to set.

So nothing will be disclosed unless both the organization AND the individual wants it to be – and in most cases, the organizations won’t even make it possible to set things like “Home with Sick Child” (as far as I know, that is only used in Scandinavia).

Still, when you translate, you want to translate everything so that it won't go quiet if someone sets an alternative during a demo for instance.

Thanks all of you!


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