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Glossary entry

Portuguese term or phrase:

envolvente

English translation:

engaging

Added to glossary by Marco Belcastro Bara
Aug 27, 2019 15:50
4 yrs ago
2 viewers *
Portuguese term

envolvente

Portuguese to English Art/Literary Cinema, Film, TV, Drama
This term (and its cousin, "envolvido," as in "Fiquei envolvido") occurs often in a series of user reviews of a movie (translating from Brazilian Portuguese to US English).

I understand the meaning of the term "envolvente," and in a professional movie review, I'd translate it as "gripping," "absorbing," "riveting," etc. However, those aren't words that I would use in a more informal context. I'm looking for a synonym that sounds like something you would say when describing an exciting movie to a friend.
Proposed translations (English)
3 +4 engaging
4 +3 captivating
5 +1 gripping
3 +1 compelling
4 pulled/reeled me in
4 totally caught up in it
3 enthralling
Change log

Sep 10, 2019 07:38: Marco Belcastro Bara Created KOG entry

Discussion

Oliver Simões Aug 28, 2019:
Like Nick, I also thought of "on the edge of one's seat". If it were in reference to a novel, short story, etc, "page-turner" might be good translation. Since it's a movie, it doesn't apply.
Andrea Shah (asker) Aug 28, 2019:
Hi everyone! Some additional context: this is market research on movies/TV, and the source text is more or less stream-of-consciousness. Oftentimes I don't even have full sentences, just phrases like "trama envolvente" or "fiquei muito envolvida." I've gotten a lot of good suggestions here, and I'll probably end up using several of them.
Nick Taylor Aug 28, 2019:
Any of the suggestions with "really" eg really exiting, really gripping, really had me on the edge of my seat etc.
Paulinho Fonseca Aug 27, 2019:
Context is helpful.
Lara Barnett Aug 27, 2019:
@ Andrea I agree with Muriel, your own suggestions are as good, and even with the informal requirement, possibly better than some of the suggested terms. Personally, I like "riveting". I would, and actually often do, use this term in an informal conversation. In fact all the terms you have stated as unusable would sound fine to me in an informal context. Nevertheless, I am speaking as a UK-English speaker, so if the situation is different in the States, I would not be able to comment.
Anyhow, can you give more context on the "informal" requirement and what this text is for etc? It helps if you can provide the sentence or paragraph this term is found in.
Laura Hafner Aug 27, 2019:
A more informal option Something about this KudoZ had been gnawing at the back of my mind for the past few hours (I guess it was the "informality" requirement after all!). As I said, I know we're not supposed to give more than one answer, but I think this might deserve an exception.
Muriel Vasconcellos Aug 27, 2019:
Whole sentence? None of the answers so far are any less formal than your own suggestions. Perhaps the whole sentence could be changed, if you would give us the context.

Proposed translations

+4
11 mins
Selected

engaging

envolvente

engaging
Peer comment(s):
agree Luciano Eduardo de Oliveira
2 mins
Thank you Luciano :)
agree William Parucki
40 mins
Thank you William :)
agree Dayana Hashim
50 mins
Thank you Dayana :)
agree Oliver Simões
3 hrs
Thank you Oliveira :)
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
47 mins

enthralling

https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2019/08/01/fantasia-2019-review...

What follows is an absolutely madcap movie hellbent on entertaining its audience by any means necessary. Stretching its “killer game of hide-and-seek” tagline until it snaps back in everyone’s face, it’s a propulsive and ***enthralling movie*** with serious venom in its bite. Expectations and genre tropes are subverted. Blood is spilled, accidentally and on purpose. Awful people meet with awful ends. Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture is used to great effect. It’s a punch-the-air good time.
Something went wrong...
+1
3 hrs

compelling

just another option...
Peer comment(s):
agree Oliver Simões
4 mins
Something went wrong...
+3
17 mins

captivating

Another possibility.

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Note added at 18 mins (2019-08-27 16:09:00 GMT)
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Envolvente: It was captivating.

Envolvido(a): I was captivated.

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Note added at 3 hrs (2019-08-27 19:35:07 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Andrea, another possibility just came to mind (considering what you said about needing something that would be said informally): "it really pulled/reeled me in"
Peer comment(s):
agree William Parucki
34 mins
Thank you, William!
agree Dayana Hashim
45 mins
Thank you, Dayana!
agree CRISTIANE PERINI
2 hrs
Thank you, Cristiane!
Something went wrong...
3 hrs

pulled/reeled me in

I know we're not supposed to give multiple answers, but this just came to mind!
Something went wrong...
+1
4 hrs

gripping

Suggestion.
Peer comment(s):
agree Marian Vieyra : There's not formal about the word 'gripping'. It's commonplace for UK.
14 hrs
Something went wrong...
23 hrs

totally caught up in it

I would use something like this if its informal conversational style. In English our informal everyday speech is continually punctuated with qualifiers s like "totally", "completely" or "absolutely" etc. This is partly what will change the register to the spontaneous, conversational -style lingo found in such surveys.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 23 hrs (2019-08-28 15:16:07 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

You could also say "it caught me", for example:

"The film also CAUGHT ME with its unexpected smartness. Early in the story, the hero ..."
https://www.motortrend.com/news/the-art-of-racing-in-the-rai...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day 3 hrs (2019-08-28 19:19:53 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

"CAUGHT UP
Definition (v.) absorbed, involved
Examples:
* I got caught up doing homework and forgot to call you.
* I got caught up in the movie and forgot about my appointment.
* I can’t talk to him, he’s so caught up in his own problems
problems."
https://www.englishbaby.com/vocab/word/3189/caught-up
Example sentence:

"Like the rest of the audience at Free Solo, which broke into applause multiple times mid-movie, I was TOTALLY CAUGHT UP in it from start to finish, and think it could and should be a real contender for best documentary feature."

". It's strange but when I'm concentrating on a script, I'm TOTALLY CAUGHT UP in it and I either forget everything else or I steal everything that is around me."

Reference:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/awards-pundits-telluride-roma-all-rest-1139384

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2003/aug/10/edinburghfilmfestival2003.edinburghfilmfestival

Something went wrong...
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