Pedro Carolino was a 19th-century Portuguese writer who gained accidental fame as the author of O novo guia da conversação em portuguez e inglez. Intended as a serious conversational guide for Portuguese speakers looking to learn English, the book became legendary instead for its highly inaccurate, literal, and unidiomatic translations. It was later republished under the famous title English as She Is Spoke, a phrase that has since become synonymous with inept translation.\n\nIt is widely believed that Carolino did not actually speak English. To compile his guide, he is thought to have taken an existing, highly competent Portuguese-French phrasebook written by José da Fonseca and translated the French portions into English using a French-English dictionary. Carolino credited Fonseca as a co-author on some editions, likely without Fonseca's permission, to lend the publication credibility.\n\nBecause Carolino relied on word-for-word literal translations of idiomatic expressions, the resulting English text was filled with bizarre and humorous phrasing. Despite its failure as an educational tool, the book has endured for generations as a classic work of unintentional humor, celebrated for its unique and surreal linguistic errors.