Fala Português?
One of the perks of academic life is occasionally getting to go to very cool places in the name of work. One of the downsides of this—-particularly if you are going to be forced to rely on your own resources somewhere fairly remote—-is that you sometimes have to learn new languages. So, I’m currently trying to learn Portuguese. To be precise, Brazilian Portuguese.
I’m not very good at learning languages; or rather, I’m not very good at writing or speaking other languages. I do, however, manage to get the basic gist of written or spoken languages which are based on Latin (thank you, Latin teacher). I got a ‘Portuguese in Three Months’ book from the library, but I only have two and a half months—-how do you rate my chances? Not good, I think. It was clear after a couple of pages that pronunciation was going to be the most tricky bit. I’ve spent some time with Brazilian and Portuguese colleagues in the past, and got the vague impression that a lot of ‘shoosh-ing’ and ‘zzush-ing’ was going on. Unfortunately, I didn’t pay enough attention at the time.
To help me ‘get my ear in’, I decided to buy a ‘teach yourself Brazilian Portuguese’ audiobook from Audible. It’s fantastically repetitive. After listening to the first few lessons—-in which an American man attempts to chat up a Brazilian woman in a really lame way—-these were my inner thoughts:
[On recording]: “Ask the woman if she understands”. (Man’s voice) “A senhora entende?”. (Woman’s voice) “Não senhor”.
[After something like the 50th iteration of this, with minuscule variations]: “Ask the woman if she understands”…
[Me]: For crying out loud… Sim, eu bloody entendo muito bem! I’m just trying to ignore you. And if you ask me ONE MORE TIME whether I understand, you’ll end up wearing that coffee, sunshine.
This whole escapade could end in one of two ways: either it will drive me completely insane, or I’ll learn enough Portuguese to say, “I don’t understand”. Anyway, I’ll keep ploughing on, but if anyone out there speaks Portuguese (particularly if you are Brazilian), I’d love some tips. I also apologise for any grievous errors in this entry. I’m only at about Lesson 3.
1
Sounds to me like you know what you're doing - what does or doesn't work for you. If you feel that you're getting something from the tape, then keep with it. Do other things, too, mind!
If you think the tape isn't helping, then ditch it. I'd recommend being regular (same time, same place), but yet again, only if that works for you. My prejudiced guess is that as you're a scientist, it probably does, but perhaps I shouldn't stereotype like that! Obviously there's also the question of realistic goal-setting: what do you need it for, who will you speak to, etc? And I find it useful to have imaginery conversations in my head - no matter how basic. In fact, any spare minute can be spent doing something, even if it's practising counting or saying the alphabet (for some of the sounds). You might want to walk around the house speaking outloud to yourself - but remember to do it only in your head once you get on the train! 
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Hi, I'm Portuguese. You seem to be doing just fine. That 'Sim, eu bloody entendo muito bem' is the perfect answer to the Audible guy. But I think there's nothing like the real thing. And by real I also mean, of course, blogging, or chatting, or Skyping. I used to go to a blog from an American who was also learning Portuguese. He would post his stuff in Portuguese, and we would comment it, from a language (and linguistics) in practice point a view. I'll be glad to help you in any of these ways, but for real, voice chat it certainly would be better to find a Brazilian.
by Gonçalo @ 19/06/2005 10:06 pm • Permalink •
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Hey bsag, there's a fabulous Brazilian blogging community. I'll send you to one I know well -- she's local here in Davis -- and a long-timer, so she can point you in all the right directions.
See Fernanda, aka fezoca: http://www.fezocasblurbs.com/
Tudo bem!
by Pica @ 20/06/2005 2:07 am • Permalink •
3
Find some songs in Portuguese, and Karaoke to them, it will give you the rhythm of the language, and the correct pronunciation will follow as the words won't fit the song if you don't pronounce them correctly.
by Jonathan Briggs @ 20/06/2005 4:07 pm • Permalink •
4
David (TEFL Smiler): Some great tips there, thanks. And congratulations! I love being right... :-D I'm trying to do two 30 minute sessions a day on the train, and yes, regularity does help
. I really just need to be able to hold a conversation, get myself out of trouble, that kind of thing. So speaking and understanding spoken Portuguese is probably more important than reading or writing.
Gonçalo and Pica: Great idea! Believe it or not, I hadn't thought of blogs as a source of language practice. I'll also have to see if I can get hold of my Brazilian friend to annoy her with my terrible grammar.
Jonathon Briggs: Also a great idea, and I hadn't thought of that either.
I decided today that I would also pepper my house and office with post-it notes to label items in Portuguese, and then try to form sentences with them as I wander around. I have a feeling that the spatial and visual aspects might help me to remember the words later.
by bsag @ 20/06/2005 5:07 pm • Permalink •
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I'm brazilian, still struggling with English myself
Feel free to ask me whatever questions you may have during your studies -- my YM is jonasgalvez.
by Jonas Galvez @ 20/06/2005 11:07 pm • Permalink •
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bsag: some homework for you
Olá, eu sou brasileiro. Se você precisar de alguma ajuda, em gramática ou na pronúncia, fique a vontade para entrar em contato.
by Kenji @ 21/06/2005 10:06 am • Permalink •
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Jonas Galvez: Thanks!
Kenji: Oo, a challenge. OK, this is my first attempt, not looking anything up or cheating in any way, so much of it is a total guess:
"Hello, I'm Brazilian." (So far, so good, I'm fairly confident about that after being bored out of my wits by the "Eu sou Americano" on the audiobook. I'm guessing with the next bit.) "If you need ... help, in grammar or pronunciation, make ... enter into contact". I'm missing some words, but I think the gist is, "If you need some help with grammar or pronunciation, get in contact".
Am I close?
By the way, I find that I love saying 'todos os dias". I'm going to say it every day.
by bsag @ 21/06/2005 5:06 pm • Permalink •
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Hey bsag, good work
The missing words would be
1- some
2- make yourself comfortable (to get in contact)
Next chalenge, try to pronunciate my city's name: Araraquara
by Kenji @ 21/06/2005 11:06 pm • Permalink •
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Try to pronunciate city name: Aiuruoca www.aiuruoca.com.br
by Carlos Eduardo @ 22/06/2005 1:07 am • Permalink •
10
Hi, I learn english by myself too, like Jobas, I know him from brazilian community of webdevelopers.
If you want to learn Brazilian-Portuguese, listen Brazilian Music, if you tell us what kind of music you like, I can suggest some artists. Talk or chat (in portuguese) with some brazilian who understand english, like Jonas or me and travel to Brazil in our next summer.
I live in Brasilia, the capital, here is a very good place to travel.
Any questions send-me an email. Sorry for bad english.
by MarcoGomes.com @ 22/06/2005 11:06 am • Permalink •
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o/
by Patrick Hall @ 24/06/2005 7:06 pm • Permalink •
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Er, it ate my post.
I was going to say, here are my favorite nutty Brazilian place names:
Itaquaquecetuba
and
Pinamonhangaba.
=)
by Patrick Hall @ 24/06/2005 7:07 pm • Permalink •
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Boa sorte! Isto do Português é complicado que chegue, mesmo para Portugueses
Melhor do que música, eu sugeria que tentasses programas de televisão, que obrigam a que se perceba mesmo o que estão a dizer. Na música é mais fácil simplesmente deixar andar. Claro que já é preciso chegar ao ponto de perceber discurso falado, mas é uma forma excelente de apanhar vocabulário.
Por cá, anda-se a ver muito Gato Fedorento, uns comediantes ao estilo dos Monty Python e do melhor humor britânico. Deves conseguir os DVDs na fnac.pt, ou se for muito difÃcil, nas redes P2P (eu não disse isto
by Sérgio Carvalho @ 27/06/2005 12:06 pm • Permalink •
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Kenji: Yay! I was miles off with 2), but better than I thought with the rest. I'll give some attention to youra and Carlos's pronunciation challenges, and even more thought to Sérgio's really difficult translation
This is a great way to learn, though!
MarcoGomes.com: I'm coming in your Spring, rather than summer, and to Mato Grosso. Brazil is a pretty big place, as I'm beginning to find out...
by bsag @ 28/06/2005 4:07 pm • Permalink •
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I'd say that "fique a vontade" (ficar a vontade, in general really) is best thought of as "feel free".
I'm a native English speaker who learned Portuguese the hard and slow way: listening and trying to figure what the frigg people were saying. But I did learn it in the end, and I'd be happy to help with that end of things; the large and prolific Portuguese-language blogosphere probly has the other end pretty well covered...
by cboone @ 29/06/2005 9:07 pm • Permalink •
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bsag; Mato Grosso? Cool, I was born in Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande. (now I live 850 Km far away) Will you be close to there?
by Kenji @ 01/07/2005 9:08 am • Permalink •
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Hi, I just started listening to the same program that you are, (I think), based on the fact that I too am sick to death of that cheesy American bugging that poor Brazilian lady. The good news is that he very quickly moves on, I thought that at this rate I would learn about 8 sentences in 30 hours!!! But it gets rapidly better!! You'll be geting sick of the fact he only has 1 dolar and 1 real, he won't get far in Brazil with that!!! I hope he bought his American express =o)
by Anna Sutton @ 04/08/2005 2:09 pm • Permalink •
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Hello, if you want to pratice your language, add me on Skype: olabruno@gmail.com I'm brazilian, and I want to pratice my english too. Maybe we can help each other.
by Bruno @ 23/11/2005 1:11 pm • Permalink •
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Thanks Bruno! I'm planning on taking lessons next year, so I might well give you call then to practice my pronunciation.
by bsag @ 24/11/2005 9:12 pm • Permalink •
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Hi, I’m a Portuguese engineering student at Leiria Portugal. I’d be glad to help anyone with portuguese, Since i´m trying to learn Japanese also...bye
by Sérgio Pinheiro @ 14/02/2007 1:46 pm • Permalink •
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