I came across a really interesting TED video on Update or Die that I thought would interest all of you here on Portuguese Blog. There are two reasons: one, it’s a gringo speaking Portuguese very well (he’s Danish) and two, it’s a very valuable lesson about Brazilian culture and how foreigners interact with it.

In the video, Jens Schriver discusses his experience with Brazilian time. As a European, he had a hard time adapting to the Brazilian sense of time, which is more focused on the present than the future, and less focused on punctuality and planning ahead. He discusses a very interesting study that looked at how different cultures view time, as well as the cultures that are considered the “friendliest.” Watch the video and find out the results of the study, as well as some very interesting perspectives on the notion of time in different cultures. Schriver also discussed the downsides to being too future-oriented, and the health benefits to being more present-oriented. It’s almost 10 minutes, but watch the whole thing!

For many foreigners, culture shock is a natural part of living in Brazil, but time is definitely one of the biggest challenges, including punctuality (or lack thereof), canceling at the last minute, making plans at the last minute, or unexpected delays. Experiences vary by region (some say São Paulo moves faster than Rio, for example), but dealing with differences in time is a common challenge for gringos in Brazil.

What have your experiences been with time in Brazil?