Portuguese Language Blog

Social networks are huge in Brazil, and the country has become one of the fastest growing markets for some of the world’s most popular social websites. Today we’re going to learn a bit more about trends in social networks in Brazil with two short pieces from the Brazilian news. 

Facebook cresce mais de 400% em um ano no Brasil, iG Tecnologia

Excerpt: “Segundo dados da comScore, o Facebook cresceu 479% entre agosto de 2009 e 2010. Atualmente, essa rede recebe cerca de nove milhões de usuários por mês.”

Read the full story here

Audiência do Orkut ainda é o triplo da do Facebook no país, diz estudo, IDG Now

Excerpt: “De acordo com a pesquisa, a rede do Google teve, em agosto, 29,4 milhões de visitantes únicos (internautas acima de 15 anos), contra cerca de 9 milhões de seu principal “concorrente”, que ainda está em 3º lugar, atrás do Windows Live Profile (12,5 milhões).”

Read the full story here

Questions

1. What does the study say about Facebook and Orkut use in Brazil?

2. Out of total time spent on the Internet, what percentage of time do Brazilians spend on social networks?

3. How many Orkut users are there in Brazil?

4. What percentage of Brazilian internet users accessed Twitter in August 2010?

Answers after the jump.

Read More…

Brazil produces world class chocolate, and as a result, there are tons of amazing dessert recipes with chocolate as the main ingredient. Today, we’re going to learn how to make a type of cake called babá de chocolate.

Ingredients             

* 2 colheres (sopa) de chocolate em pó [chocolate powder]
* 1 colher (sopa) de fermento [baking soda]
* 2 xícaras (chá) de farinha de trigo [flour]
* 1 ½ xícara (chá) de açúcar [sugar]
* 1 ½ xícara (chá) de leite [milk]
* 100 g de margarina [margarine]
* 4 ovos [eggs]

Icing

* 1 ½ xícara (chá) de leite [milk]
* 1 xícara (chá) de açúcar [sugar]
* 50 g de margarina [margarine]

Preparation

Bata as gemas com o açúcar e a margarina, até formar um creme.
Junte a farinha, o chocolate em pó e o fermento, alternando com o leite.
Por último, adicione as claras em neve.
Leve ao forno por 20 minutos.
Coloque a calda.

Icing

Leve todos os ingredientes ao fogo.
Depois de derretido, jogue por cima do bolo já assado.
Decore a seu gosto.

Original recipe from Culinaria Receitas

I know you guys have probably had enough of us talking about the elections in Brazil, so I’ll be brief and won’t make you read too much.

The image below taken from Folha.com shows the presidential race results, the apuração dos votos.  With no candidate having a majority vote, the top two, Dilma Roussef and José Serra will take each other on for a second round of elections on October 31st (click on the image for better viewing).

Although this was somewhat already expected, the real buzz generated has been on the number of votes Marina Silva was able to rack up considering back in March all sorts of studies showed only 7% of the population was planning on voting for her while Dilma and José Serra’s percentages stayed pretty much true to the actual results.

I was unable to “steal” videos on most news websites with thank you speeches from the candidates, but here goes a link to a great little thank you speech by Marina Silva last night: Estamos em primeiro lugar de uma nova política.

If you get a chance to watch the video (it’s 2 minutes long), why does Marina Silva consider herself a winner after not making it on to the second round of elections?

She has announced she will remain neutral for the second round, so this should be another interesting month of debate!