Archive for September, 2007
Jogo do Bicho Posted by Transparent Language on Sep 6, 2007
O jogo do bicho or animal game is an informal lottery run on the streets of Brazil. It is a numbers racket, essentially, that links the numbers in the game to different animal avatars. Though illegal, the game enjoys wide popularity and is considered even part of the national heritage. Each animal is represented by…
Fazer Questão Posted by Transparent Language on Sep 5, 2007
Fazer is a great phrasal verb (like ficar)that has many meanings based on the context and also the use of additional, modifying prepositions or adverbs. Today let’s discover another use of fazer that indicates insistence: fazer questão. Here’s an example from Guilherme: “Eu faço questão que você jante comigo.” “I insist that you dine with…
Conversation Partners Posted by Transparent Language on Sep 4, 2007
Get a Brazilian chat-pal for Skype, MSN, Yahoo, AIM If any of you loyal (thank you!) readers of the Portuguese Blog would like me to arrange a conversation partner, I would be happy to do so. I have an address book full of Brazilians who are enthusiastically learning English who would be happy to participate…