Archive for the year 2007
Skypecasts Posted by Transparent Language on Aug 30, 2007
Last night I had an amazing experience. André Barbosa (from the terrific Brazilian Portuguese Podcast) invited me to join a Skypecast that he had created and was moderating. I stayed up way too late speaking English and Portuguese with people from all over the world; simply fantastic! … Continue Reading
The Brazilian ‘Eh?’ Posted by Transparent Language on Aug 29, 2007
North Americans are certainly familiar with the fact stereotype that Canadians end their sentences with ‘Eh?’ A sort of rhetorical interrogative, this type of linguistic habit or custom is by no means limited to Canada. Of course, this saying doesn’t end every sentence, but is used as a casual cue for the listeners approval. Brazilians…
Lógico Posted by Transparent Language on Aug 29, 2007
MY favorite way of saying “of course” in Portuguese is lógico. Cleary cognate with the English logical, this is a great one-word phrase that communicates support of a proposition. It is common for Spanish-speakers learning Portuguese to look for a counterpart to por supuesto, the standard phrase used to communicate this idea in Spanish. Though…
Plastic Surgery in Brazil Posted by Transparent Language on Aug 29, 2007
I saw a TV segment once that featured a reporter combing Ipanema beach asking its denizens if they would have plastic surgery (if it were free), and if so, what would they have done? Many of the respondents were pretty funny, but one woman took the cake by replying “Eu teria duas. Um para o…
Present Progressive Posted by Transparent Language on Aug 28, 2007
The Present Progressive or Continual Present tense is very useful and easy to form in Portuguese. This tense represent ongoing action in the present; its counterpart in English is the construction [subject] is [verb] – ing for example: I am running To form this tense in Portuguese, all you need to do is employ the…
Cultura de Ficar Posted by Transparent Language on Aug 27, 2007
In Brazil, when people speak of the cultura de ficar, they are referring to the modern practice of casually displaying affection in public, and the general tendency of young people to warm up to each other rather quickly. It is very common in Brazil for people who have just met to wildly make out if…
How to type in Portuguese Posted by Transparent Language on Aug 27, 2007
Do you have a US keyboard and want to type in Portuguese? Blog reader David Stephensen sent in this terrific .pdf file that will take you step-by-step through the process of implementing the Portuguese language keyboard in Windows and also how to type all the accents using a standard North American-style keyboard. The method he…