Archive for October, 2008
Foreign Business in Brazil: Part II Posted by Rachel on Oct 22, 2008
Expat American engineer Hunter Hagewood lives in Brazil where he works for a major IT company, Nevoa Networks. But you won’t find him in Rio or São Paulo, but rather in a more unlikely place: Campina Grande, Paraíba, in the sertão (desert) region of the Northeast. At only 33 years old, Hunter helps run a…
Terms of Endearment Posted by Rachel on Oct 21, 2008
There are a lot of words to express affection for others in Portuguese, so let’s take a look at some of them: mamãe: this means mommy, or mom. papai: this means daddy, or dad. fofinho: this means “cute,” or “cutie pie.” bonitinho: this means “pretty” or “cute.” amorzinho: this literally means “little love,” used to…
Orkut, the Brazilian Facebook Posted by Rachel on Oct 20, 2008
In Brazil, the most used social networking site on the Internet, which has become wildly popular nationwide, is known as Orkut (pronounced Or-coo-chee). It was created in 2004 by a Turkish Google employee and originally was marketed in the United States. Gradually, though, its two largest markets became Brazil and India, which make up 55%…
Portuguese Language Tools Online Posted by Rachel on Oct 16, 2008
Today, I’m going to give all of you some very useful websites to help you clear up doubts about Portuguese grammar and to help you with translation. Word Reference has a Portuguese-English online dictionary, as well as Portuguese-Spanish Globo’s digital dictionary has a Portuguese language dictionary, as well as a grammar and verb section Conjuga-me…
Foreign Business in Brazil: New Series Posted by Rachel on Oct 15, 2008
This is the first of a new series about foreigners doing business in Brazil, since the economy has grown and diversified in the last few years. Today we’re going to look at James Crane-Baker, the founder and CEO of a start-up based in Rio de Janeiro. After working on Wall Street for ten years, James…
Brazilian Oktoberfest Posted by Rachel on Oct 14, 2008
Believe it or not, Brazil has a huge Oktoberfest celebration every year in October, modeled after the German version. It takes place in Blumenau, Santa Catarina, which was originally settled by German immigrants. Brazilian Oktoberfest is the largest German festival outside of Germany, as well as the second largest Oktoberfest celebration in the world. Brazilian…
Portuguese Personal Pronouns Posted by Rachel on Oct 13, 2008
It’s important to know all of the person pronouns in Portuguese, even if you may not use all of them: Eu (I) [Ee-ew] Tu (you, informal) [Too] Você (you, formal), Ela (She), Ele (He) [Voh-say, eh-lah, eh-lee] Nós (We) [Noi-ss] Vós (all of you, informal) [Voice] Vocês (all of you, formal), Elas (them, feminine), Eles…