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The Uses of Vontade Posted by Rachel on Jul 27, 2012
In Portuguese, you can use the word vontade (wish, or desire) in a number of different ways. Let’s take a look. 1. Ficar à vontade – This means make yourself at home. You’ll hear this if you’re in someone’s home or office. Bem-vindo! Fique à vontade. Quer um cafezinho? Welcome. Make yourself at home. Do you…
Brazil Olympics Focus: Maurren Maggi Posted by Rachel on Jul 26, 2012
To continue with our series on Brazilian Olympians competing in London this summer, we turn to Maurren Maggi, an athlete who competes in long jump, hurdles, and triple jump. She won gold for long jump at the 2008 Olympics, as well as winning gold three times at the Pan American Games. Here’s Maurren discussing her…
Piauí Magazine Posted by Rachel on Jul 19, 2012
Brazil has a huge publishing industry, even in this day and age when more and more publications are going out of business or going digital. Revista Piauí is one of Brazil’s finest publications with first-class journalism; some compare it to the New Yorker. That said, it’s difficult reading. If you can get through a Piauí…
Perdi meu Amor na Balada Posted by Rachel on Jul 19, 2012
Nokia recently came up with a very creative ad campaign in Brazil. First, they released this video, as if it had come from an actual guy in São Paulo. They even set up a Facebook page. People thought it was real! Until they released the final video: Here’s some key vocabulary words/phrases from the videos…
Brazil Olympics Focus: César Cielo Filho Posted by Rachel on Jul 17, 2012
The Olympics start in less than two weeks, and Brazil is preparing to send its athletes to London! In preparation for the games, we’re going to look at some of Brazil’s top contenders. Today, we’ll start with swimmer César Cielo Filho. Watch this interview as César talks about the upcoming competition. César arrived in London…
The Girl from Ipanema Turns 50 Posted by Rachel on Jul 14, 2012
This month, one of the most famous bossa nova songs “The Girl from Ipanema” turns 50 years old. The actual “girl” is now a 67-year-old woman. Read a bit about the history from G1: A jovem que inspirou Tom Jobim e Vinícius de Moraes a escrever “Garota de Ipanema”, Helô Pinheiro, hoje uma senhora de…
Learning Tip: Significant Other Posted by Rachel on Jul 12, 2012
One of the reasons that people decide to learn Portuguese is that they will live or travel to Brazil to be with a spouse or significant other. In this case, learning Portuguese can either be a breeze or a bit of a struggle. That’s because one of the best ways to learn a language is…