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Brazilian Profile: Paulo Szot Posted by on Jun 19, 2008

Last Sunday, Brazilian opera singer Paul Szot won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his role in “South Pacific.” But it was a long road to success on Broadway. Paulo was born in 1969 in São Paulo, and grew up in Riberão Preto.  He is the son of Polish immigrants who…

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Rio Ink Posted by on Jun 18, 2008

The latest American reality show to be adapted in Brazil is “Miami Ink,” which has become “Rio Ink” on Brazil’s People and Arts channel. Like the American version, the show follows the day-to-day operations of a tattoo shop, this time the Bonzai in Ipanema. Over 22,000 people applied to be on the show, but the…

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Weather Vocabulary Posted by on Jun 17, 2008

Though traditionally Brazil has had few natural disasters, global warming has begun to change that trend, so let’s take a look at some weather vocabulary: hurricane: furacão [foo-rah-cownn]  tornado: tornado [tor-nah-doh] flood: inundação [een-oon-dah-sownn] earthquake: terremoto [teh-heh-moh-toh] storm: tempestade [temp-est-ah-gee] water spout: trombra d’água [trohm-brah dah-gwah] This water spout was spotted in Santarém, in the…

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100 Years of the Japanese in Brazil: Part II Posted by on Jun 16, 2008

Today, we’re going to look at the second half of the list of Japanese influences in Brazilian culture, since this year is the centennial of the arrival of the first Japanese immigrants in Brazil. There are now 1.3 million people of Japanese descent all over the country, with the largest concentration in São Paulo. Let’s…

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The New Bondinho Posted by on Jun 15, 2008

Last week, the city government unveiled the new bondinhos (cable cars) at Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro. The new cable cars are part of a city-wide face lift in preparation for the 2014 World Cup. The bondinho system was constructed in 1913, and has undergone several major renovations since then. The latest one cost…

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Brazilian Profile: Zé Carioca Posted by on Jun 12, 2008

This year, Zé Carioca turns sixty five, but he hasn’t aged a bit. That’s because he’s a Disney cartoon who was wildly popular in Brazil for years. During World War II, Walt Disney and his team traveled to South America with the official purpose of finding new cartoon characters, and with the real purpose being…

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Translating Idiomatic Expressions: Part III Posted by on Jun 11, 2008

We’re going to continue our discussion of idiomatic expressions, using this humor site as a source. The idea is to show the dangers of translating word for word instead of understanding the actual meaning behind the expressions. 1. Ela é cheia de nove horas. She’s full of nine o’clock. This expression means a person is…

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