Archive for 'Customs'
Animals as Adjectives Posted by carol on Dec 10, 2015
Oi, pessoal! (Hey, people!) Many languages use animals as an adjective to describe humans. Some may refer to the leading characteristic of the animal in question (such as slow, large) as a basis of comparison, whereas other can be more abstract and have nothing to do with the animal itself. Either way, the meaning of…
Expressions with “bola” Posted by carol on Nov 25, 2015
Brazil is widely known as the country of football. The sport is a national passion and we are famous all across the globe for our talented players and teams. Football is definitely the most popular in our nation and it and an intrinsic part of our culture. Maybe that can explain the number of idiomatic…
Folk Tales Posted by carol on Oct 30, 2015
Olá a todos! (Hello, all!) Since Halloween está chegando (is coming), this week’s posts have been all about showing you the scary side of our culture. Last post was about some sinister children’s songs and lullabies. Hoje (Today) we will delve even deeper into the macabre and aprender sobre (learn about) some traditional folk tales…
Scary children’s songs em Português Posted by Ester on Oct 26, 2015
Feliz Halloween, gente! Yay, it is Halloween again! With the amazing colours in nature that you can only get this time of the year, in outono (Autumn), when we celebrate the end of harvest. However, in this time of the year it is primavera (Spring) in Brazil. This is probably one of the reasons why…
The word “feira” in Português Posted by Ester on Oct 19, 2015
In most línguas (languages) the days of the week refer to either astrological bodies or pagan gods. Portuguese, however, seems to be the only Latin language which uses a different name for the dias da semana (days of the week): they all end in “feira”. The explanation dates back to the year 563 when Portuguese…
Brazilian Cinema Posted by carol on Sep 11, 2015
Olá, gente (Hey, guys!) Those who se esforçam (strive) to learn a foreign language know that the best way to aperfeiçoar suas habilidades (improve their skills) is to immerse oneself in a culture. A great way to do that is to assistir filmes (watch movies), because not only are viewers continuously exposed to the target…
Expressions related to food in Portuguese Posted by Ester on Sep 7, 2015
Olá todo mundo! Tudo joia? This is for all the food lovers out there: some expressions that are a piece of cake to learn. Mamão com açúcar – papaya with sugar Explicação: you say something is “papaya with sugar” when it is easy to do, it would be the equivalent of “piece of cake”…