Archive for 'Culture'
Reading Comprehension: Rock in Rio Posted by Rachel on May 12, 2011
Rock in Rio is a series of music festivals held in Brazil, Portugal and Spain. The first concert series was held in Rio de Janeiro in 1985, attended by 1.5 million people. Two other shows were held in Brazil in 1991 and 2001, and now the mega-show is coming back to Rio in 2011. Today…
Rodeios & Sertanejo Posted by polyana on May 9, 2011
Rodeio season has started in Brazil! It’s when it starts to get “chilly,” and gives us big city folk a reason to go to the countryside, wear our cowboy boots, big belts, big hats, and go to sertanejo concerts (Brazilian country music)! I went to the Jaguariúna Rodeio, a town an hour or so away…
Subtitles and Dubbing in Portuguese Posted by Rachel on May 5, 2011
When living or traveling in Brazil, you’ll notice that there’s quite a lot of foreign movies, TV shows, and music being consumed. Most of the time, you’ll find one of two things: subtitles or dubbing. We’ve talked a bit about this in the past, and as far as learning is concerned, I highly recommend both…
Brazil Stand Up Comedy Posted by Rachel on Apr 28, 2011
One of the best ways to determine if you’re an advanced speaker of any language is to test to see how much humor you can understand. If you can understand jokes in Portuguese, you’re in good shape, but if you can understand stand up comedy, you’ve come a long way! So today, we’re going to…
Tonico e Tinoco – Country Living Posted by polyana on Apr 25, 2011
My friends and I spent Easter weekend at my friend’s farm a ways away outside São Paulo City, and since we were in the countryside, we decided to jam pack our playlists with sertanejo, or Brazilian country music. It’s pretty popular amongst the younger crowd here, like with singers such as Luan Santana, who’s only…
Holy Week in Brazil Posted by polyana on Apr 18, 2011
Holy Week, Semana Santa, for Christians all over the world, started yesterday. The Brazilian Catholic population celebrates Semana Santa like most other countries, but a few special plays around the country makes the Brazilian celebrations unique – Procissão do Fogaréu em Goiás Velho This procession is held on Holy Thursday, and is mostly famous in Goiás…
Desejo a vocês Posted by Rachel on Apr 8, 2011
Carlos Drummond de Andrade (1902-1987) is one of Brazil’s most celebrated modern poets. We’ve read a bit of his work before, but today, we’re going to look at one of his untitled poems and learn some vocabulary. It’s simple and straight forward, and it’s also emblematic of Brazilian culture. Desejo a vocês Fruto do mato…