Archive for 'Learning'
Idiom: não pregar o olho Posted by Adir on Jul 10, 2013
Hello, there! Today we have a very common idiom im Portuguese: não pregar o olho. It means “not to sleep a wink” and it happens to everybody once in a while. Here are some examples: A música estava tão alta na casa do vizinho que eu não consegui pregar o olho a noite toda. The…
How I am improving my vocabulary in French Posted by Adir on Jul 4, 2013
Hey, everybody, tudo bem com vocês? I was thinking about a good topic for a post and I remembered what I did to improve my vocabulary in English and now what I’m doing now to improve my vocabulary in French. Last week I gave some more general tips, but today I’m going to be more…
How to increase your vocabulary Posted by Adir on Jun 24, 2013
We, as language learners, know that having a vast vocabulary helps when we are trying to convey our ideas, so how do we increase our vocabulary when learning a foreign language? Let me share some tips with you. 1. Read, read, and read some more. What are you going to read? Anything and everything. Choose…
Is making a little cow something bad? Find out now! Posted by Adir on Jun 15, 2013
Hello, there! Today I’m going to teach a very common Brazilian expression: fazer uma vaquinha. Literally it means “to make a little cow” and you may wonder, “Adir, what on earth is that?” Well, fazer uma vaquinha means to raise money, informally, for something or someone. For example, your friend wants to audition for American…
Contractions in Portuguese Posted by Adir on Jun 6, 2013
Hello, there! Today’s post was suggested by a reader and it covers one aspect of learning Portuguese that has students somewhat confused: the contractions. Contractions come mostly with prepositions and articles so here they are! 01. Em – in, on or at em + o = no em + a = na em + os…
How to apologize and forgive in Portuguese Posted by Adir on Jun 4, 2013
Hey, there! How’s it going? We all mess up one day or the other so it is very important to be able to say I’m sorry and also to forgive and forget, so this is the topic of our post today. Pedindo Desculpas – Apologizing Desculpe. – I’m sorry. Foi sem querer. – I didn’t…
I need to take a taxi, what do I do? Posted by Adir on May 21, 2013
Hello, there! If you’re traveling to Brazil and nobody’s going to pick you up at the airport chances are you will need to speak some Portuguese with the taxi driver, so why learn some survival phrases in the meantime, huh? First read the following dialogue where John, an American businessman, goes to Rio for a…