Archive for 'Learning'
How to use “onde” and “aonde” Posted by Adir on Jul 6, 2012
Olá! Today is Friday and we’re getting ready for the weekend so let’s finish our week with a tip that will help you to learn and improve your Portuguese: how to use onde and aonde. Onde (where) is used to indicate the place where you are or where something is happening. It is usually used…
How to say “to take a rain check” in Portuguese Posted by Adir on Jun 29, 2012
Olá! Hoje é sexta-feira, “dia de bebemorar” (como diz a música)! Você já tem planos para o fim de semana? Bom, nossa dica é bem curtinha: como dizer a expressão “to take a rain check” em português. Podemos usar as formas: – adiar – deixar para a/uma próxima – deixar para outro dia – marcar…
Cutting Off Syllables in Portuguese Posted by Rachel on Jun 24, 2012
In spoken Portuguese, there are certain words that you will often hear cut off. While it’s important to learn and understand how words are spelled, it’s also good to know how words are treated in spoken form. Let’s take a look at some of these instances. estar (to be) – Conjugations of estar are frequently…
RioReal: A Bilingual Blog Posted by Rachel on Jun 21, 2012
One of the best ways to learn proper phrasing and new vocabulary is to read the same text in both Portuguese and English to compare the two. One place that makes it easy to do so is RioReal, a fantastic blog written by long-time Rio resident Julia Michaels about news in Rio de Janeiro–with posts…
História vs. Estória Posted by Rachel on Apr 27, 2012
In learning Portuguese, you may have come across two words that sound a lot alike, but are different when they’re written. But they also have different meanings. História [eest-OH-ree-ah] is history, as in the history of Brazil, or the history of music. It can also be an occurrence or a biography; in other words, something…
How to “make time” to study languages Posted by Adir on Mar 19, 2012
Olá, pessoal! Tudo bem? My good friend, Brazilian EFL author Ulisses Wehby de Carvalho has so kindly allowed me to use one of the texts in his successful blog Tecla Sap. It’s about how to “make time” to study a foreign language. The text is in Portuguese so you can read good and authentic Portuguese…
Learning Tip: Informality Posted by Rachel on Jan 26, 2012
Something that can be a bit confusing about spoken Portuguese is when to be informal, and when to be formal. In some ways, Portuguese is quite informal. Small talk is a very important part of communication, and expressions like tudo bom, tudo jóia, and tudo bem are commonplace in any conversation. So it can sometimes…