Archive for 'Learning'
Non-Verbal Communication: Part II Posted by Rachel on May 17, 2011
Continuing with our non-verbal communication series, we’re going to learn another hand gesture common in Brazil. The two hand slap This gesture is used to express the idea that you don’t care, or that something doesn’t matter to you. Let’s say you’re talking with your friend about how your friends got tickets to a show…
Non-Verbal Communication: Part I Posted by Rachel on May 13, 2011
We’ve talked a bit about non-verbal communication in the past, namely about hand gestures used in conjunction with certain themes in Brazilian Portuguese. We learned that when using depois, you can use a hand gesture to signal “maybe later” or “come back later.” In a new series, we’re going to learn about hand gestures you…
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…
Hopefully Posted by Rachel on May 6, 2011
There’s a number of ways to say “hopefully” in Portuguese. Let’s take a look at the various expressions and learn how! 1. Oxalá If you know Spanish or Arabic, this word will look familiar to you, and with good reason. It comes from the same meaning (in sa alla in Arabic, ojalá in Spanish), which…
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…
Portuguese Translation Trick Posted by Rachel on Apr 27, 2011
Here’s a handy trick for translating words, learning new vocabulary, or visualizing a new concept when learning Portuguese. It works best with certain types of speech, particularly objects, some nouns, and even verbs, and it works best for words that are best understood in a visual format. It’s especially helpful for visual learners! Let’s say…