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…
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…
Listening Comprehension: Dog Psychology Posted by Rachel on Apr 27, 2011
Fántastico is a Sunday news program on TV Globo that includes various lifestyle segments that are really helpful for those learning Portuguese. They have fairly simple language and use some basic vocabulary words. Today, we’ll take a look at a segment on dog psychology. Watch the video and see if you can answer the questions!…
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…