“Gringo” is not a bad word in Brazil. It’s used as a kind label for any foreigner. DO NOT be offended when someone calls you a gringo! In these next two dialogs we’ll learn some very useful new vocabulário. Whenever you’re getting new vocab in a story with rich context, it’s supremely memorable!
Read more...How do you say something like, I’d like to go with you sometime or ask, Can we play with you guys? In Portuguese there are several key verbs that make it easy and clear that you’d like to do something – to participate. Portuguese invitational verbs participar: to participate poder: to be able to, can…
Read more...A student just reminded me of a very cool YouTube comedy channel called Porta dos fundos. Besides being insanely funny, it’s actually funny to non-Brazilians as well (but, for advanced & intermediate learners). Even I find most of the great Brazilian way too hard to laugh at. There are just too many subtle cultural references…
Read more...Great alt-travel blog, The Locales brilliantly leverages local guides and country experts to bring a fresh perspective to many travel destinations. Founder, Weston Moody has posted audio travle-guides and travel advice about subjects such as budget travel, kayaking in Angola, and visting remote areas of the Nepalese Himalayas. The Locales goal is to empower people…
Read more...You can score BIG points just being able to meet & greet in Brazil. Before you even know how to say anything else, learn these. Use them to practice your pronunciation – you’ll be using them over and over. For example — Tudo bem is the main thing everyone says when seeing someone you know…
Read more...We all have our own unsolved mysteries about SAMBA, right? Do you really have to go to a samba school to learn samba? Is there some store where you buy those outfits? Can men samba too? Does it mean you’re gay if you do? It’s just like salsa – but with less clothing? It just…
Read more...This post is making me extremely hungry. Here’s the deal: once you know these you don’t have to bother to learn the Portuguese equivalents. No need to. They are already in use in the common vocabulary here. Just be sure to say these words with your best brazilian accent. We’ve gotten a native to record…
Read more...If you’ve ever heard this and wondered what it really means, PARABÉNS – your Portuguese is pretty advanced. Let’s break this expression down. You will hear it in business situations, or whenever someone is trying to help you out. Qualquer dúvida estou à disposição basically means, Feel free to ask any questions or, I’m available…
Read more...One sure way to quickly improve your Portuguese is to get lost… in Brazil. Even if just for a few hours. All of your speaking inhibitions will immediately disappear and you’ll be compelled to do the single best thing for improving your skills: speak to a real Brazilian! Brazilians are a helpful bunch. I’ve made…
Read more...This clip caught my attention. It’s a soft news piece. Except for the intro, it’s spoken clearly and not too fast. The vocabulary is really core also. Once you get past the intro it’s perfect for training your ear (intermediate-advanced level). We use a lot of video (quase 100%) in our course, but we generally…
Read more...We use a lot of video (quase 100%) in our course, but we avoid anything that ‘s from a TV or the movies. The vast majority are just too fast and full of irrelevant vocabulary. If you do want to try a Brazilian movie, make sure you watch like this. But this clip caught my…
Read more...You already know that learning a Portuguese song helps your language learning. But, did you know that it in-fact, super-charges you? It does. Images & music sets your brain in a highly stimulated state — and that makes it record what is happening in a uniquely powerful way. Here is a fantastic song by Maria…
Read more...*Obviously things have changed since this was posted. The current exchange rate is even better. The latest USD > BRL exchange: What it all means. If you haven’t been following the latest financial news about Brazil, you might be surprised to hear the US Dollar is once again, king of the land here in Brazil….
Read more...Wallace asks: “Eu gostei muito de esse blog acerca de etiqueta no Brasil! Você pode escrever um blog sobre de como viajar com segurança no Brasil? Por exemplo, como os turistas devem vestir-se, onde não devem ir, e como usar o ônibus e o metrô de uma maneira segura. Eu planejo visitar Rio de Janeiro…
Read more...In the previous post I presented some really solid, but basic conversation starters. Now it’s time for some Portuguese Sentences that are also very common, but more complex. These are for the intermediate-advanced level learner. Vamos nessa. Just as the previous post, these sentences are linked to Google translate, and if you click the speaker…
Read more...If you’ve already got some of the basics down and are looking for ways to get into a conversation, I’m going to give you a list of very common Portuguese sentences that you can use as openers. These are all simple, yet powerful and: interesting openers. This list will give you some great openers and…
Read more...Get comfortable with the double-cheek kiss. Brazilians are much more liberal with body touching and personal space than Americans. This is generally a very cool thing. You will often see even younger boys holding hands as a sign of friendship. Women do the two-kiss greeting. But beware. Don’t automatically go in for the air-kiss on…
Read more...I always struggled with the pronunciation of these. It made me feel pretty ignorant. Brazilians automatically expect foreigners to magically know how to say these (reasons unknown!). Countries and Nationalities in Portuguese: spoken by a native! From the video learning course, INTENSIVO.
Read more...In English when we are talking about seating in an airplane, or a theater we just use the word seat. But when you want to talk about assigned seating in Portuguese, there is a special word that you need to use: o assento. Whenever it’s a reserved seat situation it’s called um assento. Qual é…
Read more...Are you planning on spending some time in Brazil? How’s your Portuguese? Brazil has a lot to offer travelers and foreigners who relocate here, but in order to take advantage of these opportunities, you need to speak Portuguese. While Brazilians do their best to speak some English, it’s really difficult to spend more than a…
Read more...The airport is a great place to start practicing your Portuguese. Most airline staff are bilingual and will be very forgiving of your mistakes and accent. Just go for it and apologize later. Let’s do a typical check-in dialog: AGENTE: Bom dia senhor. Passaporte, por favor. PASSAGEIRO: Aqui está. Eu vou para Recife. AGENTE: O…
Read more...Notícias Only the very geeky (Brazilians say “nerd”) of yo know that we use a CDN (content distribution network) to deliver our videos fast, fast, fast. *In Portuguese of Brazil we use words like rápido and, veloz to say speedy, quick, fast. The good news of the day is that for those of you using…
Read more...The word code is código. To say QR code it’s: código QR. ‘QR code’ is that new square mosaic black & white pattern that’s starting to appear everywhere — magazines, products and now — the sidewalk in Ipanema (Rio de Janeiro). They are taking over old-fashioned barcodes because they can be read by smartphones and…
Read more...Just as Brazilians love to talk and be social, they are equally enthusiastic about facebook, twitter, skype and all the rest. *just a year or two ago everyone had an Orkut account — now replaced almost completely by facebook. Some of our readers have been asking us to talk about the current vocabulary of média social….
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