Portuguese in my life these days…

I haven’t posted to this blog in a long while, …mainly because I finally became more or less fluent!

Several months ago I walked up to my boss and told him that either I quit, or he can allow me to take a 3 month vacation.  He said I could take the vacation!  So, I went to join my girlfriend in Minas Gerais.  She returned to Brasil after her US visa expired, we had met nearly a year prior when she first arrived in the US.  So, I spent 3 months with her in a town near Ouro Preto and took a class at UFOP.  I even taught some conversational English classes at a school in town!

So, now I’ve been back to my real life (Arizona) for some time now.  Just to make one last blog post, I’ll explain how I keep up on my Portuguese these days.

1. Friends on MSN.  Duhh, right, you already know this.  But this time, I have friends who don’t speak any English at all, …they’re not even interested in learning!  But anyway, it’s good because now I have more friends to visit in Brazil.   …No friends?  Go to one of the many language exchange sites I’ve talked about.  Hell, go to a dating site!  Or join a community on Orkut.  It’s not hard!  There are lots of Brazilians willing to help you as long as you help them.
2. Friends on Skype.  This helps the most.  Any fear you have of speaking will go away after a couple of weeks.  Probably the best thing I do to keep up on my Portuguese.
3. Spell checker!  Anytime I write an email, Firefox always checks my spelling.  I would suggest you install the Portuguese spell checker.
4. Movies   Unfortunately, I can’t watch movies or TV on Mogulus anymore.  Somebody put an end to that, but it would be nice…  It’s difficult to find movies in Portuguese that are quick and easy to download.
5. MP3’s.  I listen to some music from Brasil, but not too much.  When I want to download something, I usually use www.4shared.com
6. Orkut!  Another obvious example… Everyone in Brasil uses this.  But just keeping up on the latest pictures from your friends can teach you a lot.  …Ok, so the Portuguese they use sometimes isn’t the best example, but you’ll have that some problem on MSN.  What’s really annoying is when people know I’m American and they still continue saying things like “axei” instead of “achei“, “kra” em vez de “cara“, “naum/ñ” em vez de “não“, “xau” em vez de “tchau“, etc…
7. I still read some blogs, for example, blogs with funny/disgusting pictures with just a few words: lolhehehe.com , blogs about learning english: teclasap.com.br , interesting blogs with beautiful pictures: avenidacopacabana , etc.  Osmosis actually works!!!  Just be sure to supplement your reading with actual conversations.

Good luck to all of you!

Even more Brasilian TV channels…

It seems that internet TV is taking off and for some reason is very popular amongst Brasilians. Check out the program SopCast, and also the website (which only carries Brasilian channels) TVZuka.

Finally, the internet is giving people direct, and perhaps entertaining, access to spoken Portuguese. See also my post regarding Mogulus.

Skype Community

Within the Skype community forums you’ll find a link called “Learn Languages and More“.  Pretty much just another language exchange site, but anyway, I thought I’d post the link since I’ve always liked Skype.

Project Gutenberg

One of the more popular free ebook sites called Project Gutenberg has over 50 books in Portuguese.

Portuguese Channels on Mogulus

A site called Mogulus has many Portuguese channels which are constantly streaming user content, including novelas, popular movies, etc…. Very cool site.

Take this channel for a test run.

Easy Way To Download Brazilian Subtitles

The program Subdownloader allows you to easily find subtitles from any video file or DVD, i.e., first you download a video/DVD, then you use this program to download Brazilian subtitles.  The link provided has some video tutorials on YouTube, or the figure below may suffice…

I configured the program to only search for Brazilian and English subtitles.  I also configured it to work with mplayer, which allows me to launch the movie in MPlayer by right-clicking on the subtitle. 

If you’re just starting out, this might not be so useful.  I would suggest you work at a slower pace and look at my Movie Subs page or look at the Grammar links on my blogroll.  However, if you understand about 80% of the subs, then it could be useful to read along with the sub while hearing the English audio.

Livros em mp3

In the Orkut group Livros em mp3 you’ll find links to audio books and video to download (you must be a member of Orkut).  Perfect in case you’re running out of practice Portuguese material to throw onto your iPod.  In there, you’ll even find links to advanced Portuguese lessons.

One of the more interesting links I found was to Loquendo, it’s a computer synthesized voice service.  The website offers a free example.  It’s not too bad.

Another free language course online – Mango

Here: Mango

I gave this a test run.  Very impressive.  I’m surprised it’s free (for now anyway, it’s in Beta).

There are over 100 lessons with about 100 slides per lesson.  The audio is very clear.  Give it a try!

There are 10 other languages to choose from.

Reading Exercise – 4

Pedro paquera Clarice em ‘Sete Pecados’

Uma troca de casais vai agitar os próximos capítulos de Sete Pecados. Tudo começa quando Ágatha sugere que Pedro conquiste Clarice.

O ex-noivo de Beatriz não pensa duas vezes e parte para cima da mulher de Dante.

Enquanto isso, Bia investe pesado no taxista, que não resiste e acaba confessando que sente desejo pela dona da boate. Pedro convida Clarice para jantar, o que irrita Dante, que a proíbe de ir.

Do outro lado, Beatriz e Ágatha armam plano para fazer o taxista passar a noite fora. Elas mandam Dante buscar um licor em uma fábrica muito longe e ele acaba dormindo por lá. Clarice fica furiosa e cobra explicações ao marido, achando que ele pulou a cerca.

Palavras e Frases

paquera = (he) flirts with, checks out
casais = couples
agitar = to stir up, to aggitate
capítulos = episodes
sugere = (she) suggests
conquistar = to win over, to achieve, to conquer
ex-noivo = ex-boyfriend
parte para cima de = (he) leaves to the side of
taxista = taxi driver
dona da boate = club owner
irrita = (it) irritates
a proíbe de ir = forbids her from going
armar = to set up, figure out, put together
um licor = a liquor
fábrica = plant
pulou a cerca = (he) betrayed her

Tente Dizer (Use of the verb “Dar”)

1. We’ll find a way to stir up the party!
2. The club owner twisted her leg and ended up in the hospital.
3. She suggests that Pedro should drop by Clarice’s house.
4. My ex-fiancè wants to take a walk with me tomorrow, taking a stroll won’t hurt me.
5. The car broke and the taxi driver didn’t think twice before giving the door a kick.
6. Any little kid is a hell of a lot of work.
7. The couple rented a room that faces the sea.
8. I need to be alone, can you excuse me?
9. It was on tv that Pedro cheated on his wife, he does that when it gets in his head.
10. The couple likes to take a look at the neighboor’s life.
11. I’m not good at asking for favors.
12. It’s impossible to understand, there’s never enough time for conversing and drinking a good liquor.
13. João works a lot but his money is never enough, nothing works out in his life.
14. I get irritated easily and sometimes I feel like starting a fight and killing someone.
15. It’s very hard to write the final episodes of a soap opera.
16. If she wants to go running back to her ex tonight, it’s not my problem.

LISTEN TO THE MP3 FOR ANSWERS!

Reading Exercise 04.mp3

Reading Exercise – 3

Tão longe, tão perto

Daqui da praia não se ouve os barulhos da cidade, o caos parece que não existe. É um outro mundo, com cores e cheiros totalmente diferentes. Outra organização.

Aqui perto do mar só se percebe o barulho calmo das ondas, o vento, uma ou outra gaivota, quase o silêncio. Praticamente o paraíso.

É isso que acontece quando a gente vive dentro de um cartão postal.

Palavras e Frases:

barulhos = noises, sounds
cores = colors
cheiros = smells
ondas = waves
vento = wind
gaivota = seagull
paraíso = paradise, heaven
cartão postal = postal card

Tente dizer (Subjunctive–After Conjunctions):

1. It was good for them to have arrived early, provided that they also leave early.
2. Unless we do something, that noise will be bothering us all day.
3. Even if you were there, you wouldn’t have seen the waves.
4. Stay inside, unless you want to feel the cold wind on your face.
5. I hate seagulls, unless they’re dead!
6. Although Rio de Janeiro is a postcard with beautiful smells and colors, it’s no paradise!
7. I’ve got a hangover. I was going to drink some water before going to bed.

LISTEN TO THE MP3 FOR ANSWERS!

Reading Lesson 03.mp3