Brazil Travel Info

Airlines Offering Non-Stop Flights to Brazil from Various US Cities (as of August 2009)

—Miami—
To Sao Paulo:
TAM
AA
United
To Rio:
AA
TAM
To Salvador:
AA
To Recife:
AA

–Los Angeles–
To Sao Paulo:
Delta (Seasonal)

–Houston–
To Sao Paulo:
Continental
To Rio:
Continental

–Atlanta–
To Sao Paulo:
Delta
To Rio:
Delta
Northwest
To Fortaleza:
Delta (Seasonal)
To Recife:
Delta (Seasonal, Canceled?)

–Dallas–
To Sao Paulo:
AA

–Charlotte–
To Rio:
US Airways (Seasonal)

–Chicago–
To Sao Paulo:
United

–NYC–
To Sao Paulo:
Delta
United
Continental
TAM
AA
To Rio:
United
TAM

Some cheap deals can be found at www.atiflights.com.  This website includes connections to Gol which is not possible with Expedia and Priceline.  However, I would suggest flying on TAM rather than Gol.

For a multi-city vacation in Brazil, special deals can be had if you fly internationally with TAM out of Miami.

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 staying in the US for over one year.  So, I spent 3 months in a town near Ouro Preto and took a Portuguese class at UFOP.  I was lucky enought to also teach English at a local school.

So, now I’ve been back to my real life (Arizona), I’ll explain how I keep up on my Portuguese lately.

1. MSN.  (duhh)  …No friends?  Go to a language exchange site (see list to left).  Hell, go to a dating site!  Remeber, there are at least 10X the # of Brazilians wanting to learn English than people like you.  Use this to your advantage.
2. Skype.  Speaking is essential.  Get past the fear, speak for an hour a day for two weeks, you’ll see a huge difference.
3. Spell checker!  Install the PT-BR addon in Firefox.
4. Movies.  Try this: www.downsbrasil.net
5. MP3’s. Try this: www.4shared.com
6. Orkut!  Essential for online relationships with Brazilians.  Very easy to make friends in the English-learning groups.  Just be aware of the horrible Orkutanisms like “axei” instead of “achei“, “kra” em vez de “cara“, “naum/ñ” em vez de “não“, “xau” em vez de “tchau“, etc.
7. Blogs. For example, with funny/disgusting pictures with just a few words: lolhehehe.com , about learning english: teclasap.com.br , interesting with beautiful pictures: avenidacopacabana , etc.  Good way to come across new words.

Good luck!

Project Gutenberg

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

On Working with a Language Exchange Partner

I’ve posted previously on how to find a language exchange partner from Brasil (see [1], [2]).   Assuming you and your partner are internet savvy, here are a few ideas…  (the suggestions get more interesting further down)

1. Choosing the right parter.
Before we begin, let’s discuss your choice of partner.  I had many different people to choose from.  In fact, too many.  There were several people I began talking to and simply don’t have time to speak with anymore.  So, think long-term, wait for someone that you get along with.

2. Simple Exchanges – Email & Online Chatting
The skill level of your partner isn’t too important here.  Usually, the intent of what your partner wants to say is clear.  I’ve found that the best way to go about making corrections is as follows…

Suppose your parter writes:

I went to the mall to buy a gift to my sister.  I think she’ll receive some friends here today.

A good way to correct them is as follows:

I went to the mall to buy a gift [to](for [1]) my sister.  I think she’ll [receive some friends here](ou: have some friends come over here / meet some friends here) today.
[1] – See this site on use of prepositions…

The original text is preserved in square brackets.  Bold font helps to identify the corrections.  For common mistakes, like regarding the use of prepositions, you can reference them to an internet site or try to explain in more detail yourself.  By using “ou:“, I am making it clear that the mistake is not a grammar error, we would simply say the phrase differently.  Giving them more than one option also helps, especially when it helps to clarify the meaning of a phrasal verb, etc.

3. Voice Over Internet.
Again, this is pretty straightforward.  Use Skype, Yahoo, MSN, AIM, etc.  Try to split the conversation 50/50.

If you run out of things to talk about, have you parter read from an English book.  You can help them on their pronunciation while they test you on your translation abilities.

You can have them watch your favorite TV show or movie.  Even though the sound quality across the internet is poor, you can probably understand it well enough to answer any “What did they just say?”-type questions.

Also, if you purchase credits on Skype, you can call each other’s cell phone.  For example, it might be fun to talk with your partner while you’re in the supermarket or at the mall.  Basically, anyplace that would spark new conversation and new words.

4. Help Your Partner Help You: Log Your Questions.
As you study Portuguese or read on the internet, you’ll come across little things that bother the heck out of you.  These are perfect questions for your partner to answer.  Sometimes this requires a complicated grammar explanation.  But usually, a few additional examples is all you’ll need.  I find that grammar explanations are only needed to explain improper usage of grammar.

Google Notebook is a great tool for logging your questions or phrases you find interesting.  Or simply log them by hand or in Word.

5. Start a Shared (Private) Blog
Most blogging sites allow you to share a blog with someone.  The blog can also be made private so that nobody else can see it.

Basically, the blog serves as an online collaboration website.  You can host files (mp3’s, pictures, videos, etc).  Or, simply post your questions and allow your partner to comment.  The additional ideas below are well suited for a blog.

6. Exchange Mp3 Recordings
One of the best ways to learn something is by listening over and over.  This is why mp3 lessons (together with an iPod) work so well.

For example, you can give your partner a few paragraphs to read and record.  Be sure to highlight any words or phrases that you found confusing; your partner can provide an explanation or translation at the end of the recording.

Or, if you have some Brazilian music you like, post the mp3 and lyrics.  Work together with your partner to understand the meaning of the lyrics.  This also works for poems, etc.

Or, perhaps you have some good translations that you’d like to share with your partner to help them study.  They can follow this up by posting a correction to your pronunciation.

By the way, if you’re hosting your files on Box.net, they have a nice feature which makes it very easy to post mp3’s to your blog.

7. Make a Video Quiz

There is a site (www.bubbleply.com) which allows you to add “bubbles” (basically subtitles) to any video from YouTube, Google Video, etc.  And they make it easy to post the video to your blog.  Using such a site you can pose questions to your partner, or help them by spelling out the words you think they’ll have trouble with.  It’s a nice way to check their comprehension skills.

Or, you can quiz your partner on song lyrics, play hangman, etc.  Fun games like this keep it interesting.

Practice with Translating Would/Could/Should Statements

Think about how you might translate these phrases and see how close you came by highlighting the blacked-out text.  It can be hard to choose the correct cojugation at times.

• (Advice) I would be careful about…
• Eu teria cuidado com…
• (Permission) Could I interest you in…?
• Posso oferecer a você…?
• (Possibility) Would you like to open a…?
• Você gostaria de abrir uma…?
• (Advice) I would encourage you to…
• Eu aconselheria você a…
• (Permission) Could you give me your…?
• Você poderia me dar o seu…?
• (Possibility) Would I be right in saying that…?
• Eu estaria certo se dissesse que…?
• (Permission) May I say something?
• Posso dizer uma coisa?
• (Wish) Wouldn’t it be nice if we could…?
• Não seria bom se pudéssemos…?
• (Possibility) Would you rather…?
• Você prefere…?
• (Permission) Would/Could you give us…?
• Você pode nos dar…?
• (Uncertainty)…if you’d like to talk to me further.
• …se quiserem conversar mais comigo.
• (Possiblity) Could you make it on Monday?
• Pode ser na segunda?
• (Wish) I should have gotten that.
• Eu deveria ter pedido isso.
• (Possibility) Could I get someone to fix it?
• Será que tem alguém para concertá-lo?

The following examples help illustrate the differences between deveria, devia, podia, and poderia…

• Eu deveria ter te perguntado.
• I had the chance of asking, but I didn’t ask, and there’s no way of asking now.
•  
• Eu deveria estudar amanhã.
• I should study tomorrow but I have to do something else instead.
•  
• Eu deveria sair da internet agora.
• I should get off the internet now, but I won’t because I still have things to do here.
•  
• Eu devia ter perguntado antes, mas pergunto agora.
• I could have asked before, but I’ll ask now.
•  
• Eu devia estudar amanhã.
• Talvez eu estude.
•  
• Eu deveria estudar amanhã.
• Não vou estudar.
•  
• Eu podia ter perguntado.
• I could have asked, I’ll ask now.
•  
• Eu poderia ter perguntado.
• I should have asked, but I didn’t.
•  
• Eu devia sair da internet agora.
• Talvez eu saia.
•  
• Eu deveria sair da internet agora.
• Não vou sair.

–Thanks Glinda!

COMPARA Search – Translation Search

In their own words:

COMPARA is bi-directional parallel corpus based on an open-ended collection of Portuguese-English and English-Portuguese source-texts and translations. It was developed by Ana Frankenberg-Garcia and Diana Santos under the broader framework of Linguateca, the former Computational Processing of Portuguese project.

…In other words, it’s a searchable collection of translations.  They have a Simple Search and an Complex Search.

For example, recently I’ve wondered how the phrase “o que quer que seja” might translate.  By typing “quer” “que” “seja” into the Simple Search, I found that it usually translates to “whatever it is” (depending on the context).

Actually, when searching within my own set of translations that I created from movie subs, I found that mine were pretty good in comparison.  When I first started learning, I found these translations to be a great tool for looking up phrases and also understanding the context of how they are used.

Present Perfect in Brazilian Portuguese

Brazilian students have a tough time with this.  It’s one of the more complex aspects of English.  As native speakers, we don’t initially recognize the difficulty, however, you may have noticed a couple things like

He has been drinking too much.

translates to

Ele tem bebido demais

whereas your tendency may be to use “bebendo” instead.  And you may have noticed that

I have travelled by airplane many times

translates to

Já viajei de avião muitas vezes

and wondered, “Where did ‘Já’ come from?”.

The website Karen’s Linguistics Issues does a good job of explaining these aspects.  See also [1], [2].  I’ve written some notes below:

Describing a past event that has a present result

I‘ve broken my leg.  Look! It’s broken.
Quebrei minha perna.  Veja, ela está engessada.
–or–
Have you been crying?
Você esteve chorando?

Describing an indefinite past experience or event, which leads up to the present time

Have you already (ever) been to Salvador?
Você já esteve em Salvador?
–
I‘ve been to London.
Conheço London.
–
You have never been to England?
Você nunca visitou a Inglaterra?
–
I haven’t finished by assignment yet.
Ainda não terminei meu projeto.
–
I‘ve always loved him.
Eu sempre lhe amei.
–
He has always had good grades.
Sempre teve boas notas.

Referring to something that has just finished or just happened

She’s just left.
Ela acabou (acaba) de sair.
–
The boy has just broken a window.
O menino acabou (acaba) de quebrar uma janela.
–or–
Winter has just begun.
O inverno recém começou.
–
He has just called me.
Ele recém ligou.

Refering to something that has happened recently

I‘ve been working a lot lately.
Estou trabalhando muito ultimamente.

Describing a habit that started in the past and continues into the present

I‘ve been to Mallorca every year for the last ten years.
Há (Faz) dez anos que vou a Mallorca todo ano.
–or–
I‘ve been going on holiday to Mallorca for the last ten years.
Tenho ido para Mallorca em férias nos últimos dez anos.

Emphasizing the period of time that the action took place

I‘ve lived (been living) in Brazil for a year.
Há (Faz) um ano que eu moro no Brasil.
–
I‘ve been (waiting) here since 10 o’clock.
Estou aqui desde as 10 horas.

Describing a past state that continues into the present

I‘ve always liked to study.
Eu sempre gostei de estudar.
–
I‘ve already called him at least ten times today.
Já liguei para ele pelo menos dez vezes hoje.
–or–
How long have you been living here?
Há quanto tempo você mora aqui?
–or–
How long have you been living here?
Há quanto tempo você está morando aqui?

Giving news of recent events

The stockmarket has collapsed.
A bolsa caiu.
–or–
The stockmarket has been bad since the last election.
A bolsa tem estado ruim desde as últimas eleições.

Describing a past event when you are not thinking about a specific time

Have you (already) seen…
Você já viu…

Describing an event when the time in the past is not mentioned

I‘ve cleaned the house.
Eu limpei a casa.

Saying how long an incomplete activity is taking

I‘ve been cleaning the house all day (since early).
Estou arrumando a casa desde cedo.

Describing a continued or repeated action or state in the near past or into the present, time is not stated

It has rained a lot / It has been raining a lot (lately).
Tem chovido muito (ultimamente).

Indicating that an event leading up to the present has a limited duration

I‘ve been studying a lot these days.
Estou estudando muito esses dias.
–or–
I‘ve been studying a lot.
Tenho estudado muito.
–or–
I‘ve been living with Tom for a month.
Faz um mês que moro com o Tom.

Referring to an event in the past that has no clear beginning or ending, and might still be happening

Where have you been?
Onde é que você andava? (Imperfect Indicative)

Okay???  It’s not as difficult as it appears.  Notice that Há and Desde trigger the Present Indicative, Acabou De triggers the Infinitive, and almost everything else uses the Preterit Indicative (it may help to reference [2]).  The last example uses the Imperfect Indicative to describe a continuous past state.

To study these, I’d make a recording of the above phrases (random order).  If you think about the context of what you’re trying to say, I think you’ll find that it’s not hard to construct the correct translation.  If anything, it’s the complexity of the English construction which causes difficulty.

Start Using Portuguese, Join Orkut

Orkut is one of the biggest sites on the internet, it’s in the Alexa top 10.  It is by far the most popular site in Brazil.  If you haven’t heard of it before, basically Orkut (launched 3 years ago) was Google’s equivalent to MySpace except it didn’t become popular in the US.  It’s not much different than other social networking sites.  If you already have a gmail account, then you’re all set to go.

On Orkut you’ll find tens of thousands of Brazilians trying to learn English.  For example, the Tecla SAP group has over 14,000 members and the Amo Inglês group has over 17,000.  I’d suggest that you join some of these English learning groups and see if you can help answer some of their questions.  Eventually, you’ll find someone who will want to do a language exchange, either through email, VOIP, or IM (by the way, Brazilians tend to prefer MSN).

I can’t help but think how useful it would be if these groups held weekly online live discussions, like Skypecasts.  If I can think of a good way to organize/advertise something like that, I’ll try.

Reading Blogs as a Study Tool

Occasionally I’ll read blog posts in an attempt to increase my vocabulary.  Blogs are usually good examples of everyday speach.  A nice list of Brazilian blogs can be found here.  In the below picture of a blog post, I’ve underlined the words and phrases that I didn’t know or for some reason caused confusion.  In the example below, you can see that the inline comment reminds me that “má resposta” roughly translates to “bad reply”, but other translations might be “negative feedback”, “sharp reply”, “tart comment”, or “flaming response”.

If you have Brazilian friends, perhaps they can review your translations and even record an audio rendition to help you remember how to pronounce the new words.

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Tá Falado!: Brazilian Portuguese Pronunciation for Speakers of Spanish

I found a very nice blog that can help with pronunciation. Despite the title, Spanish does not appear to be a prereq.

Many of our students who study Portuguese have previously studied Spanish. If you know the differences between por vs. para, ser vs. estar, preterite vs. imperfect, and subjunctive vs. indicative, you already know a lot that is transferable to Portuguese.

Portuguese pronunciation is more of a challenge than grammar. We provide learners of Brazilian Portuguese with practical lessons that show pronunciation differences between Spanish and Portuguese – that, in a nutshell, is the objective of Tá Falado: to provide help in learning the sounds.

Tá Falado podcasts are built around dialogs that illustrate specific sound differences. Users can download PDF transcripts and participate in a discussion blog for clarification of questions. Additionally, all of the dialogs present cultural scenarios designed to show some of the differences between the U.S. and Brazil.

Try it out, and join our Brazilpod community. There are no registration fees or restrictions. Tá Falado, it means “it’s all been said.” We invite you to join the discussion.

 Also check out this site at utexas.