Sao Paulo Reports

[Jan 156]

I wonder if my two bits might be helpful for the Porto-challenged? I don't find learning languages easy but after so many years in Br for months at a time some sort of ability became innate.

My thoughts.

A simply tape for one's first trip, listened to over and over on the plane. Then you at least can seem polite when you arrive and your bom dias and obrigados won't sound forced or incomprehensible. Bring a pocket phrase book. Speak gently. Not loud.

Pick a useful word or phrase before leaving the apartment each day. Use it as many times as you can before getting back that day.

If you can afford Pimsleur, just play it over while doing some chores. It will at least get you acclimatised to reasonable intonation. When you practice saying something, imagine you are Brazilian (sounds crazy but I found it helps to imitate the speech muscles the way the language is spoken). Only for speaking purposes, don't pretend to be Brazilian!

Cariocas are the best to listen to as they over-emphasise and dramatise and they are more expressive when talking, which helps to convey meaning.

After a week or two, hang out in low life bars. Drink cola. Other people will talk slower after a drink giving you slightly more time to understand. Stand at the bar even so you overhear conversations. Learn some slang, not rude stuff, and when it's used. Later, ask your chica or even a shop assistant to confirm if you are using it correctly. Only practice rude stuff during a session of course.

If you can get an ordinary chica to hang out with you who doesn't speak much English she will help as you'll have no choice but to learn some Porto.

There are two other groups of chicas broadly speaking who speak English. Ones who are educated (and can explain things) and ones that live or work in Copa. The Copa ones talk tourist town English. Otherwise, SaoPaulo.

Brazilian Portuguese evolves. They like making words up. Adding -inho or -inha to the end of words (as diminutive) is fun.

Enjoy.

[Kcrl01]

Correct me if you think I'm wrong but I believe that Brazil will be the first country to have its sex industry up and running post covid; even before Thailand, Colombia or Mexico.

It's be up and thriving! You could get your fav girl to crash with you thru the whole quarantine period. Many were charging monthly rates. Basically they move in with you for the duration. Mine did!

[Mangera]

Correct me if you think I'm wrong but I believe that Brazil will be the first country to have its sex industry up and running post covid; even before Thailand, Colombia or Mexico.

The heading of this post is all I had to add, LOL!

[Hobbying]

Correct me if you think I'm wrong but I believe that Brazil will be the first country to have its sex industry up and running post covid; even before Thailand, Colombia or Mexico.

It never really stopped except for the large clubs. $1 Rapid Covid test in development could open everything up. But HIV rapid test run at least $20. A $5 STD rapid panel would be a game changer.

[Turgid]

Correct me if you think I'm wrong but I believe that Brazil will be the first country to have its sex industry up and running post covid; even before Thailand, Colombia or Mexico.

[Balboa]

And I appreciate you being man enough to issue a public apology. And you're right about most people. Too much talk and no action ...

Now, there's no question that speaking the local language enhances the entire overall experience. I know that one reason why Spain, pound for pound and inch for inch, is my favorite country in Europe is because I can speak the language and interact with people there on a whole other level. I wish I could do the same in Brazil, but I can't. I get by with whatever English and Spanish they can understand, whatever Portuguese I can understand, and my smart phone translator. During my last trip to Brazil, I wondered how in the world I ever survived without Google Translate LOL! Anyway, as I think people can see from some of my posts, I still manage to have a rocking good time in Brazil every single time I go there! Monger on my friends!

Appreciate it.

I love Spain as well, I usually spend at least a month there every year as I have family there.

Hopefully getting back to Brazil soon.

I have plans for SP in May, and Rio in July. We'll see how that goes.

I personally found the transition from spanish to portuguese fairly easy and enjoyable.

They are very similar, it's more of getting accustomed to the pronunciation.

With spanish, IMO, one can easily pronounce a word, seeing it written.

With portuguese, often times I needed a word to be verbalized to me to get it down.

Stay safe!

[Hobbying]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-h...-idUSKCN2242Q8

[The Cane]

I agree, I spoke as a joke really, as I have many friends who for years have said they're going to learn spanish, or portugues, however, have never even started, LOL.

That's obviously not you and I spoke out of turn.

Apologies.

And I appreciate you being man enough to issue a public apology. And you're right about most people. Too much talk and no action. It's one of the things I don't like about people. I've tried very hard to lead my life not being one of those kind of people. I speak three languages. English (native), Spanish, and a third (I won't say which as I believe it would give away too much about me). Given that Brazil is my favored vacation destination in the Americas, I really wish that I had Portuguese rather than Spanish, but as I said, it's Spanish (and that other language) that I really needed more for professional reasons at this time. And enough years have passed that I know I'm not studying a third language at the moment. But, when I've got nothing but time on my hands, then there's a real possibility.

Now, there's no question that speaking the local language enhances the entire overall experience. I know that one reason why Spain, pound for pound and inch for inch, is my favorite country in Europe is because I can speak the language and interact with people there on a whole other level. I wish I could do the same in Brazil, but I can't. I get by with whatever English and Spanish they can understand, whatever Portuguese I can understand, and my smart phone translator. During my last trip to Brazil, I wondered how in the world I ever survived without Google Translate LOL! Anyway, as I think people can see from some of my posts, I still manage to have a rocking good time in Brazil every single time I go there! Monger on my friends!

[Balboa]

Please! I'm fluent in Spanish and I've never been able to make significant progress in Portugues. I think my Spanish helps me quite a bit for reading, but speaking and understanding conversation is beyond difficult.

Unless one is planning on visiting Brazil (or Portugal) at least once a year, I don't think investing time in an audio course is a good choice. I think a book like Portuguese in 10 minutes a day can give you just enough to get by or allow you to be somewhat able to make simple conversation and requests. The book is designed as a workbook and has some stickers and flash cards. It can be as interactive as you want. I have a friend who put the stickers around his condo for a few months so he knew how to say common household items. I only use an audio course designed for tourists in my car to sharpen my pronunciation. I myself am never going to learn enough to have extensive conversations in Portuguese unless I live in Brazil (or Portugal).

https://www.amazon.com/PORTUGUESE-mi...keywords=learn+portuguese+barrons&qid=1587399192&sr=8-02.

Like most Latin languages, the letters aren't always pronounced like English. The general rules are T and the are soft when generally followed by I or e. Os at the end are pronounced "oo". You can learn the rules for how to say the odd Rs and Ms, but not absolutely necessary for tourists. There are a few other sounds like o and es. Hopefully if one is here, you know already know how to say So Paulo.

As a former fluent spanish speaker only (and english of course), I began spending a lot of time in Brazil about 15 years ago and spanish speaking just wasn't going to cut it for me.

I really wanted to learn to speak portuguese, but not make it over complicated.

I of course knew it was another Romance language and that a lot of the mechanics would be the same.

Thank goodness!

Anyway, I bought this book, along with a dictionary and verb book of course:

https://www.amazon.com/Everything-Le...rds=everything+learning+brazilian+portuguese&qid=1587402017&sr=8-1.

Did wonders for me!

Studying and listening to the enclosed CD, as well as practice got me up to speed and more so.

Boa sorte!

[Balboa]

It's also what you call, probably never going to happen, haha.

Always excuses to put things off, but hey, that's your business, not mine.

Whatever floats anyone's boat is cool with me.

I already speak two other languages (including Spanish which helps me to communicate in Brazil). Spending time on two other languages is a major part of what kept me busy from studying a third one, namely Portuguese. I needed the other two much more at this time.

Agree we're all better off minding our own business rather than passing judgments about people we don't know. The world would be a better place. I don't let other people tell me what I will and will not accomplish in life, or what I can afford. And nor do I spend time telling other people that. Listen to most other people, and one is likely to accomplish much of nothing.

I agree, I spoke as a joke really, as I have many friends who for years have said they're going to learn spanish, or portugués, however, have never even started, LOL.

That's obviously not you and I spoke out of turn.

Apologies.

[WyattEarp]

Unless one is planning on visiting Brazil (or Portugal) at least once a year, I don't think investing time in an audio course is a good choice. I think a book like Portuguese in 10 minutes a day can give you just enough to get by or allow you to be somewhat able to make simple conversation and requests. The book is designed as a workbook and has some stickers and flash cards. It can be as interactive as you want. I have a friend who put the stickers around his condo for a few months so he knew how to say common household items. I only use an audio course designed for tourists in my car to sharpen my pronunciation. I myself am never going to learn enough to have extensive conversations in Portuguese unless I live in Brazil (or Portugal).

https://www.amazon.com/PORTUGUESE-mi...keywords=learn+portuguese+barrons&qid=1587399192&sr=8-02.

Like most Latin languages, the letters aren't always pronounced like English. The general rules are T and the are soft when generally followed by I or e. Os at the end are pronounced "oo". You can learn the rules for how to say the odd Rs and Ms, but not absolutely necessary for tourists. There are a few other sounds like ão and ões. Hopefully if one is here, you know already know how to say São Paulo.

[Member #4732]

The key is to learn by ear not the written stuff because it looks nothing like it's written. Like:

Bom Dia = Bone Gia = greeting in morning or early Afternoon.

Boa Noite = Boa No Chay = Greeting or goodbye at night.

Tudo Bem? = Too Doo Bane = All good? (How u doin)

Rio de Janeiro = Hee O Gee Jan Yare O = Yeah that place.

If you take an audio course you are way better off IMO.

Haha, Steve, your advice is good but your premise is a bit falacious. Portuguese actually does sound like it is written. It is a highly phonetic language, much much more phonetic than English. It only appears to "not sound like it is written" if one applies English phonetics to the written porto. If one learns the Portuguese alphabet phonetically, one can anticipate how to pronounce all the written words. Pronouncing them correctly is a greater challenge but that is due to some porto phonemes being outside the sound space we are accustomed to. The good news is that like Spanish the Porto phonemes are quite limited aside from all the nasal variants. That said, you are totally correct. A visitor is better off using an audio training program. I highly recommend Pimsleur.

Cheers.

[Steve 9696]

A better analogy is Italian and French. I've heard scores of monolingual Brits &Americans make that comparison. I also found Porto orthography (way word is written vs pronounced) difficult. But Steve's advice that even 5-10 hours of study to learn how to say Hello, how are you, where is and most importantly how much. That always pays off.

.

The key is to learn by ear not the written stuff because it looks nothing like it's written. Like:

Bom Dia = Bone Gia = greeting in morning or early Afternoon.

Boa Noite = Boa No Chay = Greeting or goodbye at night.

Tudo Bem? = Too Doo Bane = All good? (How u doin)

Rio de Janeiro = Hee O Gee Jan Yare O = Yeah that place.

If you take an audio course you are way better off IMO.

[Nordico]

If you don't have time to study Portuguese language, here is a very good and easy reading book of Brazilian history to read on the plane; https://www.amazon.com/Concise-Histo...dp_ob_title_bk.

Sorry guys, no special chapter or mention of Help disco.

[HarvestBoi]

A better analogy is Italian and French. I've heard scores of monolingual Brits &Americans make that comparison. I also found Porto orthography (way word is written vs pronounced) difficult. But Steve's advice that even 5-10 hours of study to learn how to say Hello, how are you, where is and most importantly how much. That always pays off.

Please! I'm fluent in Spanish and I've never been able to make significant progress in Portugues. I think my Spanish helps me quite a bit for reading, but speaking and understanding conversation is beyond difficult.

.