Brasil-Boston Interchange - Lighting a Spark

Not a reader? Here's a video.

I was bummed I couldn't make yesterday's conversation yet so glad Luis stepped up to lead our open house for learning Portuguese and English. Watching the recording lit a spark, inspiring me to write this first entry in the Brasil-Boston Interchange blog.
   

For the uninitiated or newbie, we started this free (no cost, no ads) Saturday morning Zoom meeting in the early days of the pandemic. Our mission: to make the world a better place, one interchange at a time. We don't have much structure—a good thing—and go back and forth between English and Portuguese.

Brazilians tell me I've made a lot of progress. I believe them. I speak and write with much more confidence and less attachment to perfection. 

Feito é melhor do que perfeito, não é? 

I've been using my Portuguese at work. I get the job done with short and basic conversations. I got to that point because I was invested in learning, memorizing, and using new vocabulary. 


Understanding conversations between native Brazilians, however, has proven to be a bugaboo.

Nobody's fault except my own. I've been satisfied with learning a few words here and there on Saturdays and helping others learn English. It's loads of fun, for sure, and I love my online friends. Seeing how much they've progressed with their English got me thinking about what I can do to reach a new level of proficiency instead of resting on my laurels. 

I'm not retired, so I don't have gobs of hours to practice. Ten or fifteen minutes a day? Can do. 

Eu decidi assistir A Grande Família para sair da minha zona de conforto e começar entender as conversas entre falantes nativos. 

Nos primeiros dez minutinhos do primer episódio, Meu Marido Me Trata Como Se Eu Fosse Uma Geladeira, eu aprendi quase 20 novas palavras ou expressões por diminuir a velocidade e colocar uma legenda neste vídeo. 

Escrevi o que aprendi: Aprender um novo idioma é como arrancar um dente; e difícil, mas vale a pena. Não é um cacareco. Eu não preciso torrar grana para melhorar a minha pronúncia e o meu entendimento das conversas entre os falantes nativos. 

No vídeo que eu fiz, a pronúncia não é perfeita, mas está bom. Acho que é melhor assim porque não quero me martirizar com a busca pela perfeição. 

My pronunciation is good enough, I think. O que você acha? 

Need a spark to improve your English or Portuguese or want to help us teach and learn? 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Brasil-Boston Interchange: A Luta Na Lama e o Pão Para Todos

Image
 Oi, pessoal. Uma história que eu escrivei depois nosso encontro no sábado passado. After last Saturday's meeting of the Brasil-Boston Interchange, I challenged the group to write a creative story to include words we learned. Mud, bucket list, pliers...all of which came about organically in our open-house style conversation. Here's a fictional story to memorize those words and more. Durante os  Jogos Olímpicos na França , eu pensava em minha lista de desejos. Sempre sonhei em viajar à  Paraty, Brasil   para assistir a Luta Na Lama. No ano passado, por exemplo, a equipe do Minas Gerais, com as suas bisnagas bem comprimidas eram as zebras contra os paulistas empunhando as suas bengalas pequenas. O vencedor conquistaria a medalha feito de pão dourado. Os mineiros tinham uns trens misteriosos: confiança e um grampeador mágico, um presente do presidente da Staples nos EUA. Mas os Paulistas tinham alicates especiais para se defenderem-se. No final da partida, a pontua...
Read more

English for Shy People: Meet Viviane in Minas Gerais

Image
Meet Viviane! I live here, in Belo Horizonte. That's my hometown, and I love it from the bottom of my heart! It's the capital of the State of Minas Gerais, in the southeast of Brazil, known for its cheese bread and for the huge Mineirão Stadium. Nearby are Lake Pampulha Lagoon and The Pampulha Architectural Complex, which includes The Church of São Francisco De Assis, designed by the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer.  In addition, there are other famous tourist attractions in Belo Horizonte, such as City Park and Mangabeiras Park, as well as the famous squares around the city: Station Square, Savassi Square, Pope's Square, and Liberty Square (pictured to the right.)  Living in Belo Horizonte suits me: It's not a twenty-four-hour city; it's not large, crowded and full of energy like São Paulo and New York, but it's not very quiet like a sleepy place. There's always something to do and there's always something going on.  In my neighborhood, we can get to...
Read more

Hooked on Learning and Teaching English

Image
On Thursday, I didn’t know today I was supposed to say, “shiver me timbers” or “scallywag.” Not until a coworker, who was born in England, grew up in Canada and who lives in the US, told me this morning. This evening, the Brazilians who usually show up for English class were absent. Celebrating International Talk Like a Pirate Day ? I asked them what’s up in our WhatsApp group.  A handful joined the Zoom meeting. None of them spoke like a swashbuckler. But a student asked if I knew the song, “Sharing the Night Together”. By Dr. Hook? Argh you serious? The Music, Language Learning, and Pirate Gods had aligned. I found the song on YouTube and then turned on the closed captioning so we could all listen to the music, read the lyrics, and watch the eye-patched Ray Sawyer tap on the conga drums. Aw yeah, alright. Then Dave Burke, a musician from Canada, joined us. He hasn’t been to Brazil and asked what places would be cool to visit. My students, thrilled to hear a vo...
Read more