Learn Portuguese and Discover a New World

When we learn a new language, learning how to communicate in a foreign language is not the only benefit that we gain. A language is not some kind of knowledge we simply store and use when the opportunity arises. It is much more beneficial than that. When taking Portuguese classes in Brazil, visitors are actually trying to gain a more complex form of knowledge. I am for certain that I gained more than simply a few words to add to my Portuguese language vocabulary since I learned a few
Portuguese lessons from Brazil. Our language represents the way we see the world, and how we build it. Remember that it is only through language
that we build reality, and not the other way around. Our linguistic limitation reflects our real life boundaries. Once we understand these statements are we able to begin understanding what a second language actually does for us.

Let’s analyze some of the elements we acquire when we take up a new language. We have the technical aspects of it, like grammar, syntax and pronunciation. On the other hand, we have the cultural implications that underline those technicalities. Those cultural aspects go beyond words themselves and need a deeper understanding and a real naturalization in order to be grasped. They are part of the atmosphere of a culture, the inside codes that are not formally written anywhere, yet, when we learn a language for real, we know and understand them.

After taking Portuguese classes Brazil style, students explained that the moment they really committed and actually began feeling like a true Brazilian was when they chose a native speaker of Brazilian Portuguese for the lessons. Before that, they could perhaps speak the language, but they didn’t feel it instinctively, naturally. They only had learnt the technicalities. The Brazilian vibe was still unknown. There is no better way to discover the Brazilian world than to start taking lessons with a native speaker who can surround you by all these mentioned cultural aspects.

Fortunately, today, Portuguese lessons of Brazil can be taken any day of the week including Saturdays and Sundays, at any time of the day, whether it be morning, afternoon or evening. Besides, wherever you live, you can find a native speaking trainer who is perfectly qualified to teach you all the things that are necessary for you to go on a language trip, imaginarily or not.

back to top

Pronunciation

As I talked about on thebrazilianlanguage.com on the page – “Pronunciation”, to me, pronunciation is probably the most difficult part, and the most important, in language learning. Because we need to be understood when we are communicating. I have no experience with other languages – at least not yet, but, well, I won’t try to insult your intelligence, but we obviously need to understand in order to learn. I mean, this is a no brainer. As I am learning about the Portuguese language, I am always making pronunciation corrections with myself. This is because the pronunciation rules do not exist for every situation. For example, I used to think that you pronounced the S in bolsa (purse) like a Z - bolza, but as it turns out, in this situation, the S is pronounced like a normal S. In other situations,  the S is pronounced like a Z as in the following cases -

• Casa (House)
• Usar (To use)
• Peso (Weight)
• Pesado (Heavy)
• Urso (Bear)

 
If you are in an imersion type of learning situation, like me, you are constantly learning. It is a non-stop learning process for me, but at least I ALWAYS have something to blog about … right?

Brazilians enjoy a wide ranch of music types from rock to Brega (música de brega). I believe one of the most popular genres probably would be forró music or música de forró – which is pronounced like … foehoe, with emphasise on hoe. It is believed that the history of forró music originated from descendants of Hungary back in the 1940′s. In my opinion, forró music mimics country music of America, but this is what it is – just an opinion. Another taste of Brazilian music is Brega music (música de Brega). I call it “keyboard music” because that is all it essentially is. Producers of the music will sometimes re-mix popular pop music to their own liking and then sell the cd’s on the streets for a cheap price to the general population.  This is what a majority of the people listen to here in the North of the country, near the Amazon. Brega music does have its own special brand compared to the other genres. Brega music is also known as Techno Brega.
One of my favorite genres of Brazilian music is pagode music (música de pagode). Pagode music is actually a sub genre of Samba. It got its roots in Salvador, Bahia back in the 1980′s. Today is very popular in Rio de Janeiro. I first heard pagode music once during a trip to Brazil from the US. The particular song was Abandonado by Exalta samba. But, one of my favorites of Brazilian music is Djavan – Um dia frio. I think the music of Djavan is comparative to any American music artist. It has a more of an easy listening yet a sort of pop rock taste to it. It is easy on the ears. A very pleasant listening. But this is just me. I am open to a lot of music genres, types, and sounds. I have been living here in Brazil now for more than a few years and discovering more music.
Another brand of Brazilian music is Samba music. Samba is a dance in which Brazil is most famous for. Every year hundreds of people from the country of Brazil and around the world flock to see “Carnaval” where beautiful women, dressed in scant clad feathery garb, and amazing colorful parade floats line up the streets. It is true that Brazilians love to dance and party. Carnaval is their way of showing this, through music and dance. There are other styles of Brazilian music. The list also includes, Afoxe, Batala, Bossa nova, Brazilian rock, Capoeira music, Choro, Sambass, Maxixe, and Lambada.

Who would like to learn Arabic?

Do you know anyone who is Arabic or from any of the Middle Eastern countries such as Egypt, The United Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, or Iraq just to name a few? Maybe the guy who works in the meat section of your local grocery store, or your dentist, or the guy who delivers your milk every week. How about at work? how many of us know someone at work who is Arabic and speaks the language? … we all live here in this country we call “The United States” – United = together.

Whether you are traveling to The United Emirates, or perhaps going snorkeling in the Red Sea at Sharm el sheikh in Egypt, thebrazilianlanguage.com has the perfect Arabic language. This is a learning software program for your language learning needs. Interactive Multimedia Arabic lessons Suitable for Beginners and ideal for children.

Arabic + free gift

This software comes with sounds, pictures, animations and much more. Should not learning a new language be fun? Fun … this software program is to learn. Below I will show you a list of quizzes available -

• MY Arabic Spelling -The Spelling Quiz is similar to the one included in ArabicSP v3.0 but is now with 240 words to choose from. All words you have already learned in the previous lessons.
• MY Arabic Master – is a new concept we have developed, you make up the words (actual) from a set of Letters. There are 32000 words!. All words also exist in the Arabic vocabulary list/dictionary.
• MY Arabic Puzzle – is a game you have to arrange all the Arabic Alphabet in the right order, they will also hear the sound of the letter while clicking on each letter. It is fun and learning!

If you are ready to try this program you are welcome to download now or if you would like more info about this software you can visit the vendors website.

back to top

Real Brazilian Portuguese

alltop
I have seen hundreds of websites and software programs out on the net that focus to much on the needless, senseless technicalities of learning a foreign language. That is alright and dandy if you are in school and your curriculum demands the need to learn the “Whole 9 yards” but what if you are planning a trip to Brazil with friends? at some point during the trip you may find yourself alone and in a situation where you may need to communicate with the employee at the store, or the airport, or hotel. While, during my many trips to the country of Brazil, I have lucked out and managed to find an English speaking Brazilian native, there were times when I wished I had a translator with me to save me the embarrassment of the moment if you know what I mean? You don’t have the time to learn all the information that comes from learning a new language although would it be nice if we could?

What does “Real Brazilian Portuguese” teach?

Teaches “Real life Brazilian Portuguese” instead of useless grammar and vocabulary. If your goal is to learn quickly and without the need to learn all the grammar, verbs, punctuation, conjugation, then this program is what you probably will be wanting. If you are like I was during my first time ever to Brazil, then you would have been wishing for a fast fix – an electronic speaking dictionary, or a real translator at your side 24/7. This course teaches you only what you need to know to communicate effectively with Brazilians and then enables you to progress beyond basic chat from there. It teaches you ONLY the common words used in everyday communication … this is how “Real Brazilian Portuguese” is able to teach you the language at a fast pace.
Real Brazilian Portuguese teaches you “mnemonic” where you learn by linking new information to familiar information already stored in the brain for example – the smell of flowers blooming reminds us of spring or a certain word or phrase reminds you of your login password.

What comes with “Real Brazilian Portuguese”?

The program comes with 20 easy to understand lessons which are covered in over 150 pages, it contains all the information you need to know about mnemonics and to use it with the program, it has lots of extra bonus stuff like tricks and tips which are designed to help you along the way learning the language, and it has unlimited Real Brazilian Portuguese email support for life. “Real Brazilian Portuguese” also does come with a 60 day money back guarantee and orders are taken 24/7 365 days per year and the price? well unfortunately nothing really is for “free” but I think for $39.00 dollars you can’t go bad. There are only 133 words (28 power verbs, 48 hot verbs, 57 power vocabulary) that you will need to learn with this program.
visit the vendors website at - www.realbrazilianportuguese.com and see for yourself what the program can do for you or if you feel like you want to give it a try already you can tryout the program now.

back to top

Transparent Language

#1 (Transparent) When people learn a language,
it is important to use repetition because this is how everybody learns to speak as a child. we learn by hearing sounds over and over from our
mother. It is also a well known fact that when babies learn to speak they often associate images with words & vise versa (hence the need for
flashcards incorporated in language learning softwares/apps).
I have used a program that uses all these important tools of language learning
software. It uses a new technology called Speech Recognition (which enables you to perfect your pronunciation) as well as the use of flash cards.
I lived in Brazil for a few years so I can certainly say that I see the full process involved, the process of learning through sound, of learning
through sight and visualizations, this is all immediately clear to me, and so based on this observation through this experience of being
immersed with the language and culture, I can, without a doubt, say that a good program, a good application would have to be Transparent’s “Brazilian Portuguese Byki Deluxe 4″.

How does Transparent teach a language effectively?

Transparent language uses a “Declarative First” approach when it comes to learning the Portuguese
language (or any other language of your
choosing). So what is meant by “Declarative First”? … Scientists who research language studies know that there are two factors that contribute
to successful language learning and those two factors would be declarative memory and procedural memory. These factors, or systems, allow
people to learn, retain, and produce language. Transparent’s main focus is on learning vocabulary as opposed to
learning grammar and sentence structure and to learn a new language this way has been proven more effective than trying to remember all the rules of the language.

back to top

One of the challenges in learning a language, and in this particular case, the Portuguese language, in my opinion, is “Denotation” or the “literal meaning” of a word. A challenge because, we want to be able to relate words in all languages – word for word – instead of being stuck visualizing what is being said or thinking of the meaning in terms of “Expression” vs “Denotation”. Denotation is defined as …

• The act of denoting; indication.
• Something, such as a sign or symbol, that denotes.
• Something signified or referred to; a particular meaning of a symbol.
• The most specific or direct meaning of a word, in contrast to its figurative or associated meanings.

 
Let me try using some examples to convey my thoughts on this subject. Some of these examples are from actual conversations I have had with native speakers that left me thinking … hmmm, what’s up with that?

• The light turned red = O sinal fechou (literal meaning = The signal closed)
• Don’t get lost = Não vai perder (literal meaning = don’t go to lose)
• I am twenty years old = Eu tenho vinte anos (literal meaning = I have twenty years)

 
So the point is, we need to think about what is being said in a figurative approach rather than trying to interpret with “Denotation” or quite frankly, what is he or she saying? In the case of the second example from above, I am twenty years old = Eu tenho vinte anos, if I said to an English speaker, “I have twenty years”, I would think he is not going to understand very well. So then lets not think of this as a negative but rather a positive. Because this, I feel, can help us to open our ears and minds to a broader perspective of speech … yes?
come on all you language learning people out there, even those who speak English as a second language. Chime in with your opinions and tell us what was different or difficult about learning a foreign language, if anything. How did you interpret the context of a conversation you might have had with someone and/or restructure it in your mind in a way that made sense to you? This is an open post discussion for anyone knowedgeable in learning and thriving with a second language.
 

back to top