My Dictionary

A few weeks ago, my language teacher set me the homework of creating my own Portuguese to English dictionary. Ever since, I go nowhere without it, it has been such an incredible help to me!

My dictionary lists all the Portuguese words, their meaning and links to grammar rules as appropriate. It is ordered alphabetically by the Portuguese word so sometimes it can take me awhile to find what I am looking for but that just means I spend more time with the dictionary open.

When I am in a meeting and I hear a word that I do not recognise, I will clarify the spelling with a colleague and refer to my dictionary to check if I already have it listed. If I don’t then I will add it in.

This technique really works for me and whilst I am sure not everyone would find it helpful, I personally would really recommend it!

Here are some photos of my dictionary:

 

Portuguese progress

The remaining words in the above sentence are: is fairly non-existent right now!

I am rounding out my second month in Brazil and, despite my six hours of lessons a week, still feel a very long way from being able to speak the local language.

I have definitely learnt a lot since I arrived and do understand a lot more of what I hear (but that is not saying much, when I arrived I mistook some people at the airport with strong US Southern accents for Brazilians speaking Portuguese!) but I am not even close to having the confidence to construct sentence of my own. And the conversations that I do need to have in Portuguese (in shops, restaurants, with my poor doorman) are still as difficult as ever.

I think what is making it tough is that I have never set about learning a language before (apart from some high school French) so have absolutely no frame of reference to assist me with how I should be studying and practicing, what level I should be at, how quickly I should be picking things up etc etc.

In terms of the studying and practicing, one of my (slightly irritating to other people!) traits is that I must always do things in an efficient manner. Nothing irritates me more than inefficiency in situations… it doesn’t take much additional thought to do something more efficiently so why not make the effort and save time in the long run! As a result, I become quite frustrated when trying to revise my Portuguese as I have no way to know whether the techniques I am using are worth the time I am investing or whether there is a better way to be doing things.

And in terms of getting a gauge on how I am progressing, my natural inclination is to compare with myself with other expats I am meeting over here. This is proving to be quite depressing as most of the expats I know here are from Europe, already know more than one language and are therefore picking it up at a rate of knots – I’m talking two months in and holding conversations in meetings at work! So depressing!

As a result of all this, I am generally feeling quite suffocated by the need to learn Portuguese at the moment. I feel like my morning lessons are coming around faster and faster each week and when I am not in a lesson I am either studying or struggling to have a conversation.

I just hope that once I get some more routine in my week , as all the relocation-type daily tasks slow down, I will be able to relax into my Portuguese a bit more and see the learning as more of a hobby than a chore. I am also hoping that all the reassurances I get from my colleagues such as, ‘don’t worry you will get there’ and ‘one day it will just click’ are based on some kind of infallible scientific proof and that that one day is not far around the corner!

Here are some of my current study techniques – children’s books, wall charts, text books, flash cards and re-writing out key words to name a few…..!

An interesting translation

A funny story for you today. I had a conversation with a Brazilian and Greek colleague of mine yesterday about Lapa. My Greek colleague said she was too afraid to go out there on her own so I suggested she came with me and my partner sometime.

Her and my Brazilian colleague had a laugh about something in broken Portuguese. I asked what they said and she replied that she did not want to be my “candle bra”. “Candle bra?” I repeated puzzled. “Yes” replied my Brazilian colleague.

After some back and forth I discovered that apparently, in both Brazil and Greece, this term is used to describe a person out with a couple as they are basically there only to hold the candle. “Ah, candelabra!” I exclaimed. “Yeah, that is what we said” replied my Greek colleague. I explained the difference for them and why it was so funny but could not get the imagery of a candle bra out of my head for the rest of the day. For all my constant Portuguese faux pas, it was nice to share a joke where the shoe was on the other foot for once!

Eu nao falo muito portugues

Portuguese… you cannot live in Brazil without it!

It cannot be overstated how important being able to speak Portuguese is when it comes to settling in Rio. The simplest things become impossible tasks when all you have is a handful of words and hand gestures to communicate with.

After finding an apartment, arranging my language classes was up there as something I wanted to get sorted as quickly as possible.

I have done a little bit of research into the language schools available in my area and settled on Scholar. They seem quite professional and are flexible in their approach. Fitting six hours of lessons into my week was always going to be tough but Scholar have offered to teach me in my home before work which will be perfect. They have a 300 hour programme that takes you through six modules from Beginner to Advanced over the course of a year.

My first lesson is scheduled for Tuesday morning at 7am and I am really looking forward to it. I am not the best with languages so I think this is going to be one of the biggest challenges that I have ever taken on, but I am determined! I will let you know how I find my classes and hopefully be reporting on some progress soon.

Another thing that I am trying is to carry a notebook with me at all times to take note of any new words and phrases that I come across. It is something that a Spanish girl in the office says really helped her so definitely worth a try.