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Portuguese Blog: Language and Culture
C.T. O'Donnell's blog about everything related to learning Brazilian Portuguese.
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Poor thing!
2008-04-09 19:02:25
The word for "poor thing" in Portuguese is coitado, which to the English-speaking ear may sound a bit odd, but don't worry--it's not a bad word. We use coitado for males and coitada for females, and add an -inho or... ...
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Brazilian Profile: Zezé Di Camargo & Luciano
2008-04-08 18:22:07
Zezé Di Camargo and Luciano are brothers, the sons of a poor farmer from Goiás state. Their father's greatest wish was for his sons to grow up to be famous musicians. And indeed, they did. They are now two of... ...
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Podcast: Using slang on the phone
2008-04-07 18:01:10
The feature of today's podcast is to work on how to use girias, or slang, in a phone conversation. The phone conversation in the podcast contains slang, most or all of which you will hear when a Brazilian man uses... ...
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Rare Species of Parakeet Spotted in Downtown Rio
2008-04-04 22:51:59
Today, a four month-old rare species of wild parakeet was spotted in a tree outside of Central Station in downtown Rio, the equivalent of New York's Grand Central Station. It's one of the most polluted, urbanized and busiest parts of... ...
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More than just a cat
2008-04-04 01:54:24
In Brazilian Portuguese, the word "gato" has three very different meanings. 1. CatExample: A velinha tem cinco gatos.The old lady has five cats.2. Cute, hot, or attractive personExamples: Seu irmão é tão gato!Your brother is so cute!Eu acho ela muito... ...
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A very unwelcome surprise
2008-04-02 23:46:07
On Monday, a man driving his car in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais had a nasty surprise. As he was driving, a baby cascavel (rattlesnake) fell onto his lap. He immediately pulled over the car, and the authorities managed to capture... ...
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Coming in the Near Future: Bullet Train Between Rio and São Paulo
2008-04-02 05:47:25
Globo News announced that only in 2009 will the Ministry of Transportation open the bidding for companies interested in constructing a bullet train railway between the cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. (In Portuguese, this bidding process is... ...
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Brazilian City Spotlight: São Félix do Xingu
2008-04-01 20:32:15
The municipality of São Félix de Xingu, population 60,000, is located in the northern state of Pará. Despite its modest population size, the city extends over 84,600 square kilometers, a space fifty-six times larger that the city of São Paulo,... ...
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Gostar
2008-04-01 03:19:03
Gostar is an important verb to learn and is luckily fairly easy to use. It means "to like," but is used in various contexts. Unlike the Spanish gustarse, which is a bit tricky for English-speakers to learn, gostar is a... ...
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Showing Surprise: Part II
2008-03-28 18:38:05
To finish the week, we'll look at three more expressions used to show surprise in Portuguese. 1. Puxa / puxa vida! (poo-shah / poo-shah vee-dah): Jeez! Man! Gosh!This expression is meant to show surprise, indignation, or frustration.Examples:Puxa! Esta cidade é... ...
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Resolve a tua crise!
2008-03-27 21:37:58
Globo News is reporting that Brazilian President Lula da Silva spoke to U.S. President George Bush twice on the phone today. President Lula claims that Bush was upset after the Brazilian leader had phoned U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently... ...
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Brazilian City Spotlight: Petrópolis, the Imperial City
2008-03-27 00:40:33
Located an hour from the city of Rio de Janeiro, Petrópolis is a city nestled in the mountains of the Serra dos Órgãos, with a population of about 306,000. The city was the summer home of the Brazilian emperor, Dom... ...
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And the winner is...
2008-03-26 01:46:07
The votes are in and the winner of Big Brother Brasil 8 is... Rafinha.Rafinha is 26 year-old musician from Campinas in the state of São Paulo.Rafinha beat his competitor, Gyselle, by a hair--with only 50.15% of the votes.This year's Big... ...
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Showing Surprise
2008-03-24 18:40:42
There are a rich array of ways to display surprise in Brazilian Portuguese. Let's look at some of them.1. Nossa Senhora or Nossa! [Noh-sah Seen-yor-ah]This is a very common Brazilian expression. The full expression is "Nossa Senhora Aparecida," which is... ...
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JetBlue Set to Launch New Brazilian Airline
2008-03-22 19:26:29
This week, Globo reported that the Brazilian National Aviation Agency (ANAC) is going through the approval process to allow JetBlue to start a new airline based in Brazil. The airline will be officially announced on March 27th.JetBlue founder David Neeleman... ...
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Brazilian Profile: Pelé
2008-03-20 20:57:49
Born Edison Arantes do Nascimento, Pelé is one of Brazil's and the world's most famous, talented, and beloved soccer players. In Brazil he is known as "O Rei," the King, and is the all-time top scorer on Brazil's national team.... ...
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Easter Egg Update
2008-03-20 20:46:48
The Portuguese Blog writer found one of the Easter eggs in question from yesterday at the grocery store and felt compelled to get one. Here it is!... ...
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Graffiti in Brazil
2008-03-20 18:06:03
This brand-new blog is full of terrific pictures of graffiti in Brazilian cities. Check it out!I always find it so interesting to see manifestations of American urban culture abroad.... ...
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A Different Kind of Easter Egg
2008-03-20 02:25:16
This Easter season, artisans have sold 400,000 specially-made Easter eggs from the northern Brazilian states of Para and Amazonas. The chocolate eggs, bunnies and carrots are filled with Amazon fruits, like açai, banana,bacuri, cashew, and cupuaçu. Though most orders... ...
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Not me!
2008-03-19 17:49:03
One of my favorite little expressions in Portuguese is "Eu não!" It literally means "Not me!" but is used as a negative response to a question.Here are some examples:Você vai trabalhar no feriado? Are you going to work on the... ...
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Do you want to...
2008-03-17 02:01:38
Happy Monday! Let's work on some useful questions.There are a few ways to ask someone if they want to do something in Portuguese. We have the main way, which we can use in the present simple and present continuous tenses:a.... ...
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Big Brother Brasil Madness
2008-03-14 20:13:55
Many foreign TV shows are adapted in Brazil, everything from "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" to "Desperate Housewives." But undoubtedly, the most popular foreign TV show adaptation has to be Big Brother. Each season, 14 contestants are chosen from... ...
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Baby Pumas Found in Sao Paulo
2008-03-13 21:02:17
Three puma cubs were found in a sugar cane field less than 200 kilometers from the city of Sao Paulo. The species is known as "onça parda" in Portuguese. The one male and two females were abandoned by their mother,... ...
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The Origins of Capoeira
2008-03-12 21:00:05
Capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian dance based on martial arts, has become famous world-wide in recent years, in part due to the athletic workout it provides, in part due to the beauty of the dance, and in part due to its cultural... ...
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Brazilian City Spotlight: Walachai, Rio Grande do Sul
2008-03-10 20:12:38
One of the most impressive things about Brazil is its regional diversity. In this series, we'll take a look at just how different Brazil's regions and even cities and towns can be.Walachai, pronounced "vala-hi" is a small town in the... ...
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Infamous Copacabana Nightclub Shutting Down
2008-03-07 23:22:58
The Rio de Janeiro city government announced recently that it is shutting down one of the city's most infamous nightclubs, "Help" in Copacabana, known for rampant prostitution and to a lesser degree, drug trafficking. Though the club used to be... ...
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Part I: Transitioning from Spanish to Portuguese
2008-03-06 21:17:22
Learning Portuguese is considerably easier if you have a background in Spanish, since much of the grammar and even the vocabulary is similar. However, here are some of the pitfalls of transitioning from Spanish to Portuguese.SPANISH ... ...
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Brazilian Profile: Silvio Santos
2008-03-05 23:06:45
Everyone loves an American dream story, even if the subject isn't American. Silvio Santos, also known as Senor Abravanel, was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1930, the son of humble Jewish immigrant parents from Turkey and Greece. He... ...
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Deixa!
2008-03-04 03:16:54
Deixar [day-shar] is a useful verb in Portuguese because there quite a few expressions that use it. Literally, it means several things:"to leave": Deixei meu cachorro com minha irmã.I left my dog with my sister."to stop": Ela deixou de fumar.She... ...
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Happy Birthday, Rio!
2008-03-03 03:29:19
Parabéns, Rio! This past Saturday, March 1st, marked the 443rd birthday of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and festivities around the city marked the event, including a six meter-long birthday cake at the train station to the Christ the Redeemer monument... ...
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