View Full Version : Can someone PLEASE....
ronaldina09
04 Apr 2003, 11:32 AM
...teach me portuguese????? I love brasil and i'm brasilian but i've lived in the U.S for a long time and now i'm back in brasil and i don't know portuguese.
and i don't mean like teach me but anyone who knows portuguee, if i can like e-mail u and ask u how to say stuff.
Alex_1
04 Apr 2003, 12:42 PM
How could you forget how to speak Portuguese? I always figure that languages are like ridind a bicycle - you never really forget. Maybe some expressions (hand signals for bike riders) but the fundamentals should still be there. Conjugation would be maybe the toughest thing... I don't know. I still know some Spanish although I haven't really had the chance to speak it in over 4 years.
Can't really learn Portuguese in these boards though. THe best you could do here is maybe tell what you are trying to say and one of us can tell you. But otherwise, the best way to "re-learn" portuguese is to just... speak... and be where you are right now!
Ombak
05 Apr 2003, 04:07 PM
It all depends on how early you learn the language and how early you stop using it.
Where in Brazil are you? If you're living there again you will learn it fine.
Jon Pall
06 Apr 2003, 11:03 AM
How much portuguese do you know? Should'nt to hard to learn if you live there. I can see forgeting how to speak it well. Can you at least understand it?
ronaldina09
08 Apr 2003, 11:24 AM
well i can speak portuguese but i can't read it too good or understand. thanks though for all your help!!!
Alex_1
08 Apr 2003, 03:19 PM
I thought that usually it was the other way around :p. I can read fine but the speaking part is another beast. All you may want to do then is just, as odd as this sounds, take a little class or something.
Jon Pall
08 Apr 2003, 09:29 PM
"if i can like e-mail u and ask u how to say stuff."
Whats that supposed to mean then. How can you speak it but not understand it? If you can speak portuguese it is easy to read it unless of course you are illiterate to begin with. You have me very puzzled.
Ombak
08 Apr 2003, 11:06 PM
Reading and writing are artificial, human inventions. Speaking and listening are natural.
You can learn how to speak several languages and only read and write in one language and that doesn't make you illiterate. Obviously she can write in English, so she's not illiterate.
BTW ronaldina09, by "don't understand" do you mean the spoken portuguese? or just written?
If it's just the reading/writing you're having trouble with pick up a text book and study on your own, or take a class.
How old are you? I take it you're pretty young. The speaking and listening will be no problem as long as you're living there.
Father Time
10 Apr 2003, 04:44 PM
Well she never said she knew the language. She said she wanted to learn it. :)
SoccerScout
15 Apr 2003, 10:20 PM
Lets see you live in Rio...were born in Brasil and cant speak Portuguese..even worse you ask for help HERE!?!!!
Of all places! Get one of your hot cousins in Rio which Im sure you have (every Brazilian has hot cousins) to teach you.
brazil2002
18 Apr 2003, 11:34 PM
That is the most dumbest thing I heard,are you sure you're Brazilian?I dont think so,I think you are a wannabe,someone who comes to a soccer forum and ask this, got to be a dummy.
Bandeirante
22 Apr 2003, 06:21 PM
Originally posted by Jon Pall
"if i can like e-mail u and ask u how to say stuff."
Whats that supposed to mean then. How can you speak it but not understand it? If you can speak portuguese it is easy to read it unless of course you are illiterate to begin with. You have me very puzzled.
Many learn the grammar and how to read a language well before they grasp the nuances of speaking it. I can read and write portuguese much better than I can speak, although I can speak it fine now. But it took me much longer to speak. A close friend of mine who is brazilian grew up here in the states and spoke portuguese at home. She can understand and speak well, but she cannot write or read with any proficiency. Her an I are exact opposites, we learned from different methods.
Bandeirante
22 Apr 2003, 06:25 PM
Oh yeah, I am not Brazilian either, but because of my interest and love for the country and my brazilian friends, I must be a "wannabe" as well.
Galo_Doido
22 Apr 2003, 11:54 PM
I'm brazillian and I dont have hot cousins
LOL! =)
brazil2002
23 Apr 2003, 12:11 AM
Originally posted by Bandeirante
Oh yeah, I am not Brazilian either, but because of my interest and love for the country and my brazilian friends, I must be a "wannabe" as well.
No you're a Brazilian at heart and I have friends like you.and you never said you were a Brazilian like Ronaldina09.
Jon Pall
23 Apr 2003, 12:36 AM
Lol. I am a Brazilian who is an American at heart. Just got my U.S citizenship. Oh well. I probably should change my screenname to USA0000.
Jon Pall
23 Apr 2003, 12:46 AM
If you are Brazilian, if you can speak the language, if you can read and write any language that uses the Roman alphabet, there should be no problem in reading. Portuguese is not Chinese, Arabic, or Russian which use different writing systems. I can understand writing problems, but reading? I am/was Brazilian, but I left very young and never went to school to study Portuguese or learned to read Portuguese. I didn't really even try to read any Portuguese untill recently. It is a piece of cake. Written how it sounds. Obviously writing would be more challenging because I need to think about where to put accent marks. However, she also said she has a hard time reading and "understanding" Portuguese. On a side note. Judging from your username, you've probably spent some time in Sao Paulo.
ronaldina09
23 Apr 2003, 09:41 AM
well sometimes i see a word that i don't know so i was wondering if i could ask someone what it means and stuff. oh and to all those who call me a wannabe, i am brasilian but wasn't born there!!! i just came back to rio after a real long time and i haven't spoken portuguese for ages. BTW i'm not a little kid:)
Bandeirante
23 Apr 2003, 09:53 AM
Originally posted by Jon Pall
If you are Brazilian, if you can speak the language, if you can read and write any language that uses the Roman alphabet, there should be no problem in reading. Portuguese is not Chinese, Arabic, or Russian which use different writing systems. I can understand writing problems, but reading? I am/was Brazilian, but I left very young and never went to school to study Portuguese or learned to read Portuguese. I didn't really even try to read any Portuguese untill recently. It is a piece of cake. Written how it sounds. Obviously writing would be more challenging because I need to think about where to put accent marks. However, she also said she has a hard time reading and "understanding" Portuguese. On a side note. Judging from your username, you've probably spent some time in Sao Paulo.
It is true that if you can speak portuguese, you will be able to learn to read and write much faster than if you are learning the language from scratch, but it is not a given. In this country as well, look at the illiteracy problem. If people have not applied themselves to looking at the printed page, they will struggle to identify what they can say looks like. But you are correct, if someone can read and write in english and can speak portuguese, they should be able to read with a little effort. That is where my friend lacks: the effort part. I started out spending time in Sao Paulo and Rio, but I have fell in love with Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, and that is where I spend the majority of my time now. Although, friends of mine are trying to entice me to Natal, in Rio Grande do Norte, and I have never been to the north...
Jon Pall
23 Apr 2003, 05:05 PM
"oh and to all those who call me a wannabe, i am brasilian but wasn't born there!!! i just came back to rio after a real long time."
Now I am really confused. (nao quero ter dor de cabeca). Explain this statement.