When I came to Portugal 35 years ago it was very hard to even try and interact in Portuguese because few people were used to "estrangeiros" speaking Portuguese. They either went into a panic, called their 5 year old son who they said was learning English at school, or tried their best to speak mostly incomprehensible English words. It wasn't until I joined the Brazilian community in Carcavelos (via a Brazilian boyfriend) that I could join in a conversation - because people just responded - in playful and generous ways - to the sounds coming out of my mouth, the gestures I made, the expressions on my face. I felt like a person engaged in a buzzing atmosphere of things going on - rather than a intruder disrupting the flow of how things were. It taught me a lot about language, acceptance and identity.
It’s not easy for a Flemish speaker to learn Brazilian Portuguese but I try. I do understand most of it when they talk as long as they don’t use the local dialect because then they could be talking Chinese. I am always afraid to speak because of the fear of making myself a laughing stock but I shouldn’t. My husband is Brazilian and we talk mostly in English to each other but we also have our own language Brazilianflemishenglish you could say. Because I am not so young anymore it is hard to learn a new language, but I am willing and trying.☺️
Oh, I've been laughed at for butchering Portuguese. The entire class laughed when I pronounced David as "Davigee" instead of "Daví" in a discussion about David Copperfield, because I didn't know whether to ignore or celebrate the "d" in the moment, and chose wrong. My best friend called me a burra as an affectionate nickname. It was never meanspirited and helped me learn to be able to laugh at myself.
Playing with language is fun when you're light hearted about it. Yesterday my husband said he was going for a "walkinha", knowing that I would understand him perfectly and appreciate the new word he created. This is how language evolves - through experimentation and play.
When I came to Portugal 35 years ago it was very hard to even try and interact in Portuguese because few people were used to "estrangeiros" speaking Portuguese. They either went into a panic, called their 5 year old son who they said was learning English at school, or tried their best to speak mostly incomprehensible English words. It wasn't until I joined the Brazilian community in Carcavelos (via a Brazilian boyfriend) that I could join in a conversation - because people just responded - in playful and generous ways - to the sounds coming out of my mouth, the gestures I made, the expressions on my face. I felt like a person engaged in a buzzing atmosphere of things going on - rather than a intruder disrupting the flow of how things were. It taught me a lot about language, acceptance and identity.
It’s not easy for a Flemish speaker to learn Brazilian Portuguese but I try. I do understand most of it when they talk as long as they don’t use the local dialect because then they could be talking Chinese. I am always afraid to speak because of the fear of making myself a laughing stock but I shouldn’t. My husband is Brazilian and we talk mostly in English to each other but we also have our own language Brazilianflemishenglish you could say. Because I am not so young anymore it is hard to learn a new language, but I am willing and trying.☺️
Oh, I've been laughed at for butchering Portuguese. The entire class laughed when I pronounced David as "Davigee" instead of "Daví" in a discussion about David Copperfield, because I didn't know whether to ignore or celebrate the "d" in the moment, and chose wrong. My best friend called me a burra as an affectionate nickname. It was never meanspirited and helped me learn to be able to laugh at myself.
Playing with language is fun when you're light hearted about it. Yesterday my husband said he was going for a "walkinha", knowing that I would understand him perfectly and appreciate the new word he created. This is how language evolves - through experimentation and play.