Learning Portuguese. (Well I am trying...)

 For a while I felt like I was picking up the language ok... but the last few times I ventured out with Maria, out neighbour, people have asked her if I speak Portuguese. She has responded by dropping her head and shaking it sadly.... with a 'poor Mel, there is no hope' type expression on her face.

Cheers buddy! (so perhaps I need to make a little more effort).

So, its back to my Michele Thomas Portuguese Course. I do have the Berlitz Earworms too,  but find the 'great music' tag is slightly false advertising..  It is one of those courses that is irritating but does go in. It certainly makes it very simple.

The Michele Thomas course is an 8 hour course which has great reviews. I found it a godsend when we first arrived, but now I am returning to it with a basic vocabulary and a better idea of accents etc it is so much easier.

This morning I have been on Amazon looking for Barrons 501 Portuguese verbs which I have found and ordered. I took a look and both the earworms (Berlitz) and Michele Thomas courses are available, along with Usborne's flashcards, first 100 words and first 1000 words which I ordered for Sienna last year. Although the Usborne materials are aimed at kids, they are perfect for beginners too. I especially like the flashcards. They could also be used for a Portuguese person learning English as the english words are printed in the corner.

One trick I have found helpful for learning is to label items around the home with post it notes in Portuguese on the door (porta), window (janela), table (mesa) and so on.... then you are looking at it all the time and it will go in without any effort.  It is definately useful too to carry a notebook around with you and write down new words/words you do not understand... when you have a Portuguese person repeating a word to you.... louder and LOUDER..... you can write it down and work out what they were trying to tell you later. (You will feel pretty bad if you realise they were yelling "HELP", or "FIRE")

As my old buddy used to say to me .... 'JFDI'   (Just F****ng Do It) A handy acronym for those who dither and put things off.

I am seriously going to pull my finger out, (hopefully I can restore Maria's hope for me).. and aim to learn at least three new words a day.

Wish me luck! (BOA SORTE !)

The following link will take you to a useful eBook 'Learn Any Language' -aimed at complete beginners, which will help you to learn any language (including Portuguese) quickly and easily.
Click Here!

Cabriteeny....

I LOVE this photograph very, very much.

This little guy was one of three boys born on the 8th Janurary this year, they are tiny and soft and cuddly. Just Gorgeous. My neighbour Maria has five all together - two were born to another Nanny about 10 days before.. one boy and one girl and they look like a right handful, especially the boy who tries to eat my shoes and clothes every time he see's me ! Maria tells me that they are ok to leave their Mum at around 4 months and I have asked her if I can have the little girl - to come and hang out with our other two.

We went to Arganil today with Maria and Fernando her husband. Fernando is ill, he has a bad leg at the moment and can barely walk and he had a hospital appointment today so we took them in. Slightly different experience for me today as we arrived 10 minutes early for the appointment, were seen straight away and were out the door 10 minutes later. Unbelievable. Not quite like my experience of Hospitals in the UK where you need a good book and some comfy slippers for your stay.

So we went off and did some shopping, then went back to their place for coffee and spent some time looking at photographs of their family. Fernando has been ill for 2 months and the poor guy is so fed up. Maria must be finding it so hard to look after everything without his help. I am not really sure what is wrong with his leg - my Portuguese would only stretch to the date /place and time of his appointment. Maria is fantastic at communicating with me, she seems to be able to decipher my poor pronunciation and breaks things down so I can understand - anyway we get by ! and I really enjoyed spending time with them today.

Sienna and Tashan have been chatting to each other in Portuguese tonight - I am so envious !

Sienna is really embarrassed to speak Portuguese in front of us and I only realised last week that she can actually speak whole sentences. She was trying to peruade me that she had to take her two cats to School with her as her friend had asked to see them. I (assuming she was trying her luck) and being irritable said "oh yeah ? and how did she ask you that ?" (you have to imagine my head swaying from side to side for that one).

Sienna : "Eu quero ver dois gatos amanha por favor".

Me : .......(silence) "umm right. Well go on then." -Well that shut me up !

Then tonight I asked her who she was playing with at school today, she met one of the girls Mothers last night in a local shop and I asked her if she had mentioned it to her friend.

Sienna : "she already knew"

Me : " how do you know ?"

Sienna "she said -voce viu a minha mae, and I said - sim"

Me: "Oh right".

So after a little more than three months at school I am asking her to translate for me and she is only four years old. Oh the shame of it.