Falo um pouco de português

Dear Diary,

Perhaps, "I speak a little Portuguese" is over-stating my abilities, but I am trying!  It's certainly totally different from Deutsch.  Mein Vati is learning Portuguese at the same time so we practice together.  He finds it easier because he speaks Italian and he can definitely see a direct correlation between the two Romance languages.  He is having a problem, however.  When he is saying a sentence in Portuguese and he can't remember the correct Portuguese word, his brain automatically substitutes the Italian word and he doesn't even realise it's happened. Fortunately, his tutor speaks some Italian so he can point out the error.

Here's an example of how Portuguese sounds and what we're up against:


Vati thinks that Portuguese sounds better than Spanish but not as lovely as Italian.  Speaking it is not a walk in the park because of the nasal sounds, (probably inherited from a French influence?).  We both struggle with those nasal tones as well as pronunciation in general.  This is us:


Time here to point out that European Portuguese is not the same as Brasilian Portuguese (Brasileiro). We are learning European Portuguese for our trip.

We are using a number of different learning types:

 The online programmes including a personal tutor on Skype

The Pimsleur audio CD course

Books


Our goal is to be polite visitors (not just tourists) to Portugal and speaking at least some Portuguese should help (barring any glaring mistakes).  Knowing the language will enable us to have a fuller experience of the people and the culture.  We are not looking for fluency but to communicate properly - especially in the restaurants when ordering some of the delicious Portuguese food.

For a good laugh, watch this video:


And, oh - I want to add that mean Vati made my clothes for me!

Back to my studies...

 Hans

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