My husband works for a farmer who owns something like 45-50 farm stores. At the main store, which is near the town we live in, the farmer/owner has exchange students from Brazil come to work. Currently, there are 3 working but 1 is going home in a few days. That one hardly ever comes out for supper and never comes over to our place so we don't know him very well, but the other 2 are always with us. Their names are Caio and Rafael. I can assure everybody that when my husband and I are old with silver hair and wrinkles we will still laugh about these 2 goofballs.
Anyway, last night we had supper together. Our suppers always turn into therapy sessions for Rafael. Caio started telling my husband about how customers are starting to ask Rafael simple questions like, "how are you today?" and Rafael can't figure out what they are asking so he will walk all the way to the other side of the store trying to find someone to give the customer assistance. After the fact he realizes they were asking him a simple question! Poor Rafael. Last night he put his head down on the table. All of us thought he was going to cry. Caio being the nice guy he is stood up and patted Rafael's head and said, "don't cry my baby."
Last week Rafael had to put 200 pound salt blocks into a shopping cart. He kept telling the other worker to help him, but she kept saying, "no, you're strong!" Rafael said, "noo...noo...help." The other worker wouldn't help! I feel so bad for these guys. I can't imagine what it must be like in a foreign country, trying to work, and not understand the language. These guys are miserable. My husband and I try so hard to teach them English to make their days go by smoother but it isn't working! Does anybody have any suggestions? Also, they're attending English classes once a week but they're obviously not working.
Watching these 2 suffer makes me realize that I need to start learning Portuguese so I'm not in the same boat when we move to Brazil! My husband and I have bought book after book so I can start learning but I never have time to sit down and read them. He always translates their conversations for me, but I know there will be days that I won't have him to translate when we move to Brazil. These thoughts are very scary to me! Did anybody have a lot of trouble learning Portuguese? Does it come easy once you're in Brazil? Thanks for the help!
Well, it doesn't really come easy at all actually. Especially if you don't really have any knowledge of the language. I think it was about 4 months before I even really started speaking basically - my husband translated everything for me before that and it was terrible feeling like you can't communicate.
ReplyDeleteBut you have to stick it out and after time, it will happen. I sometimes use this free website called Livemocha.com and even though it's not very good for lessons, you can practice speaking and writing and other people on the site will give you feedback.
Take some kind of class though before coming so you can at least say "tudo bem?"
hey, I had a horrible time in brazil with Portuguese. There is hardly any options for classes and they tend to be soooo overpriced for the qaulity. Problems in quality of education is wide spread. I went to Unicamp and studied for free. The Portuguese one classes were everyday.... that was such a help but it's hard to find this only in Campinas and Sao Paulo as far as I know.
ReplyDeleteIn Rio all the univerisities that offer Portuguese classes are private and I have no idea the cost. And the more rural you get and off the Rio/Sao Paulo map the harder it is. I would recommend taking class now!
It is probably cheaper in the u.s. than in Brazil and you can learn faster with a background rather than coming empty. None of my family spoke English that was quite a shock, I kinda didn't speak to anyone for a year. Now my mouth is trying to make up for it. Portuguese writing is complicated because it is very different from speaking. It's completely ok to mess up in conversation that are casual, even brazilians do it.
When my brother moved to china he took private vip classes and they were cheap... post an ad on criagslist asking for Portuguese classes or look for teachers. I really wish that I had done that.. Plus buy a good text book. It's super cheap in the states comparison to here. Book are insanely expensive, they don't have anything here directed at English speakers. The Books they do have make you want to die. Ok at least cry.
Contact a Portuguese Department and have them recommend a good text book and order it through Amazon. I have Brasil lingua e cultura-- I like it. They explain the grammar and translations for you in English.
Remember your husband friend on the table at dinner? That could be you on your bad days tooo here. I think just putting my head on the table and wanting to cry is something standard.
But when you learn Portuguese and everything gets sorted out. Brazil is awesome.
P.S. get your permenant visa in the U.S. if possible and remember to get every important document stamped with a legalization from the Brazilian consulate. That will safe you loads of trouble (and money).
Start learning verbs in Portuguese they are the most difficult and watching lots of Brazilian movies/global now.
boa sorte!
Thank you both for the help! My husband is constantly translating for me. I wish Portuguese would just start rolling off my tongue...very unlikely!
ReplyDeleteLinds- I am definitely going to check out that site tomorrow!
Nina- We are in the process of adjusting my husband's status to a permanent resident. BUT, we can get my permanent visa in the U.S. for Brazil?! That would be amazing. It would save me tons of trouble in the future. We are staying in the states for at least 3 more years so hopefully I could get that done before we leave. Thanks again!
Hi! My linguist friend told me that you can even go on youtube and find free videos to learn to speak another language...I found your blog thru Danielle in Brazil...I live in NY but am sure I will be going to Brazil to do some volunteer work next year, and maybe some vacation time too...Regards, Gina
ReplyDeleteHey Gina! Thanks for the tip. I never thought about going to youtube...what a great idea!
ReplyDeleteNo problem - hope it helps!
ReplyDeleteTake care,
Gina