Estou muito feliz de ser um membro.

Jim,
Seja bem vindo!
I have a somewhat similar story... with out the girl part.. heheh But I do have some Brazilian friends of whom I am very fond of and this is one of many reasons I chose to learn Portuguese over Spanish as my 2nd language (living in Florida makes this a somewhat unwise choice)
If you are ever in Orlando I can definitely point you to a great Brazilian church I attend when I am not at my own in Melbourne....
Luciana is great and an awesome teacher... if you can afford it, the skype lessons are great, I suggest you try it... Happy learning!
 
Boyd

 A warm welcome to the community!  I was just in Boston in the summer, and I was surprised to see so many Brazilians there, particularly Brazilian businesses.  Loved the area and the people.  
I am confused as to why Boston has become the US's biggest Brazilian community--the Brazilians I know complain when it gets below 70 degrees here in San Francisco--I can only imagine how they fare over there in the snow!!!!
I hope you enjoy the forums--feel free to ask questions, share your experiences and observations about the culture, and make friends 

Oi Jim, seja muito bem-vindo!
Thank you so much for introducing yourself and sharing your thoughts and interests. I am so happy that you enjoy our videos and am delighted to have you as a member of the forums. I hope your language journey is full of fun, friends, and love.
Até logo,

Thank you Boyd.  I appreciate the greeting and welcome.
I look forward to learning with Luciana & the entire Street Smart Brazil team.  I plan on taking the lessons via Skype in the near future.  All things equal, I wish I could take the lessons in person.  San Francisco is one of my favorite cities.  I will have to learn how to install Skype.  I'm still fairly low-tech.
Talk to you soon.
Jim

Hello Carl, Pleased to meet you.  Thank you for the greeting and I look forward to working with and learning from you.  I really want to learn and I am ready to take it to the next level.  Focus, structure and a disciplined study plan has stunted my progress.
Indeed there is a strong and growing Brazilian community here in the greater Boston area.  I also found it odd that this would be a destination.  Boston in a number of ways offers a high quality of living and although the weather is not nearly as bad as one would think it certainly does not resemble Recife or Rio.  The two strongest areas that I know of is the Everett/Somerville cities which border Boston and Framingham which is a little west of the city.
 
Thanks again Carl, I am so glad to have found Street Smart Brazil.  I not only want to learn the language but also I wish to learn and understand the culture and people.
Jim

Luciana, thank you for your website and welcoming me into the community.  I truly look forward to what lies ahead.  Every time I visit the website, watch the videos, etc. I enjoy it more and more.  As mentioned, I very much want to learn Brazilian Portuguese and I am committed to being successful.  I couldn't ask for a better professora.  Muito obrigado.
Although I'd rather be in San Francisco and take the lessons in person, it's one of my favorite cities, in the near future I will talk to you about lessons via Skype.
Thanks again Luciana, this will be a fun and rewarding experience I'm sure.  I love your energy and passion.  I desire to learn not only the language but also I want to learn and understand more about the country, it's culture and people.  My friend is from Recife, Pernambuco but I also have friends from places such as Santa Catarina, Minas Gerais, etc.
Take Care Luciana, ate mais.
Jim

Bom dia, Jim
Muito obrigada for your kind words. You made my day! In Portuguese I would say: "ganhei o dia" = I won the day.
I am from Recife, too! What a coincidence :)
Skype is really easy to set up and it is free to download and install. When you are ready, I will help you with it and we can have a free demo session to show you how the classes work.
Again, thank you so much for being here!

Oi Species
Muito obrigada! Você é muito gentil :)

Oi  Luciana, Beleza pura?
Eu gosto muito de videos no youtube Luciana.
 
Eu tenho  problemas sabendo qual palavras não deve ser mudada para concordância com o género de uma pessoa.Por examplo, o motorista é nunca o motoristo quando falando sobre um homem e a modelo  é nunca a modela.
Posso chamar uma mulher a química e um homem o químico?
 
Jason
 
 

Oi Jason
Your question is a very good one. We have some rules for that; and we have exceptions, too, of course :)
 
One rule is that nouns do not change their gender. That is, an object that is masculine is always so and an object that is feminine is always so. Here is one example: "amor" is a masculine noun. Even if you call a woman "my love", you should keep it in the masculine: "meu amor". Another example is the one in our video about similar words that can cause trouble: tesouro = treasure and it is always masculine even if you are talking about a woman.
 
Modelo falls in the above situation. It is a noun just like "o padrão" (the standard) and "o exemplo" (the example). We apply the word "modelo" to people and over time it became a profession, but it comes from a noun. That is why we do not have a feminine for it.
 
Professions usually have a masculine and a feminine. Professor-professora, médico-médica, etc. To answer your question: químico-química.
 
Words that end in "-ista" have a rule of their own; they usually have one form for both genders: o turista/a turista, o dentista/a dentista, o motorista/a motorista.
 
I hope this helps!
Muito obrigada pelo seu elogio e pela pergunta :)
 
 

Muito obrigado pela clarificação (esclarecimento). Compreendo agora algumas réguas que eu hei-de lembrar quando conversando com os meus amigos! A sua lingua tem muitas réguas e os verbos irregulares criam mais problemas para mim.
 
Tenha uma boa semana!

Hey VB,
I found a video that might interest you. A song we do in our church that is from Brazil, of course we sing it in English.
 
 

 
Here's the translation in English (not by me!)
I'm running to you, my Lord
My soul yearns for you
I'm poor, blind and naked
With nothing to offer you
I surrender in your arms, oh God
For i know you take me as i am
I am here to buy your gold
Purify my heart, oh Lord

Reign over me
I surrender to you
I surrender to you
Reign over me
My beloved
I wait and i long for you
 
I noticed in Brazilian worship songs, when referring to God they use "tu" instead of  "você"
I am guessing that it is because it's a more personal or intimate way. Anyway I like this song because as with most Brazilian songs the chords are interesting and flavour-full