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Pray for My Portuguese

posted on October 18, 2013


(a famous graffitti in Lisbon, which I digitally “edited”)

A few months ago, I wrote about my experiences in Portugal and with European Portuguese. All in all, I told it like I see it, but as I spend more time in the midst of Portuguese people and their particular variety of Portuguese, I can’t help but see the writing on the wall (but perhaps that’s a bad idiom, since my problem is not with the writing, but rather the prosody*). Basically, it’s come down to the fact that I’m almost going to have to treat European Portuguese as its own language because, if I don’t, I’ll have to continue living in a country whose people I cannot understand.

* prosody – the patterns of stress and intonation in a language

Try as I may, outside of small encounters (usually of the customer-employee kind), I find that I haven’t got a clue what Portuguese people are saying, most of the time. Even trying to pick out the topic of conversation has become a game of sorts, and one that I play badly, I must admit. The other day, I saw a Portuguese documentary with English subtitles, and by reading the subtitles, I knew almost every word being said in Portuguese. For the parts that didn’t have subtitles, my Brazilian girlfriend had to tell me in Brazilian Portuguese what was said on screen. Call it back-interpretation (after the term back-translation), if you will. Unfortunately, without such cues in real-life situations, I’m often at a loss. Have you ever tried to make friends with someone where only they could understand you? Not as much fun, I assure you.

So what is it I’m going to do in order to remedy this daunting task? Listen, listen, listen…and find a local who is fluent in English and can work with me on my comprehension skills. Despite hearing European Portuguese every day, I don’t actually interact with Portuguese people every day. It’s a bit of a catch 22, in that I don’t interact much because I can’t understand them and I can’t understand them because I don’t interact much. The only way out, I’m sure I’ll soon be discovering, is through.

The “worst” part is the knock to my ego (I never thought I’d say that!). Since I have zero problems with Brazilian Portuguese, I thought I’d march right into this tiny country and, within a month, I’d be back to the Brazilian-version of myself in no time (I subscribe to the idea that people create a slightly different version of themselves once they become fluent in and utilize another language on a daily basis).

Back to the drawing board for me (brass tacks, I have an inkling what’s ahead of me will ultimately be easier than I imagine). It’s possible estou fazendo uma tempestade num copo d’água.

Other Articles You Might Like:

  • Portuguese Life – Differences Between Brazilian and Continental Portuguese
  • Learn Portuguese: The Traps of the Language
  • The Expat Lesson

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About Adam Lee

Adam is a writer and a researcher who has studied Brazilian culture for over a decade and created several Brazil-themed blogs going back to 2008. Having taught himself Portuguese, he put it to practical use by spending three years doing Brazil on a budget (and living in favelas), from Rio de Janeiro to the Amazon.

He now resides in Lisbon, Portugal, developing a startup and dreaming about having a beachside B&B in the Northeast of Brazil.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Charity Dell

    October 15, 2015 at 6:45 pm

    Muite obrigada for this article–I fully identify with the “I-can’t-quite-get-what’s being said” feeling when I hear spoken Portuguese. I try watching and listening to numerous videos on the internet platform of my textbook (Ponto de Encontro). I’ve started to listen to other Portuguese videos on YouTube to get acquainted with sounds, but the European penchant for chopping off the ends of words—including my name in Portuguese “Caridade”–renders me “clueless”! 🙂 I can NEVER understand the other students in my intermediate Portuguese class who speak Azorean, Brazilian (not sure where he’s from) and Cabo Verdean varieties of Portuguese. My professora speaks Continental
    Portuguese and I can only understand her with great effort and her
    willingness to speak at a slower rate…I am understanding her a little better with each class, but spoken Portuguese–like all the Romance languages–is definitely spoken “on speed dial.” 🙂

    Reply
    • Luciana Lage

      October 26, 2015 at 12:49 pm

      Ponto de Encontro has great resources to practice listening comprehension. One thin you can do to have extended practice is go beyond answering the listening exercises from the workbook: Try to transcribe the audio dialogues. The review your transcript with someone who can give you feedback on it. We do that with our clients.

      If you have access to the online lab resources, you will find a transcript of most of the texts and dialogues presented in the textbook. It is also good practice to listen to the audio while reading the transcript. Then listen again without transcript.

      The trick really is to expose yourself to spoken Portuguese in any way you can.

      Reply
      • Charity Dell

        October 26, 2015 at 7:55 pm

        Muite obrigada por sua ajuda, Luciana. I’ll look for those transcripts! Unfortunately, PONTO DE ENCONTRO does not have a feature that enables you to slow down the audio, and then speed it up. (Other foreign language textbook platforms have this feature.) I will probably need to contact the publisher and inquire about this, because I am sure there are many students who, like me, cannot
        understand Portuguese spoken at native speed.

        Reply
  2. Rob Jarka

    August 6, 2015 at 4:46 pm

    I just read this while waiting for my final flight back home after 2 weeks in Pirtugal. You made me feel a lot better! I thought my Brazilian Portuguese was pretty good, but continental? Not so much. Like you, when I engaged someone I did just fine, but when I was “listening in” to other’s conversations, etc I could only get a little bit of the gist of the conversation, if that. Quite the blow to my ego…until I read this post. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Luciana Lage

      August 10, 2015 at 4:52 pm

      Oi, Rob! I am glad that Adam’s experience “serviu de consolação” 🙂 Yes, spoken Brazilian Portuguese and Continental Portuguese sound quite different. Looking forward to hearing more about your trip!

      Reply

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