• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Street Smart Brazil

We teach smart Portuguese

  • Contact
  • My Account
  • Cart
  • Policies
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Service
    • Disclaimer
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Speak Portuguese With Ease
  • Home
  • About
  • Shop for Lessons
  • Starter Kit
  • Testimonials
  • Resources
  • Blog
Test Your Brazilian English

Test Your Brazilian English

posted on July 11, 2011


(Source)

English is pretty popular in Brazil and English courses are a dime a dozen. When applying for the average desk job in a major city, I hear that it’s expected that one knows English. Knowledge of a third language is the new added bonus for the employer. When it comes to non-professional life, Brazilians already use many English words, even if they alter their meanings. While I wouldn’t recommend coming here and trying to get by with just your English fluency, I do think it’s important to understand how to use what you already know.

Shopping

We’ve all been shopping, but not everyone has been to a shopping…unless you are Brazilian, that is. Shoppings in Brazil are short for shopping centers, or malls, and they are hugely popular here in the capital cities. It is a rare occasion that I enter one and am not visually bombarded, both by tons of people and hoards of products.

Smoking

Imagine receiving an invitation to a “smoking only” event in Brazil. Would you bring your cigarettes, or perhaps not attend because you are a non-smoker? Despite Brazil having passed strict no-smoking laws in recent times, the event invitation might have nothing to do with lighting up. Smoking in Brazil is a term used to signify tuxedo or black tie clothing. The colloquialism was coined by the French and subsequently adopted by Brazilians.

Outdoor

Today, I went outdoors and I saw an outdoor. Wait, what? Let me explain. Here, an outdoor is a billboard (a.k.a. a large outdoor advertisement) and because several words would be needed to say the same thing in Portuguese, people just say “outdoor”. By the way, did you know the city of São Paulo implemented a billboard ban a few years ago in order to clean up the “visual pollution”?

Propaganda

For English-speakers, propaganda means biased information handed out by governments. In Brazil, the same is true…only there’s a more common meaning that most people will understand first if they hear the word. Advertisement. If someone says they saw a propaganda here, they mean they saw an advertisement.

There are many other words Brazilians use which actually hold the same meaning to English-speakers. Most are either cultural or connected to technology and business. “Light”, “layout”, “bullying”, “know-how”, “designer” and “fast-food” are a few examples that come to mind. See more here.

I’ll leave you with musician Zeca Baleiro’s jest about the invasion of foreign terms.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdVkt_SqF1g]

—————-

Schedule your Portuguese Demo Lesson.

Street Smart Brazil offers one-on-one and group classes online via webcam. We have a fantastic team of tutors, exclusive class materials, and complete programs from absolute beginner to fluent.  See what our customers are saying.

Related Posts:

  • Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: Words beginning in PS
  • My Favorite Online Dictionaries to Learn Portuguese
  • The Power of Rehearsal to Improve Language Learning

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. Luciana Lage

    July 13, 2011 at 9:51 am

    My Brazilian friends now purchase bikes, not bicicletas. The stores in the mall have “sale” on their windows, not promoção or liquidação. And they give you “30% off” intead of 30% de desconto.

    When we go for a night out, we “vamos para a night”.

    What else have you guys noticed?

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Want to see your pic by your comment? Get a free custom avatar at Gravatar.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Categories

  • Brazil
  • Brazilian music
  • Brazilian Portuguese
  • Business Culture
  • Culture and History
  • Flashcards
  • Food
  • Grammar
  • Idiomatic Expressions
  • Learning Languages
  • Pronunciation
  • Resources
  • Video lessons
  • Visiting Brazil
  • Vocabulary

Schedule a Trial Session

Testimonials

Street Smart Brazil has a wonderful program for teaching Brazilian Portuguese. All the teachers are professional, nice and a lot of fun to learn from. You learn a lot about everyday slang that is use… Read more
Davina
Street Smart Brazil has exceeded my expectations. There is a genuine feeling that anyone can learn and improve in any language. The approach is patient, encouraging, and most of all, empowering.
Anuj
I think Street Smart Brazil and all its services are great. It allows me to do schedule my classes from home when I have time in my busy work week. I am so grateful for this as otherwise I simply wou… Read more
Belinda
Street Smart Brazil has impressed me. Not only will your Brazilian Portuguese improve under their instruction but you will learn a lot about Brazilian culture.
Naomi

Find Resources

Make your learning fun and easy with good resources.
Learn More

51 Portuguese Idioms – Speak Like a Brazilian

You will learn each expression inside a real-life context: everyday situations that could happen to any of us.
Purchase Now >

Recent Posts

  • Brazilian Books You Need on Your Bookshelf
  • How to use ONDE and AONDE in Portuguese
  • Master Question Words in Portuguese: O que, Que, Qual
  • Meio or Meia? How to say KIND OF in Portuguese
  • Family Vocabulary in Portuguese

Search

Cart

Classes

  • Trial Lesson
  • One-on-One Portuguese Lessons via Video Meetings – Subscription
  • One-on-One Portuguese Lessons via Video Meetings – Packages
  • Celpe-Bras Prep Classes with Street Smart Brazil

Footer Subscribe

Books

  • 51 Portuguese Idioms
  • Master the Word MESMO in Portuguese

Footer Video CTA

Subscribe to my YouTube channel to get all the new video lessons

Subscribe

https://youtu.be/UJPrLOdKYQQ

Footer Full CTA

Book a Trial Lesson today to get started.

Get Started Now

Footer CTA

Street Smart Brazil

  • About
  • Shop For a Portuguese Class
  • Testimonials
  • Blog

Portuguese Classes

  • Trial Lesson
  • One-on-One Portuguese Lessons via Video Meetings – Subscription
  • One-on-One Portuguese Lessons via Video Meetings – Packages
  • Celpe-Bras Prep Classes with Street Smart Brazil

Books

  • 51 Portuguese Idioms
  • Master the Word MESMO in Portuguese


Street Smart Brazil, LLC

phone 415.573.8180
email info@streetsmartbrazil.com
Oakland, California

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Disclaimer
  • Sitemap

© 2014–2023 Street Smart Brazil, All Rights Reserved.