Posts from March 2010

Listening Comprehension: Movie Review

Posted by Rachel 1 Comment
Mar 30 2010

Today, we’re going to do a listening comprehension exercise with a movie review from VEJA. You can watch more of them here, as well as other interesting online content from the magazine.

YouTube Preview Image

Questions

1. What is the title of “500 Days of Summer” in Portuguese?

2. What are the reviewers two favorite movies of the month?

3. Based on what the reviewer says about Joseph Gordon-Levitt, what do you think bárbaro means, in context?

4. Why does the reviewer like Zooey Deschanel as an actress?

5. What is the reviewer’s overall opinion on the movie?

Read More »

Portuguese Numbers & Pronunciation: 1-100

Posted by polyana 6 Comments
Mar 29 2010

Today we’re going to learn numbers in Portuguese from 1-100.  I’ve also added the transliteration, or how they’re pronounced, in Brazilian portuguese.

1 um oohm
2 dois doy-z
3 três treh-z
4 quatro kwah-troh
5 cinco seen-coh
6 seis say-z
7 sete seh-chee
8 oito oy-too
9 nove noh-vee
10 dez deh-z
11 onze ohn-zee
12 doze doh-zee
13 treze treh-zee
14 quatorze kwah-tour-zee
15 quinze keen-zee
16 dezesseis* deh-z-ee-say-z
17 dezessete* deh-z-ee-she-chee
18 dezoito deh-z-oy-too
19 dezenove* deh-z-ee-noh-vee
20 vinte veen-chee
21 vinte e um veen-chee-oohm
22 vinte e dois veen-chee-doy-z
30 trinta treen-tah
40 quarenta kwah-ren-tah
50 cinquenta seen-kwen-tah
60 sessenta seh-sen-tah
70 setenta seh-ten-tah
80 oitenta oy-ten-tah
90 noventa noh-ven-tah
100 cem say-m

Numbers in Portuguese are pretty simple as long as you memorize 1-19 and then the “tens,” twenty-one hundred, which, for the most part besides 20, are the root of the single number.  Unlike French numbers, there’s no tricky math or anything.  The patterns are similar to Italian or Spanish numbers.  The starred numbers, 16, 17, and 19 are spelled differently in Portugal, dezasseis, dezassete and dezanove, respectively.

Some people question whether the “e” is correct between “vinte” and “um,” etc.  is correct and whether the number “vinte um,” is not correct itself.  ”Vinte um,” is correct (as is “vinte e um”) when speaking of a quantity of something.

ex,1. Year – ’96 = noventa e seis and not noventa seis

ex,2. Hours – Open 24 hours - Aberto vinte e quatro horas or Aberto vinte quatro horas.

Understandable? Let me know if you have any questions!

Jokes in Portuguese

Posted by Rachel No Comments
Mar 29 2010

Jokes in Portuguese, called piadas, tend to poke fun at different groups, like in English: lawyers, doctors, people from specific parts of the country, blondes, and famous people. Brazilian jokes also poke fun at Argentines, Portuguese people, soccer players, and caipiras, or people from rural areas.  Let’s take a look at some jokes, and see if you can understand them. Understanding humor is a key part of learning a new language, and overcoming this hurdle is one to be proud of! In case you have trouble, I included a link to an image of one of the key words in each joke.

Mother-in-law joke

Um homem estava com a família visitando o zoológico, quando chega um funcionário todo afobado e diz:
— Senhor, senhor!
O homem responde:
— O que foi? Qual é o problema?
— Uma desgraça! Sua sogra caiu no poço dos jacarés.
O homem, na maior  calma, diz para o funcionário:
— Não quero nem saber! Vocês é que tratem de salvar os jacarés.

from Humor Tadela

Lawyer joke

Certo dia estavam dois homens caminhando por um cemitério quando depararam-se com uma sepultura recente. Na lápide lia-se: ‘Aqui jaz um homem honesto e advogado competente’. Ao terminar a leitura um virou-se para o outro e disse: – Desde quando estão enterrando duas pessoas juntas na mesma cova?

From Piadas Net

Blonde joke

Porque a loira botou o shampoo antes de entrar no chuveiro?
- Porque tinha escrito, ”para cabelos secos”.

From Piadas.com.br

What about you? What’s your favorite joke in Portuguese?

Play Games in Portuguese

Posted by Rachel No Comments
Mar 25 2010

Learning a language doesn’t have to be boring. Check out some of these fun games to help you learn Portuguese!

Crossword with pictures

Hangman

Find the incorrect word

Adverbs

Word Search

Crossword Puzzle

Crucigramas

Excellent vocabulary games

Also, you can check out these games intended for Portuguese-speaking children that can actually be quite useful for adult Portuguese students:

Food chain game

Ancient Egypt game

Solar system game

Reading Comprehension: Internet Dating

Posted by Rachel No Comments
Mar 24 2010

For today’s reading comprehension, we’re going to read a BBC Brasil article about an indigenous couple who met on the Internet.

Casal indígena se conhece na internet

Excerpt: “O casal Gasodá Suruí e Maria Leonice, ou Tori Tupari, seu nome indígena, se conheceu pela Internet e até casou pela rede. Eles são um exemplo de como as novas tecnologias estão permeando a vida dos povos indígenas no Brasil. “Muita gente não acredita em internet, eles acham que é uma ilusão”, diz Tori.”

Read the full article here

There’s also a neat little video with parts of the interview from the article, so you can watch that, too:

YouTube Preview Image

Questions

1. What site did the couple meet on? What program did they use to chat?

2. How far away from each other did the couple live?

3. When did the couple first meet in person? When did they get married?

Answers after the jump.

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