Posts under "Links"

English Experts

Posted by Transparent Language No Comments
Nov 8 2007

EE.gifThis really fantastic blog for Brazilians learning English is quickly gaining steam.

Over the past few months I have gotten to know (and respect) Alessandro Brandão, the publisher of English Experts. English Experts has been around for over a year, and as of late has been receiving much praise in the online community. Alessandro was recently featured by BBC Online as their language learner of the week, the blog was recognized as the 11th Most Read Blog in Brazil, and is currently the featured site on the illustrious Tecla SAP. Parabens, Alessandro!

Alessandro has a crack staff of contributors (myself included) that post articles explaining the finer points of Portuguese-English translation and language acquisition. I really recommend that any of you who are interested check it out. There is a large (over 3500) subscriber base that is eager to discuss these topics in English and Portuguese. It can be a great resource, especially to the more intrepid Portuguese learners.

As some of you may have figured out, this very blog (Portuguese Blog) is subscribed to by a fair number of Brazilians (Olá galera!!!) who use it as a way to learn new expressions in English. Very crafty indeed… of course since I provide the English next to the Portuguese, it is actually a great resource for both English and Portuguese speakers learning the other language. English Experts is useful in exactly the same way.

Priberam

Posted by Transparent Language No Comments
Nov 6 2007

Priberam.gifPriberam Informática is an irreplaceable online resource for the Portuguese language

You may have noticed there aren’t a lot of traditional resources such as expansive, accurate dictionaries and grammar reference. Though this can be frustrating perhaps to the beginning student, once you know your way around the language a bit (i.e. are able to read resources that themselves are in Portuguese) a whole world opens up. At the absolute top of the list of such Portuguese-language resources is Priberam.

An online Portuguese-to-Portuguese dictionary, grammar reference and even a correction function(!), Priberam is really like nothing else out there on the web.

Consider bookmarking it or saving it with del.icio.us for frequent use. Your Portuguese will improve as a result.

There are days when I literally have Priberam open all day. Some of my Brazilian friends like to (I think perhaps intentionally) use long, poetic words that I have never heard before. For this and many other situations, Priberam is a trusty companion. Check it out.

Cardoso to Speak

Posted by Transparent Language No Comments
Oct 3 2007


Former Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso is going to speak tonight (Oct. 3rd, 2007) at Brown University. The event will be broadcast live over the web, and archived, so if you miss it tonight, come back to this post and click through. Vale a pena com certeza!

I had the chance to see one such panel with Cardoso, and it was simply amazing. An accomplished sociologist who served as the Minister of Finance before being elected President, Cardoso is a brilliant, didactic fellow who passionately and naturally backs up his points with accurate data. Seeing him speak is certainly an experience, and you may learn more about Brazil in ten minutes than in months of independent study.

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Ciberdúvidas

Posted by Transparent Language No Comments
Aug 18 2007


Ciberdúvidas is a top-shelf online resource for all linguistic elements of the Portuguese language.

Founded by José Mário Costa and (the late) João Carreira Bom over ten years ago (!!), the site has been supported by many organizations over the years.

A consistently fascinating and authoritative source of “…esclarecimento, informação, debate e promoção” “…clarification, information, debate and promotion [editor's note: i may translate 'promoção' here as 'promulgation']“ of the Portuguese language.

There may be no overstating the usefulness of this resource, especially with regards to question of grammar and proper usage of the Portuguese language. A *lot* of work has gone into this resource over the years and anyone interested in acquiring and refining Portuguese language skills, especially at the higher levels.

In addition to the articles that are already on the site, the operators of the site happily and enthusiastically accept questions from readers, so definitely take them up on that offer!

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