You can get Portuguese BYKI lists on your computer and now, on the go! Transparent now has an iPhone app that allows you to access Portuguese BYKI flash cards.
If you’re new to the blog or to BYKI, check out our Beginners Word list here.
This year is a presidential election year in Brazil, and I’ve been playing around with this tool that the brokerage firm Souza Barros put together, called BOVAP (Bolsa de Valores Políticos) to help Brazilians learn more about their politicians. Watch the video below to see how it works and then try to answer some of the questions below the video, and let me know what you think of the initiative and if you’d like to play!
1. What popular notion is BOVAP trying to end?
2. What market’s logic does the tool use?
3. What do you buy and sell on BOVAP?
4. What is the currency the tool uses called?
Answers after the break
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.”
There’s also a neat little video with parts of the interview from the article, so you can watch that, too:
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.
Today we’re going to look at another set of website vocabulary, focusing a bit more on e-mail. Hope it’s useful!
digitar = type
clicar = click
assunto = subject
rascunho = draft
lixeira = trash
enviar = send
descartar = discard
anexar um arquivo = attach a file
denunciar spam = report spam
assinatura = signature
Recently, tech website Mashable reported that Facebook is seeking to beat Orkut to dominate the Brazilian social media market. While Orkut has long been the leader in Brazil, Facebook has created new ways to lure Brazilians to its site. First, Facebook is now available in Portuguese, making access easier. Second, Facebook recently installed a new method to find friends, where users can upload their Orkut contacts to find them on Facebook, as the Mashable article mentions. Third, Facebook has a large variety of games and applications that you can play on the site, attracting new users merely to play games like FarmVille and Mafia Wars.
But the question is, will it work? Personally, I’ve seen mixed results. While tech-savvy and internationally-connected Brazilians have already been on Facebook for a long time, more and more middle class Brazilians have recently signed up for Facebook, but some wind up never using it, claiming it’s too complex and that Orkut is easier to use. However, less tech-savvy Brazilians have signed up for Facebook to be able to access the games, and aren’t as interested in the site for the social connections.
What about you? Do you think Facebook can beat Orkut in Brazil?
