Learning Portuguese

As I posted before, I came to Brazil expecting to be able to get by with my basic knowledge of Spanish in order to communicate with the locals.  I’ve found that, although Spanish is more similar to Portuguese than English, which helps me drastically in learning the language by already knowing the phrasing, structure and tense organization, the words and pronunciations of letters are much different than Spanish or English. 

Some words are pronounced similarly but spelled differently.  English=Heart.  Spanish=Corazon.  Portuguese=Coracao.  Both Spanish and Portuguese are pronounced core-ah-zone.  English=team. Spanish=.  Portugese=Time.  Portuguese pronunciation is Chee-may.  Some words are totally different in every way.  (En)Joke=(Sp)chiste=(Po)piada. 

Pronunciations of many letters and groups of letters are much different and difficult for my American accent to handle.  Here are my pathetic attempts at describing Brazilian phonetics

• Ao, or oao - Ao is pronounced almost like a very fast wow. I was told to try to use my nose while saying ao.
• J - almost exclusively sounded like a soft, but slightly raspy G.  Joao is pronounced zgoh-wow, but very fast. 
• D – sounded dj.  Piada(joke) is pronounced pia-dja
• R – This is the toughest one.  No sound in the English language is used.  R’s are pronounced more like a grindy, hard H.  Recife is pronounced more like hhay-schee-fay.  Again, my pathetic attempt at Portuguese
• T – More like ch.  Time – team is pronounced Chee-may.    

When I realized how drastic the difference between the languages on Wednesday evening at the FIFA Fan Fest, I was a little afraid or nervous that I would have a difficult time communicating.  What I quickly found out was two things:  1:  All Brazilians with whom I have communicated are not only very patient with my severely limited Portuguese, they are also very happy that I’m trying(I’m trying=eu esto tantando).   Some people, like me, are trying to learn English.  We speak some sentences in very simple English, where I have to attempt to explain in Portuguese.  We will then have a very simple conversation in Portuguese, where they will have to try to explain in English when I don’t understand a word or phrase.  Our friend Joao was a very good translator, but whenever possible I’m trying to communicate without his help. 

I’m getting very good at some phrases. 

• Thank you = obrigato.  Brazilians pronounce it “bree-gat” for short
• I don’t speak Portuguese = Eu nao falo Portugese
• I don’t understand = Eu nao entendo
• Speak slower= fala mais devagar
• How do you say/pronounce/spell= Comose diz/pronuncia/escreve
• Good morning/day/afternoon/night = boa manana/dia/tarde/noite

I’ve arrived at Iolanda’s house in Araracara(sp??).  More to come on this later, but everyone speaks English in her family.  Honestly, I’m a little disappointed I won’t be pushed to continue practicing.

Below is a picture of Me, Bennett, Joao and his Mother.  It was very fun speaking Portuguese with her.  She could speak one word of English.  "Hello".  The sweetest woman imaginable.

Breakout players to watch

This is long overdue, but here is my list of young breakout players to watch: 

Miralem Pjanic - Bosnia & Hersegovina - CM #8
Joel Cambell - Costa Rica - Winger. #9. Arsenal player!
Paul Pogba - France - CM #19
Romelu Lukaku - Belgium - CF #9
Nabil Bentaleb - Algeria - Forward/ACM #14
Matteo Kovacic - Croatia - CM. #20
Adnan Januzaj - Belgium - Right Mid. #20
James Rodriguez - Columbia - Winger #10
Xherdan Shaqiri - Switzerland - Winger #23

Day 1: Complete

Where to start...

It's 7:00 am and I've come downstairs to the area with wifi to post an update.  I woke up at 6 and couldn't get back to sleep.  Once my mind starts going, it just doesn't stop.

Yesterday started slow after 28 hours of travel getting into Brasilia.  Bennett and I took a taxi about 10 miles from our apartment to the FIFA Fan Fest.  They set up loudspeakers, a bunch of TVs and concessions stands for people to come and watch games being played in other cities.  The area was huge, and my very rough and probably far from accurate estimation was about 30,000 people were there for the Brazil/Mexico game.    We got set up 30 minutes before kickoff in a perfect space ~30 yards from the big screen, right in the middle.

Brazil was underwhelming, but still deserved to put a goal in.  Mexico was impressive, but nothing special.  A fair result, in my opinion, although Brazil was more deserving of a victory if I had to choose.  The game was very exciting, especially right in the middle of a crowd of 30,000 Brazil fans.  The last 10-15 minutes, especially got intense with a lot of action both ways and two great saves from Ochoa.  The game was an amazing experience, but nothing compared to what happened next.  After a long day in the sun Bennett and I were both very tired.  We decided we would watch the first half of the next game then cab home.

We were the only Americans there.  Apparently Brazilians like Americans.  People periodically came up to us and asking to take pictures with us.  That turned into a few basic smiles and broken conversations.  Next was wave after wave of people wanting to socialize with us, and before we knew it the game, the post-match performance and the closing of the Fan Fest happened, and we were the last few people to leave the area three hours later.   I had learned very quickly that Spanish is much different than Portuguese, and nobody speaks English.  Communicating is very hard, and although the periodic translator would arrive and help in broken English, we used a lot of hand gestures and very few common Spanish or English words.  I'm sitting here trying to describe in words what I experienced, but nothing will do it justice.  there was so much excitement from everybody, so much love and joy.

To quote the great Ron Burgundy - "Boy... that escalated quickly, I mean that really got out of hand fast"

Time for sleep.  Thinking the night was over, we get back to the apartment and speak with Joao for a couple minutes.  He directs us to a pizza place down the street.  Assuming we would get the pizza to go and head back up to the apartment, we grab menus and sit at the bar, about ready to order.  The chef comes up to us with a look of curiosity and excitement in his eye.  "English?".  I respond.  "Are you from... USA?"  I respond.  "Welcome.  This excite to me".  We thought his english was terrible to start, but the more he spoke, the clearer he became and the more we realized that his vocabulary was very good, especially for not having any schooling.

What transpired over the next two hours was amazing.   Jose, or Ze, spoke with us about everything. He visited Miami, spent time with rednecks, dreams of opening a Pizza joint in the US, hates FIFA and how corrupt they are, and thinks baseball is boring.  We got along great.   I hope to see him again before we go to Sao Paulo.

That's all for now.  More pictures to come soon.  

First Post

The first of an unknown amount of  blog posts from the trip of a lifetime!

Throughout the next 19 days, from June 15th to July 4th, I'll be traveling to and around Brazil to experience the country and the World Cup.  I'll post when I can, and when there's something pertinent to post.  Hoping to drive this thing with pictures.
Thanks for reading/looking!