80's-90's Brazilian Rock Concert!

Ok, so I was planning to have a language/ non-event post next... but then I just found out about what looks like a very fun event for me and all NYC Portuguese students out there coming up this Saturday... so I had to post it!

It seems like this group is a very casual, non-pro group of Wall street Brazilian guys who decided to play gigs for fun... their wives are the back vocals and the a crowd is full of their friends.... sounds like an awesome garage band kind of vibe.

One very cool thing is that they play classic 80's-90's that most Brazilians the same age as your Portuguese teacher here just love.... All those who know me know that I love samba, bossa/ brazilian jazz and forró, but you can usually find that more easily (ainda bem!)... a band playing the fun 80's stuff is much harder to find! (Don't you love New York City?). So if you are really getting into the culture, this could be a great cultural experience (even if you end up finding out that it is not really your bossa-nova-ear's thing).

The concert is this Saturday at Sullivan Hall at 9:30 pm. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased in advance here. They say to arrive early because they are opening for another band (Shitty Shitty Jam Band, doesn't that sound like a night!).

For those advanced Portuguese learners, you can listen to this video about the band and see what you understand (I may post supporting learning notes/glossary later):



I am going and trying to drag some of my local students with me. Hope to see you there!

Brazilian Film Festival in NYC: MoMA Premiere - Brazil 2009

Long time no language related post, huh? I promise to add another tip on learning Portuguese soon.

For the moment though, here is another fun event for those learning Portuguese in New York City: the MoMA is hosting the seventh annual Rio de Janeiro Festival from July 16th - August third. The selection seems really cool, with classics and some newer stuff. It is definitely worth a trip to the MoMA and a great way to get some exposure to the language!

I will probably try and organize a trip with some of my students there. (Ping me if you want to meet us :-))

Practice your Portuguese in Brazil: amazingly cheap flights

I just got a newsletter from Travel Zoo with some amazing fligh deals to Brazil. I can't take advantage of them (I have already bought my flight for the end of the month)... but I thought I would make a quick post to share it with you, in case you can. If you leave in August you can get a return flight from NYC to Rio for $312!

I hope you can go! If you do, make sure to practice some travel expressions in Portuguese.


*Although this may look suspiciously like advertising, I have no affiliation whatsoever with these guys... I just happened to get a newsletter advertising the offer.

Expressions of age in Portuguese

My birthday was earlier this month. (Check out these other posts, if you want to know how you would sing happy birthday in Portuguese)... So we will cover a couple expressions for different ages in Portuguese, starting with balzaquiana, em minha homenagem (=as an homage to me):

balzaquiana = woman in her 30s.

Example:

Agora, eu sou uma balzaquiana.

This is due to Balzac's "A woman of Thirty". There is no similar term for men, so you can say the following (applicable to men and women):

Ele tem uns vinte/trinta/quarenta e poucos anos.
He is in his early 20s/30s/40s.
(literaly something like: He has some 30 and few years)

Ela tem uns vinte/trinta/quarenta e tantos anos.
She is in her late 20s/30s/40s.
(literaly something like: She has some 20/30/40 and so much years).

Exercises:

1. If you are of applicable age, make a sentence describing your age, using the expressions above.
   
2. Think of a couple of people you know and use the expressions above to describe thier approximate age.

As well as balzaquianas, we also have women in the idade da loba:

a idade da loba - literally "the age of the female wolf" - the age of women in their 40s

This is again due to a book by Regina Lemos (the translation of the title would be "Forty: the age of the wolf" - but all using the feminine gender. Here is some more on that). Again this is for women only.

For both genders, we can use the following expressions for people in their 40s and 50s (very informal):

quarentão/quarentona
in his 40s/ in her 40s

cinquentão/cinquentona
in his 50s/ in her 50s

Finally we have:

coroa - a slang meaning old person (sometimes pejorative) - literally "crown"

and

enxuto/enxuta - a slang meaning someone well preserved for their (old) age.

Example:

Ele é um já é um cinquentão, mas está um coroa enxuto.
He is already in his 50s, but he is a well preserved old man.

Exercises:

1. Think of someone you know or celebreties ranging from early 20s and 50s. Make sentences describing their ages.
2. Answer if you can: Na sua opinião, quais pessoas famosas são coroas enxutos?

Bom, agora que sou balzaquiana, espero que , pelo menos eu seja uma coroa enxuta!