University Vocabulary in Portuguese

 Oi gente! Elena Como has submitted a great post (full of "false friends") on talking about college in Portuguese. So aqui está the first ever guest post here at Portuguese Tips:

photo: Ananda Lima

University Talk

Elena Como

 Before I studied in Brazil, during my junior year abroad at PUC-Rio, I learned a lot of Portuguese vocabulary. I remember that my Portuguese teacher at UC Santa Cruz gave us a number of ways to discuss what we majored in at the university. So I arrived at PUC and spoke about my area de concentração. And the Brazilians thought I was a graduate student. That also caused confusion, because estudante de graduação is actually an undergraduate in English. Graduação sounds like it should refer to a graduate student, but it's actually used for undergraduates. (Graduate students are called pós-graduados).

What's wrong with translating the idea of a major into "area de concentração"? It's a cultural problem--Brazilians don't really do general education, not like Americans, anyway. So they don't talk about having an "area de concentração" unless they are graduate students with a focus or concentration. Instead, Brazilians speak about their major or department the same way they would talk about their work: eu faço matemática (I am a math major), or eu estudo matemática (I study math). Faculdade means department, and it can also be used the way we use the word "school"--sort of a general way of referring to where you study.

Speaking of school, another confusion I encountered was the false cognate in the word "school." In American English, young people often use the word "school" to refer to university. In Portuguese, escola doesn't ever mean college or university, it means elementary school (and colégio is high school). So people would look at me funny when, at age 20, I would say "Eu vou para a escola." All of these terms came pretty quickly when I was living there, but it's easy to make these kinds of mistakes when the actual educational system is quite different. So to all of you who are going back to school, tenham um bom semestre!

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Elena Como is the founder and president of Atlântico Books, an importer, distributor, and publisher of Portuguese-language books, CDs, DVDs, and downloads. Atlantico Books serves Portuguese students, teachers, and translators.

*I have not received anything in exchange of this post, i.e., this is not advertisement.

Vocabulary lesson: Instrumentos Musicais em Português

Bom dia! I was preparing a post about chorinho and thought that it would be a good idea to introduce you to the vocabulary of musical instruments in Portuguese first.  I also have a couple of very nice students who are musicians who may find this useful.

If you are a beginner, don't worry too much if you don't understand a lot of the words in the readings and video, just get as much as you can. If you are an intermediate student, this may be perfect for you. If you are an advanced speaker of Portuguese, you may still learn a new word or two... and I follow the links to some readings that are more advanced.

Parte I: Os Instrumentos Musicais

Aqui estão alguns instrumentos músicais:

 

 violão, violino, piano e flauta

Esses intrumentos são parecidos (similares), mas são diferentes:

Note que a guitarra é elétrica e o violão geralmente é acústico. O cavaquinho é bem pequenininho.

Aqui estão outros instrumentos:

trombone                       saxofone                       clarineta

                                     gaita

bateria

 
                 pandeiro                                                                                 sanfona


O pandeiro é muito importante no samba e a sanfona é muito importante no forró.
O Slash (dos Guns and Roses) toca guitarra e o João Gilberto toca violão.
Você sabia que o Woody Allen toca clarineta?


Atividades:
Responda as perguntas (answer whichever ones you can):
a. Você toca algum instrumento musical?
b. Você tem algum instrumento musical?
c. Qual é o seu instrumento favorito?
d. Qual dos instrumentos acima é maior (mais pesado)?
e. Qual dos instrumentos acima é menor (mais leve)?
f. Qual instrumento o Kenny G. toca?
g. Dê o nome de um instrumento que é importante no samba.
h. Dê o nome de um instrumento que é importante no jazz.
i. Dê o nome de um instrumento que é importante no rock.
j. Dê o nome de um instrumento que é importante na bossa nova.

Jogue esse jogo sobre instrumentos. Fale o nome dos instrumentos em voz alta.

Opcional: leia esse artigo sobre instrumentos importantes na música brasileira (if you can, don't worry if don't understand everything. Beginners may just read the name of the instruments matched with the drawings) .

Desafio (challenge): play a game of forca (hangman), where all words are instrumentos músicais. (Don't worry if you don't know all of the words in the game: I and a lot of Brazilians wouldn't know all those words ourselves!)


PARTE II: Os instrumentos do Choro

Essa parte é sobre os instrumentos importantes no choro. Para saber um pouco sobre o choro, veja as links no meu artigo sobre o choro.

Atividades:

Leia o artigo Os instrumentos do choro (if you can, don't worry if don't understand everything. Beginners may just read the name of the instruments matched with the drawings).

Advanced students: leia este artigo.

Conecte o nome do instrument com a foto:

Exemplo:
Violão de seis cordas: _1__

cavaquinho: ___
bandolim:___
violão:___
flauta: ___
pandeiro ___

O seguinte vídeo sobre um instrumento importante no choro, no samba e no pagode. Adivinha qual é o instrumento!

Aqui está o vídeo, com perguntas para responder (the host of the quiz doesn't support Portuguese characters, so there are no acentos in the quiz :-( ). Click here to see the complete test.


(If you are a my student in a class or private lessons, ask me for a code to share your results or grab it from our private wiki).

Gente! O Eduardo Sant'Anna não é incrível?

Opcional: leia as partes do violão e escute o vídeo de novo. Você consegue reconhecer alguma parte?

 Now that you know the names of the instruments used in chorinho,  enjoy some of the music!

Portuguese for the world Cup -Part 1: Basic Conversation Soccer Terms

Even if you are in the US, chances are that you have heard about the hype about the Copa do Mundo (The FIFA Soccer World Cup). Whenever the Copa comes up, it is also likely that you hear at least some talk about Brazil (since Brazil is the only country to have participated in all world cups, the only one to have won 5 times and the top country in historical ranking... ok, I'll stop now...). .. Even if you are not crazy about futebol, it is nice to add a little soccer vocabulary to your Portuguese, since it is so present in Brazilian culture.

The game (Brazil x Chile) is starting really soon, so I will make this a quick starting post, with more coming later. Here are a couple of terms you may hear if you go watch it in a bar or a Brazilian friend's house to get you started:

1. Basic terms:

Copa (do mundo) - world cup
Futebol - soccer

Partida/ jogo - match/game
Assistir - watch
bola (de futebol) - (soccer) ball
jogador - player

Exercises:

1. Make sentences with each of the words above, until you have used all the words (not necessarily in the same sentence). If you are a beginner, you may still be able to make very simple sentences slightly modifying the examples. Example: 

Kaká é um jogador de futebol.

Eu não assisto todos os jogos da copa do mundo.

O meu amigo tem uma bola de futebol.

2. Answer if you can:

a. Que é o seu jogador favorito?

b. Você está assistindo os jogos da copa do mundo?

c. Qual foi a sua partida favorita?

d. Você tem uma bola de futebol?


2. Torcer (para)

The verb for cheer is torcer (use it with para to say who you are cheering for). E.g.:

Torcer (para):

Para quem você está torcendo?
Who are you cheering?

Eu estou torcendo para o Brasil.

I am cheering for Brazil.

Eu estava tocendo para o México.

I was cheering for Mexico yesterday.

You can also use this verb to say which team you support in general:

Na copa do mundo, eu sempre torço para o Brasil, mas a minha esposa torce para a Argentina.
In the world cup, I always support (cheer for) Brazil, but my wife supports Argentina.

Eu torço para o Lakers.
I support the Lakers/ I'm a Laker's fan.

Exercises: 

a. Make 2 sentences saying which teams you support in any sport you like. 

b. Make 3 sentences saying which teams people you know support.

c. Practicing asking someone which team they are cheering for.

3. Soccer terms:

If you know a little bit about soccer you may like to know these terms. I took them straight from this nice article (which teaches English soccer terms to Portuguese speakers):

• Escanteio – Corner kick
• Árbitro – Referee
• Técnico – Coach ou Team Coach
• Atacante – Striker
• Zagueiro – Defender
• Lateral – Winger
• Goleiro – Goalkeeper
• Meio campo – Midfielder
• Impedimento- Offside
• Lateral (cobrança) – Throw-in
• Penalti – Penalty kick
• Torcedor – Supporter/fan
• Bandeirinha – Linesman

Exercises:

This exercise is only recommended for those  into soccer and it may be a nice prep before watching a game (assuming Brazil wins today :-)).

1. Do a little research and describe in Portuguese sentences, using the terms above:

     a. The Brazilian team in a recent game;

     b. Either (i) the team you support (if not Brazil); (ii) a team you recently watched, or; (iii) the team who is next playing Brazil.

E.g.:

    O Dunga é o tecnico do Brasil.

This should give you a little bit to start speaking a little Portuguese on the next game... For now, see you after Brazil x Chile!

Portuguese Expression: "Cair a Ficha"

1965 duas tribos Originally uploaded by cavern club
Used with permission by photographer

Caiu a ficha is a very common slang which literally means for a 'the token dropped'. It means something like 'it dawned on me/someone', 'it clicked', 'I/someone got it' to start understanding something that may have taken a while to understand:

O professor explicou várias vezes o problema eu não entendia. Quando ele finalmente mostrou um exemplo, caiu a ficha.
The teacher explained the problem several times and I didn't understand. When he finally showed an example, it clicked/ I got it.

It is often used in the sense of 'taking a hint':

Eu sempre digo que estou ocupada quando ele me convida para sair, mas mesmo assim não caiu a ficha que eu não quero sair com ele!
I always say that I am busy when he asks me out, but even then, he hasn't gotten it yet!

The source of the expression becomes a little clearer if you know a little bit about Brazilian public phones. These are known as orelhão, litererally 'big ear' because of their shape (see the picture above by cavern club... can you see how it is kind of shaped like an ear?).

Back in the day, to make a call on a public phone, you needed to buy a phone token (we didn't get to use quarters like here... maybe because of the inflation, they would probably have had to change the phones too often to accept different shaped coins!). When you placed a call the token would stay up towards the top of the phone until someone picked up on the receiving end. When they picked up, the token would drop into the phone (at that point you could not get it back).

Caiu a ficha?

P.s.: I just got told that they have the same expression in hebrew! Something like "the token fell" (nafal ha asimon).

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!

Expressions of Frequency in Portuguese

The blog is back! ... and the plan is to have a post per week. To get started, how about we look into how to say "once a week" and other similar expressions in Portuguese?

Once/twice a week:

Eu escrevo no blog uma vez por semana.
I write on the blog once a week.

... uma vez por semana. (once a week)
... duas vezes por semana. (twice a week)
... três vezes por semana. (3 times a week)

You can also use this expression for other time periods:

Eu viajo para o Brasil uma vez por ano.
I travel to Brasil once a year.

Eu vou ao cabeleleiro uma vez por mês.
I goes to the hairdresser once a month.

Exercise: Think of an activity that you do once a week and make a sentence in Portuguese expressing that. think of an activity that you do more than once a week and make a nother sentence. Example: Eu visito os meus pais uma vez por semana. Eu faço ioga duas vezes por semana.

Everyday:

= todo dia (slightly more casual) or todos os dias (slightly more formal):

Eu tiro foto todo dia.
I take pictures every day.

Eu chego ao trabalho às 9:00 todos os dias.
I arrive at work at 9:00 every day.

Exercise: Answer the question: Você estuda Português todo dia?

Every other day:

I like this one. To say every other day, you can literaly say: "one day yes, one day no": um dia sim um dia não:

A Mariana corre na praia um dia sim um dia não.
Mariana runs at the beach every onther day.

Exercise: Answer the question, if you can: Você tem tempo para estudar português um dia sim um dia não?

Once every X days:

You can express every X days by using the expression uma vez a cada X dias. For example, to say "once every three days" you say uma vez a cada três dias:

Eu vou na academia uma vez a cada três dias.
I go to the gym once every three days.

Update: Every Once in a While

You can say de vez em quando:

De vez em quando, eu vou caminhar no Central Park.

Every once in a while, I go for a walk in Central Park.

Exercise:
- Make a table scheduling your major regular activities for the week.
- Based on your table describe your regular activities. Make sure to use each of the four types of expressions that you learnt at least duas vezes!

Bom, that is it for now. I hope to see you here at least uma vez por semana.

Talking about Travel in Portuguese 2

Celebrating a road trip to NYC, we've done a dialogue about travel (you may look there first). Now let's review some more expressions related to traveling...

Modo de transporte (Means of transportation):
Viajar/ ir... (travel/ go)
de carro (by car)
de avião (on a plane)
de trem (by train)
de barco (on a boat)
de navio (on a ship)
de bicicleta! (like my friend Eric Fiala)
a pé (on foot!)

Exercises:
1. Construct two sentences with the expressions above.
2. Answer what you can:
a.Você já viajou de navio? Aonde você foi?
b.Você viajaria a outra cidade de bicicleta?

Na estrada (on the road):
pagar pedágio (to pay a toll)
ultrapassar (to pass)
estrada, pista (road)
faixa (lane)
posto de gasolina
multa por excesso de velocidade (speeding ticket)
milhas/ quilômetros por hora (mph/kph... it might be useful to review numbers)

Exercicios:
1. Answer however many questions you can:
a. Tem muito pedágio no seu estado?
b. Você paga pedágio no caminho para o trabalho?
c. Qual é a faixa usada para ultrapassar?
d. Você já levou uma multa por execesso de velocidade? Onde você estava? Qual era a sua velocidade?

Distâncias:
Los Angeles está/ fica a 2.700 (dois mil e setessentas) milhas de Nova Iorque.
(Los Angeles is/ is located 2,700 miles from New York).

Union City está/ fica a 5 milhas de Nova Iorque.
(Union City is/ is located 2,700 miles from New York).

Los Angeles fica longe de Nova Iorque.
Union City fica perto de Nova Iorque.

Exercises:
1. Answer what you can:
a. O seu trabalho fica perto da sua casa?
b. A sua cidade fica perto de Nova Iorque?
c. Qual é a distância entre a sua casa e a praia?
d. Qual foi a maior viagem de carro que você já fez?

2. Write a couple of sentences describing a trip that you have done. You could tell your means of transportation, who went with you, where, the distance...

[Feel free to post your answers!]

Te vejo em Nova Iorque!

Basic Computer Terms in Portuguese

Are you sitting in front of the computer? Great! (sorry, iPhone users). Let's learn how to talk about it in Portuguese. Ready?

Let's start, repeat after me: software, hardware, mouse... that was easy, huh? :-) A lot of Portuguese computer terms are really easy to learn, because they are really just straight borrowings from English (advanced students may like to read this rant against the use of estrangeirismos (foreign words) in Portuguese by the IT industry). As with any borrowed words, the fun lies in pronouncing them the Brazilian way way, so:

software [softchyweh], hardware [hahdjiweh], mouse [mouzy].

Computer Parts:
Now look at your computador (it is masculine, so you say o/meu/seu computador):
Here is some more, if you are into hardware (you may also look here):
O disco rígido (the hard disk)
O processador (can you guess?)
O leitor/gravador de CD/ DVD (the CD/DVD reader/ writer)
A Memória RAM
A placa mãe (the mother board)

Actions:
Ligar/ Desligar o computador (to turn the computer on/off)

Clicar ... (To click)
... o botão direito/ esquerdo do mouse (the right/ left mouse button)
... na link (the link)

Fazer um clique duplo or clicar duas vezes (to double click)

Abrir/ Fechar... (open/ close)
... a janela (the window)
... o arquivo (the file)

Selecionar (to select)
Salvar
Apagar (or deletar)
Copiar
Editar
Imprimir (print)

Exercises:
A. Read the article. Now minimize the article, look at your computer and name its parts. How many terms can you remember? Check the terms you missed and repeat. Did you improve your score?

B. Answer the questions you that you can understand (or try your best guessing their meaning):

1. Qual é o processador do seu computador? (e.g. "Intel"/ "AMD")
2. O seu computador tem um gravador de DVD?
3. Qual é a marca (=brand) da sua impressora?
4. Qual é o tamanho da sua tela? (exemplo: 14 polegadas (=inches))
5. Quantas janelas estão abertas na sua tela agora?
6. As suas caixas de som são boas?
   

C. Make sentences with the actions above. Here are a couple of examples:

Para abrir uma janela nova, eu cliquei nessa link.
To open a new window, I clicked in this link.

João, salva o documento nessa janela e desliga o computador para mim, por favor.
John, save the document in this window and turn the computer off for me, please. (informal)

Uau! A foto naquela janela é muito bonita! Eu vou copiar e imprimir ela para você.
Wow! The photo in that window is very pretty! I will compy and print it for you.