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Me
Sasha (USA) - Biligiual Russian-English, English dominant, Spanish fluent, Portuguese intermediate

Parents
Galina mother (Russia, USA immigrant)- Russian dominant, English speaker
Bruce father (USA)- English dominant, French speaker, understands Russian
Dan stepfather (USA)- English monolingual

Maternal Grandparents
Stanislav (Russia)- Russian dominant multilingual, (German, French, Italian, anywhere else he travels)
Valentina (Russia)- Russian dominant, some English, some Ukrainian

Paternal Grandparents
Bill (USA)- English monolingual
Carol (USA)- English monlingual

Notes
1. I consider myself bilingual in Russian because I never formally learned the language, and I speak it comfortably. However, I don't read and write well in Russian so my English is more dominant.
2. My father learned French and school and is good at picking up languages.
3. My mother has been speaking English since she was in school, but she still reads for pleasure in Russian and isn't comfortable writing or giving presentations in English.
4. My maternal grandfather is the best with languages, and I learned from him how important it is to be confident and try to speak a new language before it's perfect.

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Nesse vídeo tem exemplos de saludos no português incluindo "Opa" e "e aí". Isso tem que ver com as diferentes maneiras de conversar no dia a dia.

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GREETINGS - Brazilian Portuguese with Hugo

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STOP EVERYTHING. Everyone should know these GREETINGS in BR Portuguese. Here are some of the expressions I will be covering in extreme detail: - Oi - Olá - Tudo bem/ Tudo bom - OPA*** ***definitely my favorite ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CREDITS: CAMERA AND DIRECTION: KARLEM SIVIRA

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Nesse vídeo temos um explicação de diglossia quando uma comunidade fala mais que uma idioma ou um dialecto. No livro falamos sobre o português popular e o português gramaticalmente correto.

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Social Implications of English in Brazil

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Social Implications of English in Brazil

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Este artigo explica a relação entre a língua inglesa e a cultura no Brasil.  Diz que, "members of the Brazilian economic and intellectual elite use of English words as a strategy to differentiate themselves from the popular classes." Discute também as camisas com frases no inglês.

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Social Implications of English in Brazil

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In Brazil, English language signs can be found everywhere: advertisements, billboards, brands and labels, shop names, foreign and national songs, T-shirts, movies, soap-operas, bumper stickers, cartoons, comic books, newspapers and magazines, etc. Occasionally, the Brazilian press acknowledges this phenomenon and shows a deep concern for linguistic and cultural identity: they argue that there is an improper use of borrowed words either in oral or in written language.

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Aqui temos uma lista de palavras para incluir ao início e ao final das frases. Uns exemplos são  e aí, tipo, topar, zoar e nossa. São palavras que a gente pode utilizar para falar mais como falantes nativos de português.

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What is it like to speak Portuguese in Brazil? In a word: enchanting. I have found few things in life more satisfying than being able to navigate the dips and curves of this laid-back yet precise, subtle yet charmingly vulgar, and bizarre yet hypnotically musical language.

However, it may not be like that when you start. Especially in São Paulo, Brazilians use so much slang that the language you learn in school bears little resemblance to the one you actually hear. Brazilians insist that their language is very hard to learn, and they are proud of it.

That being said, the language is not inaccessible. In this post, I will portray Portuguese as I have come to know it, clarifying some common misconceptions and providing some tips on how to make it your own.

Portuguese v. Spanish

Brazilians like to say that they can understand their neighbors but their neighbors have no clue what Brazilians are saying. This is somewhat true. Well-spoken Spanish has clear, well-enunciated pronunciations with sharp consonants and a partial resemblance to English, particularly closer to the United States. Portuguese has enough unique sounds to make it utterly indecipherable to those who have not studied it or grown up speaking it.

I started learning Portuguese after having taken six years of Spanish. As a gringo, I have found Portuguese to be "harder," since many of its sounds are more unfamiliar and many of its rules less logical and well-regulated. Spanish helps a lot with grammar, but it also produces many traps. Portuguese is a minefield of false cognates and words imported from other languages with highly palletized pronunciations. An example? Take the word "saco," which in Spanish means "sack" or "jacket." It technically has the same meanings in Portuguese, but it is more often used to signify something really bothersome or to refer to male genitalia (what a coincidence!).

Nonetheless, because Portuguese and Spanish have similar roots, learning one will likely wreak havoc on the other, particularly for non-native speakers. Alternating between the languages helps, but even Brazilians who have studied Spanish find the two languages tricky to keep separate.

Top 10 Favorite Gírias (Slang):
10. tipo = A filler word that most closely corresponds to "like" in American English, though it also means "type" or "kind." Not to be used in formal conversation.
9. E aí! = "What's up!" or "Hey!" Used everywhere, particularly amongst younger people. Can also be spoken as a question.
8. velho, brother, cara, mano = All of these mean something akin to "dude" or "man." "Velho" is chiefly used in São Paulo, whereas "brother" (pronounced "brodah," with a slightly rolled "r") is more Rio de Janeiro. "Cara" also means "guy," as in, "He's a very nice guy." "Mano" is more common amongst our parents' generation.
7. topar = to be down to do something.
6. zoar = to play a prank, joke around, mess with someone. Often used when people are drunk, though normally in a light-hearted manner.
5. brisar = to space out, to have one's head in the clouds. Also used in a drug-related context.
4. pau-mandado = used to describe a guy who is "whipped," i.e., helplessly obedient to the desires of his girlfriend.
3. Nossa! = Wow! Used all the time, partly because there are many things about which to be amazed in Brazil!
2. É animal / É bárbaro! = Sick! / Gnarly!
1. folgado. = This is a tricky word because it has no exact equal in English, but it is a must-know in Brazil. Used to describe someone really lazy, to the point of being very disrespectful and unpleasant. The closest parallel is "bum."

Most Difficult Aspects of Portuguese

What makes Portuguese tricky? First, the accents. People from São Paulo arguably use the most "normal" accent of Portuguese, such as one you might study in a classroom. However, by being such a diverse and expansive city, this is a loose category. São Paulo has several hundred thousand residents of Italian and Japanese descent, many of whom speak with accents as strong as those you might hear amongst people of the same origin in English. Paulistas also use a dizzying array of gírias. Cariocas (people from Rio) have a much heavier accent, arguably Brazil's most famous. The accent inclues a lot of "sh" sounds at the ends of words, and while other Brazilians love to parody it, they usually find the Carioca inflection to be very attractive.

Also, Portuguese is full of sounds that are difficult for an English speaker to distinguish. One classic example: I often go to a bakery (padaria) for breakfast. For the first couple of weeks, I would ask for different kinds of bread using what I thought was the correct word, "pão." The only problem is that I would pronounce it as "pau," which I learned later is a slang word for "penis." You can imagine the looks of confusion I received.

Finally, almost every Brazilian will moan about the challenge of writing in Portuguese. It is relatively easy to write notes and emails, but anything formal requires a detailed understanding of complex rules, social contexts, syntax, and vocabulary. This could be said about many other language, but Portuguese is hard because of its bizarre accents and spellings, which make written Portuguese appear very different from spoken Portuguese. If you have to choose, I would recommend mastering spoken Portugese first. That way, when you inevitably get lost in São Paulo, you will at least be able to ask for directions!

How to Practice Portuguese

If you plan on working or living in Brazil, I would highly recommend taking at least a quarter of Portuguese at Stanford. I took three quarters before coming, and I still felt only half-prepared for the task of putting it into practice.

Also, a number of Lusophone publications can help you get accustomed to written Portuguese. My favorites are Estado de São Paulo and Exame (a Brazilian version of The Economist), but Folha, Globo, Veja, and Valor are also quite good.

Ultimately, the best way to get good at Brazilian Portuguese is to date a Brazilian. This is a little easier for American women because Brazilian men are quite aggressive and will try whatever they can to get a girl's attention. Brazilian women are typically harder-to-get, somewhat due to the fact that they have so many willing suitors. If you are an American guy, though, do not lose heart. Offering to teach a Brazilian girl some English is almost always a winner!

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Crônicas do Brasil: Falando Português | The Unofficial Stanford Blog

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What is it like to speak Portuguese in Brazil? In a word: enchanting. I have found few things in life more satisfying than being able to navigate the dips and curves of this laid-back yet precise, subtle yet charmingly vulgar, and bizarre yet hypnotically musical language.

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Esse vídeo é sobre o sotaque mineiro. Ele fala do sotaque mas é também a fala cotidiana. No triângulo de Azevedo isso será a fala comun entre amigos. O que ele chama o português correcto têm mais que ver com a reglas gramaticales que com um sotaque correcto.

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SE INSCREVA NO CANAL E CLIQUE EM GOSTEI. Veja como é o português mineiro quando comparado com o português original.

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Manezinho ou pessoa de Florianópolis têm sotaque distinto. Essas mulheres são manezinhas mas exageram o sotaque aqui para descrever.

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Pra quem não sabe, somos manezinhas da Ilha, moquiridu! E resolvemos compartilhar com vocês como é isso. Como é morar em Floripa? Como é ser maninho? Se você é, com certeza vai se identificar! https://www.facebook.com/somaisumvlog maisumvlog2016@gmail.com Instagram: @giovanafagundes @steinerjulia

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Para melhor entender os sotaque brasileiros em portugues, podemos escutar os distintos sotaques no ingles.

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Os 5 Sotaques dos Brasileiros Falando Inglês

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Pessoas perguntam como é o sotaque brasiliero, mas na verdade tem varios sotaque brasileiros falando ingles. E anotei 5 sotaques que eu ouvi brasileros falando. 📷 ► Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/timexplica 💻 ► Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timexplica 🐦 ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/tim_explica 👻 ► Snapchat: TimExplica

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Gringos tentam adivinhar sotaques brasileiros

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Gringos tentam adivinhar sotaques brasileiros

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Esse vídeo é um boa exemplo de o que a gente vai fazer na prova. Temos gringos adivinhando os sotaques de brasileiros de varios partes do país. Estão descrevendo os sotaques com termos informais em vez de fonéticos.

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Gringos tentam adivinhar sotaques brasileiros (com o Gavin)

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Mais um vídeo crossover com o Gavin e a Michelle! Boa semana para todo mundo! Canal do Gavin: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCskEPRzGlsYHs_a5SJyCXag Canal da Michelle: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCob6KG-Z3yte-WtO2ApBEYg

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Desde os anos 50a muitas pessoas de nacionalidade portuguesa já mudou a europa central. Isso indica um nível de vida bastante baixo na Portugal nessa época. Hoje em dia um 23% de portuguese moram fora do país natal. Como isso podemos ver uma mudança na língua mezclando com o alemão ou o frances por exemplo.

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A fama de Portugal ser um aluno exemplar, bem comportado, vem do tempo da adesão à CEE, em 1986. Na altura, a frase, do então presidente Jacques Delors, foi um grande elogio ao país pobre e recém-chegado à família europeia. Os portugueses interiorizaram o conceito e quando Pedro Passos Coelho (eleito primeiro-ministro em 2011, ano em que Portugal pede ajuda internacional para não entrar em bancarrota) sugere a emigração a quem não tem emprego, os portugueses acatam.

As taxas de emigração de portugueses voltaram a atingir níveis históricos. E como se não bastasse terem atingido os valores registados no final dos anos 60 do século XX (altura em que saíam de Portugal mais de 100 mil portugueses ao ano), para os responsáveis do último relatório do Observatório da Emigração, hoje tornado público, ainda há a perceção de que "é improvável, nos próximos anos, uma redução da emigração para os níveis anteriores à crise".

Portugal, com os seus 2,3 milhões de emigrantes, pode ser apenas o 27º país de emigração do mundo (os recordistas são a Índia, com 15,6 milhões de emigrados, o México, com 12,3 milhões, e a Federação Russa, com 10,6 milhões). No entanto, o retângulo não deixa de ter um lugar de destaque, quando analisado em contexto europeu: se retirarmos Malta da equação (a ilha do Mediterrâneo tem pouco mais do que 400 mil habitantes, entrando na categoria à parte de países com menos de um milhão de habitantes), Portugal é "o país da União Europeia com mais emigrantes, em proporção da população residente".

Para onde vão os portugueses? "Dos 23 países de destino para onde se dirigem mais emigrantes portugueses 14 são europeus. E entre os 10 principais só dois se localizam noutro continente, o africano: Angola e Moçambique."

Desde a grande vaga de emigração das décadas de 60 e 70 que a França, com mais de meio milhão de portugueses (eram 606 897 em 2013), lidera a tabela de países do mundo com maior número de emigrados com nacionalidade lusa. É lá que se concentra a maior fatia de portugueses, fora de Portugal: ao todo, correspondem a 62% do número total de emigrantes, tal como a comunidade portuguesa é a maior, no grupo de imigrantes residentes em França. No entanto, na contabilidade anual, as saídas para aquele país do centro da Europa vinha diminuindo com o passar dos anos. Rui Pena Pires, responsável pelo relatório, não quer deixar em claro que "em 2015, saíram para França 18 mil portugueses" o que, olhando para os números, quer dizer que se deu uma inversão de tendência. As saídas para França voltaram a subir e aquele "voltou a ser um destino importante" para os portugueses que estão de saída.

A tendência pode ter mudado, mas ainda não o suficiente para regressar ao topo da tabela. Nos últimos ano, desde a crise do subprime, mais concretamente, "as saídas para Espanha diminuíram e as saídas para o Reino Unido aumentaram" realça Pena Pires. A partir de 2011, as ilhas britânicas têm-se mantido como principal destino da emigração portuguesa - e o recetor da maior fatia de qualificados. "um terço da emigração portuguesa para o Reino Unido tem pelo menos o ensino superior".

Contas feitas, emigraram, para as ilhas de Sua Majestade, 32 mil portugueses, em 2015. Seguem-se, como principais destinos, a França (18 mil, em 2013), a Suíça (12 mil, em 2015) e a Alemanha (9 mil, em 2015). "Relevante", para Pena Pires, "é que pelo segundo ano consecutivo, a emigração para Espanha está a subir", o que indica que, passada a fase mais negra da crise (que afetou muito a área da construção) "pode voltar a crescer."

Fora do velho continente, é para a Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa (CPLP) que os portugueses olham, quando decidem deixar o País. Antes de todos os outros, e apesar da crise, emigram para Angola (7 mil, em 2015). Depois, escolhem Moçambique (4 mil, em 2013) e Brasil (mil em 2015).

Portugal continua a ser, portanto, um país de emigrantes. E de imigrantes, será? De acordo com o relatório não. Em contraste com os dados da emigração, Portugal "é um dos países com uma percentagem de imigrantes na população residente abaixo da média dos países da UE (8% se considerarmos os retornados nascidos na ex-colónias, menos de 6% sem estes)". A conjugação destes dois fatores (alta emigração e baixa imigração), em termos acumulados, situa Portugal no conjunto dos países europeus de repulsão, onde se encontram também a Lituânia, Roménia, Bulgária e Polónia (que substituiu a Eslováquia que, de 2010 para cá, melhorou a sua posição relativa).

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Portugal, a perder gente há mais de 50 anos

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A fama de Portugal ser um aluno exemplar, bem comportado, vem do tempo da adesão à CEE, em 1986. Na altura, a frase, do então presidente Jacques Delors, foi um grande elogio ao país pobre e recém-chegado à família europeia.

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Hoje pouca gente fala o português na Ásia mais antes si havia um intercâmbio entre as línguas europeas e asiáticas. Os grupos que hoje falam esse crioulo são Topazes, Casados, descendentes de esclavos Bantú chamados Kaffirs. Nesse artigo temos exemplos de palavras e gramatica mezclada.

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Sri Lankan Portuguese creole - Wikipedia

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Precise phonological knowledge of the Sri Lankan Portuguese Creole (SLPC) is limited. The earliest analysis of the language comes from the 19th and early 20th centuries, but since the research was based purely on written data, it lacks insight on how speech was actually produced.

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Aqui temos um discurso sobre o estudo da língua portuguesa nos estados unidos. Fala sobre as universidades americanas que têm departamentos do português. Só UMass Dartmouth e Brown têm departamentos independentes ao  espanhol. Também existe um conflito entre estudar o português do Brasil o da Portugal.

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I think I should begin by stating what many if not most of you already realize: I represent a Portuguese program that is a highly atypical outlier in the general US context and beyond, in that it does not occupy a minority position among language and literature programs on our campus. In fact, I believe UMass Dartmouth is the only university in the nation where the number of tenured faculty in Portuguese (five) exceeds the number of tenured and tenure-track faculty in Spanish (three). Additionally, the Portuguese program is organizationally situated in a department of its own-as is well known, there's only one other university in the country (Brown) where that is also the case. And a final factor I will mention is that the inclusion in our curriculum of literary and cultural content related to Portugal is not only an easy proposition to make and sustain, but is in fact fully expected, given UMass Dartmouth's identity as a public university that serves, among other constituencies, its regional community with a very high percentage of residents who claim Portuguese descent. What I will have to say here is therefore not going to be primarily informed by the exceptional conditions in which I have worked over the last thirteen years, but rather by my previous experience in very different university settings (which, for the record, include Harvard, Ohio State, and the University of Georgia), as well as my direct and indirect knowledge of a number of other Portuguese programs across the country and outside the United States.

I realize, of course, that specific institutional paradigms, material conditions, and pragmatic considerations affecting the present and future of Portuguese studies-whatever that is taken to mean in the context of this particular panel-are not necessarily what we are being asked to address here. Epistemological horizons, strategies of intellectual engagement, and concrete research agendas of individual academics working in the field may not be fully aligned with-may even be largely unrelated to-the curricular structure and content and other aspects of the Portuguese programs they direct or help manage. But I think it is necessary to keep both these dimensions of academic labor in mind as we survey the state of the field and imagine its possible futures, which is why I'll keep collapsing them here (both in these very brief initial remarks and in the hopefully robust discussion to follow).

It is a truism, but a truism that bears repeating at every opportunity, that the single most important factor shaping the present and future of Portuguese studies, both in US and globally, is the already vast but still-growing international recognition and prestige of Brazil and Brazilian culture. Since the overwhelming majority of Portuguese programs in US, Canada, and other non-Portuguese and non-Spanish-language countries are integrated more or less strongly with their Spanish counterparts, this flourishing of awareness and consequent demand for things Brazilian creates excellent opportunities on different levels for growing and diversifying Brazilian studies in productive institutional and intellectual alliances with established programs of Latin American studies. In this specific venue of dynamic convergence between "Spanish" and "Portuguese" interests and strategies of program development, there is no particular need to look outside Brazil and the Americas for curricular content or inspiration for research agendas, although a more globalized version of the Brazilian studies model will likely address such themes as intercontinental migrations encompassing, for example, Asia and Europe, or historical and contemporary Afro-Brazilian exchanges in the Lusophone "black Atlantic." In such an institutional setting, is there any space for content related to Portugal, except in the most tangential form? For the most part, I don't think so, unless such space happens to be created by way of an externally sponsored injection of resources-say, an appearance by a Portuguese writer paid for by Camões Institute or a visiting lecturer or researcher supported by the Luso-American Foundation. Such situated windows of opportunity are certainly not worthless, but neither do they affect established institutional structures and emphases, except by disguising their actual limitations and effective absence of internal strategic recognition and support.

What, then, about Iberian studies, that putative counterpart to Latin American studies on the other side of the Atlantic divide? As we know, the push for such a "new paradigm" is a far more recent development in US academia, at least in what regards teaching and research of Peninsular literatures and cultures from the nineteenth century onwards. (Given the strong effective interpenetration of Iberian literary cultures in the medieval and early modern periods, a retrospective imposition of strict nationalist boundaries on this heterogeneous cultural patchwork has always been more difficult to enforce, which is not to say it hasn't taken place at all.) The new, decentered and polymorphous model of Iberian studies seems quite promising for our purposes in its ideal vision, although perhaps somewhat less so in such few practical enactments as I've so far been able to observe-but then, this new version of the old Iberia truly cannot be built in a day. The very real absence of mutual knowledge and interest between respective academic establishments in Portugal and Spain in the area of literary and cultural studies-with notable exceptions, of course-also can't help but hamper such crossbreeding initiatives taking place outside of the Iberian Peninsula. At the same time, however, it needs to be recognized (and celebrated) that extraterritorial academics such as ourselves are a lot freer than our colleagues in Portugal or Spain to strike out on our own in directions we find worthwhile and engaging. Thus I remain reasonably optimistic about the potential of the new model of Iberian studies for Portuguese programs, at least in those locations where propitious conditions for Peninsular collaborations exist, the most important of those conditions being of course the presence of engaged, innovation-minded and favorably disposed faculty in Spanish.

In closing, I would like to acknowledge the existence of many other forms of opportunity for forging intellectual connections and institutional alliances across departmental and disciplinary boundaries, which faculty in Portuguese studies have been both discussing and effectively exploring and developing for decades. The exact configuration of such opportunities will vary from campus to campus, from program to program, and from person to person. As a hypothetical but fairly representative example, Professor X, who counts among her interests the new Portuguese cinema and who happens to be hired by a university with a strong film studies program, will likely find receptive ground for designing courses or organizing events that capitalize on this convergence. Meanwhile, Professor Y, at another university, may discover that his research on, say, Pepetela or Paulina Chiziane will interest colleagues in the African studies department or faculty working on postcolonial literatures in English. And so on. The possibilities here are endless-of course, so are potential limitations to what can be effectively accomplished, whether related to plain inertia, territorial protectionism, real or alleged lack or resources, personal burnout, etc., etc. At any rate, we do and will keep forging on-for the next ten years, and surely also well beyond.

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I think I should begin by stating what many if not most of you already realize: I represent a Portuguese program that is a highly atypical outlier in the general US context and beyond, in that it does not occupy a minority position among language and literature programs on our campus.

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Esse vídeo é um exemplo do sotaque dos Açores. Como umas ilhas é interessante como falam as pessoas.  Acho que parece o francês incluso o Youtube escolha o francês como a língua para os subtítulos automáticos.

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Podes apoiar os meus vídeos por apenas $1 mês com acesso a conteúdo exclusivo e recompensas em https://www.patreon.com/helfimed ▼ SITE ► http://www.helfimed.com/ ▼ VLOGS ► http://www.youtube.com/VlogsHelfimed JOGOS ► http://www.youtube.com/user/MjimboraJogar FACEBOOK HELFIMED ► http://www.facebook.com/HelfimedHFM SNAPCHAT ► https://goo.gl/NSm3oX INSTAGRAM ► https://www.instagram.com/helfimed/ TWITTER ► http://twitter.com/helfimed Elemento Alpha ► http://goo.gl/jmMSnE T-Shirts HELFIMED ► http://goo.gl/t2tKpB

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A história das diferenças entre o espanhol e o português

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A história das diferenças entre o espanhol e o português

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Este é um relato sobre o origem das diferenças entre o espanhol e o português baseados no latim. A Portugal se formo como um país antes de que a Espanha. Por isso comenzó a formar reglas  antes do espanhol e leva mais conexão ao latim.

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"They look similar!" I can already hear you saying. "Look, just change this, and constituci ón becomes constituição. Todo is tudu and bien is bem. Lengua is lingua, and is idioma. They're just dialects of the same language."

Yes and no.

Now, no. Portuguese and Spanish are currently quite different. You can't learn one and expect to function effortlessly in the other. Portuguese sounds are quite different from Spanish ones, as are the two languages' vocabularies. And which variety of present-day Portuguese and Spanish are we talking about, specifically? There's Argentine Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese, for starters, and Canary Islands Spanish and Guinean Portuguese, not to mention the regional differences between Portuguese and Spanish dialects within Portugal and Spain themselves.

But once upon a time, yes. Portuguese and Spanish were, basically, dialects of the same language. That language was Latin, the language of the Roman Empire, from which all Romance languages spring.

Hundreds of years later, how have Portuguese and Spanish grown apart, and why? And will they always be different?

Iberian siblings

Spain and Portugal presently occupy almost the entirety of the Iberian Peninsula, the spit of land that sticks out of Western Europe just below France. (Almost, but not quite: the tiny Principality of Andorra sits snug along the border of Spain and France, ensconced in the embrace of the Eastern Pyrenees.) The Iberian Peninsula is where Portuguese and Spanish were 'born' (if languages can be born) and it is also the main reason why Portuguese and Spanish are much closer to each other than to the other major Romance languages: it has allowed them to develop in relative isolation. Indeed, this is plain to see on a map: the oceans surround the western, southern and eastern edges of the Peninsula, while to the north, the Pyrenees form a natural border with France. It is for this reason also that Portuguese and Spanish are usually known as the Iberian or Iberoamerican languages.

But Portuguese and Spanish were not the first languages on the Peninsula, nor are they those first languages' descendants. They come from a very different place.

All roads lead from Rome

The story of Portuguese and Spanish, as with all Romance languages, actually begins in Italy. Or, more specifically, with the Roman Empire, which spoke Latin and spread the language across the lands that it conquered and governed.

At their height, the Romans controlled almost all the areas immediately surrounding the Mediterranean, including modern-day Italy, Croatia, the Levant (the area around modern-day Israel, Lebanon and Syria), the Maghreb (modern-day Morocco), and the Iberian peninsula (which the Romans called 'Hispania'). Latin, as the language of the Roman Empire, was thus brought into all these places, and it gradually began to supersede the use of many other languages on the Peninsula.

Aquitanian, Tartessian, Lusitanian, Celtiberian: these are some of the languages believed to have existed on the peninsula before the arrival of the Romans in 218 BCE. All have now been lost to history (except perhaps Aquitanian, which may have survived in its possible daughter language, Basque, and which you can read about here) because Latin superseded them all in the new Roman province of Hispania. At this time, there was no Spain or Portugal to speak of; there was only Hispania, initially divided into two sections, Hispania Ulterior and Citerior, which became three from 27 BCE: Lusitania (the south-west), Baetica (the south), and Tarraconensis (the rest); and then five from 284 CE, with swathes of Tarraconensis becoming the new provinces of Galicia (the north-west) and Cartaginense (the south-east).

Thus, for the next 600 years, Latin continued to reign supreme on the Iberian Peninsula, as it did in most of the other areas of the Roman Empire.

Latin, however, was itself changing. Just as there are formal and informal versions of Arabic and Tamil today, spoken in different contexts, so too were there different varieties of Latin emerging in the Empire. There was a standardised, 'higher' version of Latin, which we call Classical Latin, spoken in more formal contexts like matters of administration and, later, in churches; and then there was the more informal Latin that everyday people spoke, which gradually came to be called colloquial or Vulgar Latin.

Vulgar Latin developed differently in different parts of the Empire. Not all the reasons for the differences are known, but one main factor could be that different parts of the Empire had different indigenous languages that came into contact with Latin, and thus different parts of the Empire had different loanwords (and eventually vocabularies) in their versions of Vulgar Latin. For example, the Vulgar Latin spoken in Spain and Portugal might have included loanwords from Celtiberian, whereas the Vulgar Latin spoken in France might have loanwords from other indigenous languages instead such as Gaulish.

Of course, Vulgar Latin was frowned upon by authorities and those from the higher echelons of society, and Classical Latin remained their language of choice; they maintained it as a unifying language that was used for administration in all parts of the Roman Empire. Thus, as long as the Empire stayed intact, so too did Latin.

Gothic and Arabic

Like all great empires, however, the Roman Empire was destined to fall. As its influence and control over the territories on its periphery began to weaken significantly, territories like Hispania began in the 5 th century CE to experience several waves of invasions by Germanic peoples like the Vandals, the Alans, and the Visigoths. Eventually, Hispania came under control of this last group, the Visigoths, who were invited to rule the province for Rome by Emperor Honorius in 415 CE, and who gradually took complete control of it, especially after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE.

The new kings were native speakers of Gothic, a distant but now extinct relative of today's German and English. Gothic never really caught on in Hispania, and remained the language of the upper classes, while the majority of the population continued to use Vulgar Latin for everyday communication and interaction. However, with Classical Latin no longer readily available for 'reference' as the standard to aspire to, Vulgar Latin in Hispania likely began to change further, incorporating several new features from Gothic.

Then, beginning in 711 CE, Visigothic Hispania was almost entirely conquered by the Moors of the Umayyad Caliphate, becoming the new Muslim kingdom of Al-Andalus. In a series of swift, lightning-fast conquests, the Umayyads took almost the entire Iberian Peninsula, and replaced Gothic with Arabic as the language of the elite.

However, the Vulgar Latin dialects continued to survive in large part because most of the population remained Christian despite now being subject to heavy Arabic influence. For this reason, the Vulgar Latin of this time is known as Mozarabic. As had been the case under the Visigoth kings, Mozarabic was spoken by a large majority of the population, while Arabic was only used by the upper echelons of society.

Whence Portuguese and Spanish, then? At last, with the Muslim conquest of Spain, they were beginning to appear.

Beloved Homeland

In the northwest corner of Spain, the tiny kingdom of Asturias successfully resisted the Moors, and was able to recover and grow in strength throughout the 9 th and 10 th centuries CE. This one remaining Christian bulwark on the peninsula thus served as the nucleus of the movement known as the Reconquista or the Christian reconquering of Spain, and also as the nucleus from which Portuguese and Spanish as we know them today were eventually born.

At its inception, Asturias was composed of the modern-day regions of Asturias and Galicia, which were never fully under the control of the Moors. Indeed, Galicia especially had remained fiercely distinctive since the 4 th century. In 409 CE, slightly earlier than the rest of the peninsula, it had become a separate Roman vassal state under the Suebi, a separate Germanic race from the Visigoths, and remained an independent Suebi kingdom until 585 CE, when Visigoth King Leovigild absorbed it into the rest of Visigoth Hispania. Galician dialects of Vulgar Latin were thus already rather more divergent compared to Vulgar Latin and Mozarabic dialects on the rest of the peninsula, and even compared to their Asturian brethren.

Enter a Galician nobleman named Vimara Peres, who at the end of the 9 th century CE, led an Asturian force to conquer a sizeable chunk of Andalusian territory between the Minho and Douro rivers. Asturian King Alfonso III awarded the entire region to Peres as a County, and Peres resettled the area with Galician colonists. He also named it after the largest port city in the region, Portus Cale -taken today as the origin of the name Portugal. From this point on, Portugal began to develop its own regional identity, and indeed, its own distinct Vulgar Latin dialects, separate from the Asturian ones.

Portuguese and Spanish

Eventually, Asturias splintered into several successor states as various kings and heirs fought for control over the area. Two of these successor states were the Kingdom of Leon, and the County of Portugal, the latter of which declared its independence as a separate Kingdom from Leon in 1143 under King Afonso Henrique, and by which time had expanded to fill out most of the western coast of the Iberian Peninsula. Portuguese was also by this time a markedly different dialect from the other Vulgar Latin daughter dialects, and Portugal's separation from Leon ensured that this would continue to be so.

Meanwhile, Leon, later the Kingdom of Leon and Castile, gradually began to assert itself as the dominant force in the central area of the Peninsula. It eventually defeated the Moorish kingdoms, and expanded to control the territory of modern-day Spain by the end of the 15 th century CE. The Vulgar Latin daughter dialect that eventually became the language that we know today as Spanish was the Castilian dialect that originated with Leon and Castile, and which became standardised in written form in the 13 th century around the city of Toledo through the work of the Toledo School of Translators. Under the official patronage of King Alfonso X, this group worked to translate a large body of various Arabic and Hebrew texts into Latin and, for the first time, Castilian, giving Castilian a sizeable body of "official" written language, and in doing so laying the foundations for Castilian's eventual dominance over the other daughter dialects of Vulgar Latin.

Differences today

Today, both Standard Castilian Spanish and Standard Continental Portuguese reflect this rich tapestry of linguistic and cultural history, with a sizeable number of loanwords from Arabic, Gothic and (in the case of Spanish) Basque. Both languages retain similar grammatical features and syntax, and also share many cognates, or root word forms, as a result of their common descent from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the peninsula.

However, Portuguese and Spanish differ mainly because of their different origins during the period following the Muslim conquest of Iberia and the advent of the Reconquista. Modern-day Portugal was conquered and consolidated as a stable kingdom much earlier than Spain, and thus the process of the standardisation of Portuguese began earlier than that of Spanish, resulting in Portuguese retaining more recognisable features of Vulgar Latin than Spanish, whose original core dialects evolved and became standardised much later. Geography, both natural and political, has also played a part-had Portugal not remained an independent kingdom and state, it is conceivable that Portuguese might have deteriorated, much as the other Vulgar Latin dialects have today. (The reverse with Castilian Spanish is possible too, though much more unlikely, due to the relative size of the two polities).

Other Vulgar Latin dialects?

What happened to those, I hear you ask? After all, there were other successor states to Asturias, like Aragon, and Navarre. Surely they had their own unique dialects. And what happened to Leonese and Galician?

The answer is that with the process of standardisation, other dialects that have not been chosen as the standard often become marginalised and are left to simply fade away. In many cases, this is exactly what happened with the other dialects up until recent times: Aragonese, Leonese, and Navarrese are all still spoken, but by relatively few people, as Castilian Spanish became the sole language of use in almost all domains of public life after the 15 th century. Nonetheless, Galicia has managed to maintain its strong distinctive regional identity, and Galician has survived quite well into the present day as a strong marker of that identity. Galician and Portuguese continue to be rather more mutually intelligible than Portuguese and Spanish as a result of Portuguese's evolution from the Galician Vulgar Latin dialects; indeed, most linguists agree that Galician and Portuguese form a sort of continuum of intelligibility. Two other languages that have experienced a resurgence on the peninsula are Catalan, which after almost near-extinction has reemerged as one of the primary drivers of the Catalan independence movement, and Basque, very probably the last survivor of the languages originally spoken on the peninsula before the coming of the Romans.

The New World

Now that you know how Portuguese and Spanish came to be, the question is, where are they going?

In the 14 th and 15 th centuries, Portuguese and Spanish explorers were an integral part of the European Age of Exploration, which saw the colonisation and domination of Africa, the Americas, and much of Asia by European colonists. Portuguese and Spanish came to override indigenous languages in much the same way Latin did, and with almost identical end results: Spanish is now the dominant language in most of Central and South America at the expense of many native languages, while Brazilian Portuguese has far outstripped Continental Portuguese in terms of number of speakers and influence. Both languages have also left their mark on daughter languages as far flung as Tagalog in the Philippines, Kristang in Malaysia, and Guinean Creole in Guinea-Bissau.

With the collapse of the Portuguese and Spanish overseas empires in the 18 th and 19 th centuries, all these varieties and offshoots of Portuguese and Spanish have been largely left to develop on their own, much as the various dialects of Vulgar Latin were left to their own devices after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. And already we are seeing marked differences: Brazilian Portuguese speakers, for example, often pronounce initial 'd' sounds with a sound rather like the English 'j', an innovation unknown to Continental Portuguese, while Argentinian Spanish speakers are famous for their almost lyrical intonation patterns, a feature not found in Castilian Spanish. Chilean Spanish is full of loans from Quechua, while informal Angolan Portuguese is filled with loans from Kimbundu.

It seems possible that both languages might go the way of their once dominant Roman parent. Already we sometimes speak not of Portuguese and Spanish, but Portugueses and Spanishes; in a hundred years, perhaps we might even speak of an Iberian language family. As the Spanish saying goes, no hay dos sin tres -never two without three.

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Iberia's children: A short history of why Portuguese and Spanish are different | Unravel Magazine

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Once upon a time, Portuguese and Spanish were, basically, dialects of the same language: Latin, the language of the Roman Empire. Hundreds of years later, how have Portuguese and Spanish grown apart, and why? And will they always be different?

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Aqui há um dicionário entre o latim e o português. Sirve para comparar as línguas e compreender mais a relação entre eles. Também vemos definições para todas as palavras.

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Latim - português dicionário on-line em Glosbe. Procurar 29.611 frases e memórias 56.792 tradução. Gratuitamente.

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Nesse vídeo aprendemos quais prefixos são de origem grego e quais são de origem latino. Também podemos ver o significado dos prefixos e ter exemplos de palavras que os utilizam. Um exemplo: retro, movimiento para atrás, retroceder. Outra coisa interessante é a influência de grego. Em geral pensamos mais na influência de latim porque o português é língua latina.

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prefixos gregos e latinos - Formação das palavras #05

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Aqui temos um artigo sobre as influências do latim no português falado dia a dia. Temos exemplos como as marcas Magnum e Lux que são palavras no latim. A ideia é de enfocar em maneiras em que o Latim sobrevive na fala e que não é uma lengua totalmente morta.

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Latim: uma língua viva. Latim: língua e cultura - Português

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Latim. E quem disse que o Latim morreu? Saiba mais sobre a história e a permanência da língua latina.

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O infinitivo pessoal é um tempo verbal bastante complicado para falantes de inglês. É mais facil entender o infinitivo pessoal que usa-lo. Um uso boa do infinitivo pessoal é para substituir ao subjuntivo quando nāo sabemos o subjuntivo bem.

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Portugués- Nivel C2- 1- Infinitivo personal vs impersonal 1

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Linguavid es un recurso Online de Ingles Portugues y Español

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Aqui temos um resumo da estrutura das frases no português. É escrito no inglês mas sigue sendo um recurso boa da gramática e das reglas. Tem categorias para poder separar diferentes tipos de orações.

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Do you want to learn Portuguese, but not sure where to start? Try by learning Portuguese grammar with a step by step approach.

While learning vocabulary and pronunciation is essential to learning any language, becoming familiar with the rules of grammar will help you learn to speak the language. It may seem daunting at first, but learning Portuguese grammar need not be difficult! There are, of course, exceptions to the rules in every language, but if you understand the basics of Portuguese grammar, you will develop a good foundation for becoming fluent in the language, and be able to pick up the intricacies later.

The Basics

Learning basic rules of Portuguese grammar will make it easier to form sentences and start speaking the language! Let's get started!

Word Order and Sentence Structure

Follow these basic rules to learn how to put words together in order in order to build sentences to express your thoughts and emotions in Portuguese!

The Portuguese word order is similar to English in that it is Subject, Verb, Object.

How you put the words together following this basic rule will depend on the type of statement you are making.

Following are five types of statements to pay attention to when learning Portuguese grammar and sentence structure:

1. Statements.

2. Indirect questions.

3. Direct questions.

4. Negative statements or sentences.

5. Sentences that include descriptions (or, that contain an adjective or adjectives).

Don't be intimidated! We will focus on one type of statement at a time. With a little practice, you will be able to form your thoughts in Portuguese in no time.

Let's break down each sentence type using examples both in Portuguese and in English. Examples make it easier to remember the rules of Portuguese grammar by putting them in a context that is helpful and easy to apply.

Statements

If your sentence is a statement, you are typically expressing a fact or event.

The word order is Subject, Verb, Object.

Let's take a look at these examples:
Subject Verb Object Prep. Phrase
Portuguese Nós lemos um livro na praia.

English We read a book at the beach.

Portuguese Ele tem uma casa no Rio de Janeiro.

English He has a house in Rio de Janeiro.

Portuguese Eu comer salmão para o almoço.

English I eat salmon for lunch.

As you can see, you can easily start to learn to tell a story by stringing Portuguese words into sentences using the correct word order, which is similar to English grammar.

Indirect Questions

If you want to ask a direct question in Portuguese - in other words, a sentence with a question mark at the end - the Portuguese word order is exactly the same as when you make a statement. All you have to do is to raise the intonation at the end to make it sound like a question.

It is important to note that while in English, you need to use a verb at the beginning of the sentence when you ask a question, it is not necessary to do so in Portuguese.

So, when you are transferring your thoughts from English to Portuguese, try to imagine that you could ask questions in English, but without the words "do", or "are" or "will", etc. at the beginning of a question.

For example, in English you would say " Are you (gentlemen) going to schedule a meeting for tomorrow?" In Portuguese, you would say "Os senhores vão marcar a reunião para amanhã?". You start your question with the verb right away, and, to reiterate, inflect at the end of the sentence to make the statement a question.

Let's look at the statements above as examples of questions here:
Subject Verb Object Prep. Phrase
Portuguese Nós lemos um livro na praia?

English Do we read a book at the beach?

Portuguese Ele tem uma casa no Rio de Janeiro?

English Does he have a house in Rio de Janeiro?

Portuguese Eu comer salmão para o almoço?

English Do I eat salmon for lunch?

As you can see, the sentence is the same in Portuguese, whereas in English, we add a verb at the beginning of the sentence to turn the statement into an indirect question. Just don't forget to raise the intonation at the end to make it sound like a question when you are speaking.

Direct Questions

If you want to ask a direct question in Portuguese - or, express a statement that contains a question word in the beginning and a question mark at the end - all you need is to use a question word in the beginning of the statement, and follow it with a statement. Question words are words such as what, where, who, etc.

Does that seem confusing? Let's look at the same sentences we have been using as examples, but let's turn them into direct questions. Take a look:
Subject Verb Object
Portuguese Onde Nós lemos o livro?

English Where do we read the book?

Portuguese Por que Ele tem uma casa?

English Why does he have a house?

Portuguese Como faço para comer salmão?

English How do I eat salmon?

The sentence structure basically remains the same, except you add a question word before the statement, and make sure to raise the intonation at the end of the sentence when speaking. That part is the same!

Now, if your statement is a negative...

Negative statements or sentences

If the sentence you want to express is a negative statement, as in a statement where you disagree with or deny something, such as, "I do not like salmon" - "Eu não gosto de salmão" - you must place the negative word before the verb for the correct word order as per the rules of Portuguese grammar.

Negative words in Portuguese are typically não (no, don't), nunca (never), nem (nor).

The word order for negative statements remains the same: Subject, Verb, Object. You are just inserting the word before the verb to indicate the statement is a negative.

Let's look at the following examples:
Subject Verb Object/Prep. Phrase
Portuguese Não estamos lendo o livro.

English We are not reading the book.

Portuguese Nós não vamos para a praia.

English We are not going to the beach.

Portuguese Eu não estou comendo salmão.

English I am not eating salmon.

Pretty straight forward, yes? Incorporating language learning methods can also help make learning Portuguese grammar easier.

Now, for the final step in building sentences in Portuguese, let's look at how we express a descriptive sentence - or a statement with an adjective.

Sentences That Contain Descriptions

There is a difference in the word order of sentences between English and Portuguese when including an adjective (or adjectives) in a statemtent: In Portuguese, the descriptive word (or adjective) must be placed after the noun at all times.

In English, the adjective is typically placed before the noun, as in "She has a red car."

In Portuguese, the same statement would read, "Ela tem um carro vermelho."

Let's take a look at examples using more than one adjective in a sentence:
Subject + Adjective 1 Verb Adjective 2
Portuguese A casa vermelha é grande.

English The red house is large.

Portuguese O pequeno cão está feliz.

English The small dog is happy.

Portuguese A garota alta é bonita.

The tall girl The tall girl is beautiful.

Practice, practice, practice!

Now that you understand the basics of Portuguese grammar and word order, you can practice writing and speaking each of the five different types of sentences covered.

Review the steps to make sure you are using the correct word order, write sentences, and speak them aloud. The more you practice, the easier forming your thoughts in Portuguese will become.

Incorporating language learning methods can also help to make learning Portuguese grammar faster and easier. Give it a try!

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Do you want to learn Portuguese, but not sure where to start? Try by learning Portuguese grammar with a step by step approach. While learning vocabulary and pronunciation is essential to learning any language, becoming familiar with the rules of grammar will help you learn to speak the language.

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Eu ainda tenho dificuldades com as conjunções no português. Pode ser porque algumas sāo diferentes ao espanhol. Pode ser porque normalmente posso usar o contexto para entender a oraçāo sem memorizar o significado das palavras.

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17 Conjunctions (Conjunções) Inglês - Palavras brasileiros / English - Brazilian (Aprendendo Inglês)

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Nesse video aprendemos sobre as orações subordinadas substantivas. Existem varios tipos de frases nas orações. As subordinadas nāo possam existir independentemente. Nāo tem o sujeito e o predicado.

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Amo a esse video. O professor tem mais videos sobre gramatica e preposicoes. Esse video é uma parodia dum clip que conheco. É uma lista de preposiçoes comuns que conectam oracões. Com preposiçoes o que temos que repasar são os verbos que precisam preposicoes particulares.

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♫ Show das Preposições ♫ [Prof. Noslen]

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Issa canção é uma maneira divertida de aprender sobre os verbos irregulares no português. O professor canta sobre umas reglas sobre verbos, quando mudar o radical e quando não temos que mudar o radical. Também mostra para nós as conjugações de alguns verbos particulares.

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Verbos regulares e irregulares - Suite 14 - Henrique e Diego - Paródias Pedagógicas - ProAlex

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Nesse video vemos as reglas para formas plurais dos substantivos. Tem bons exemplos e graficos. Quando não temos hifens só precisamos fazer plural a última palavra. Quando sim temos hifens depende de que tipo de palavras estamos combinando (subistantivos, adjetivos, numeros)

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PLURAL DOS SUBSTANTIVOS COMPOSTOS [BÁSICO]

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No português como em muitos linguagems os sustantivos têm gênero. Quando falamos de pessoas o de professoes por exemplo pode ser melhor neutralizar os sustantivos para não ter que associar um gênero ou outro com pessoas e ideias. No espanhol as pessoas começaram a usar arroba (@) or x em ves de -a ou -o as finais das palavras. Existem metodologias similares no português.

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Para complementar um dos pontos do artigo, que trata da acessibilidade de textos que utilizam "X", "@" e outros marcadores, gostaríamos de lembrar que pessoas com as mais variadas dificuldades de leitura e processamento de dados visuais também acabam não podendo ler e compreender esses textos, assim como no caso de pessoas que necessitam de leitores de tela. Uma experiência visual interessante e instrutiva para pessoas não-disléxicas pode ser esta página: https://geon.github.io/programming/2016/03/03/dsxyliea. A partir dos relatos de uma amiga disléxica, uma pessoa resolveu tentar mostrar como pessoas na mesma condição se relacionam visualmente com textos; é necessária uma dose considerável de foco e esforço para qualquer leitura, e o uso de "X" e outras coisas certamente dificulta ainda mais a vida dessas pessoas.

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Sobre esta proposta(Quando aqui falo do "X", estou falando de construções como "todxs", "meninxs", "queridx", "bonitx". Embora eu vá me focar no X, porque é o mais utilizado, o mesmo vale para outras utilizações como @, *, entre outras.)
Desde que escrevi esse texto, o que faz um bocado de tempo, muitas pessoas reagiram de diversas formas. Uma boa parte, muito apegada à gramática, não gostou nenhum pouco da proposta porque ela realmente propõe alterações que brincam com o que hoje se considera "certo" ou a maneira "adequada" de falar. Obviamente, ao propor novas formas de fazer linguagem uma pessoa estará rompendo com uma determinada norma. Nunca foi minha intenção trabalhar dentro dos limites da gramática normativa.

Entendemos que muitas pessoas simplesmente não querem se dar ao trabalho. Este é um caso para ser julgado entre os indivíduos. Se você não gostaria de fazer um esforço por outra pessoa, é uma questão ética entre você e o restante da sociedade. Muitas vezes na vida tomamos a decisão de não nos importarmos. Uma pessoa possui certas questões da construção da identidade dela, da forma como ela está tentando se entender, que requerem esforço da parte dos outros. Quando esta solidariedade é suprimida, resta a marginalização daquela pessoa na direção de ter de se guetificar junto com as outras que são como elas, que é o que costuma acontecer com as pessoas trans no geral, seja por não quererem lhes tratar de forma neutra ou por insistirem em dizer ele onde seria ela ou ela onde seria ele.

A linguagem neutra é uma ferramenta para universalizar a possibilidade de superar esta questão de forma que resolva a questão, ela não é uma imposição moral. A imposição moral está nas demandas que fazemos enquanto um povo, e existe hoje a demanda para que as pessoas trans sejam respeitadas e consideradas sujeitos de sua própria liberdade, autonomia e identidade. Muitas pessoas no caminho não irão se dispor a ajudar, e algumas irão se dispor apenas parcialmente. No grosso, é raro que as pessoas se adequem bem à linguagem neutra a não ser que elas consigam entender isto como um exercício calmo, paciente. Isto envolve muitas irritações no processo de aprendizagem porque as pessoas não estão acostumadas a se importar com estas questões.

A linguagem neutra não é um exercício constante, o exercício está em aprendê-la, dispor-se a tentar, e não em exercê-la. A linguagem neutra não é mais difícil do que aprender qualquer outra forma de falar, ela basta ser aprendida, e então poderá ser usada fluentemente. Ela é um conjunto curto e muito rápido de entender, basta desenvolver a prática, o costume. Mas por mais simples e fácil que se torne depois que a pessoa efetivamente tenta, o processo de tentar acompanha um certo desprezo, um certo desdém pela proposta. Nesse sentido a grande maioria das pessoas desistem de serem tratadas de forma neutra. Assim cria-se o conceito da "fase".

Nós chamamos de "fase" muitas coisas que, através da pressão social, forçamos as pessoas a abandonarem. Por exemplo, uma identidade feminina, que uma pessoa adota, e depois de um tempo volta a apresentar-se da forma como era antes. A isto muitas vezes não se deve simplesmente o fato de "passou" ou "foi uma fase", mas que foi insuportável tentar, e que foi mais fácil desistir. Nós constantemente desistimos daquilo que queríamos por causa das dificuldades. Não é difícil com pessoas que possuem maiores ambições na construção de suas identidades, que ousam querer ser algo considerado pela maioria como absurdo, irracional, anti-científico.

Eu já pedi às pessoas que me tratassem de forma neutra, depois pedi que o fizessem no feminino, hoje em dia digo-lhes que tanto faz, que façam como preferirem. Acaba que a pessoa não consegue se sentir confortável com nada, e perdura um sentimento constante de alienação em relação ao gênero e todas as suas categorias. O acesso negado a todas elas. A incompatibilidade com qualquer coisa. É um fato de uma sociedade onde nossos potenciais estão extremamente castrados. As pessoas não participam desse sistema por má fé, não negam o tratamento neutro porque querem o pior (ao menos não todas), mas elas acabam executando esta ordem, a ordem de manter as bases do nosso mundo, assim como nós o conhecemos, exatamente como estão.

Para aprender linguagem neutra e usá-la basta querer. Ela é útil por diversos motivos. Se você não gostaria de usá-la, você pode usar o X ou pode falar como preferir. A questão é que neste processo você estará decidindo se afastar de um determinado grupo de pessoas, e que estas pessoas estão extremamente isoladas devido à decisão constante da maioria de fazer isso. Através deste mecanismo não só as pessoas trans estão excluídas, no desemprego, nos modernos circos dos horrores da mídia de massa, mas todo o povo oprimido. Tem a ver com a forma como a cultura e a opressão exercida pelas elites se atravessa e molda nossa visão de mundo. Quanto mais solidariedade, maior será o poder do povo. Venha de onde vier.
Peculiaridades das pessoas não-binárias
Pessoas trans* frequentemente possuem preferências por formas de se falar que estão desalinhadas com aquela designada a elas. Na maioria, mulheres trans* preferirão serem tratadas no feminino, homens trans* no masculino e muitas pessoas não-binárias de forma neutra, ou no masculino ou feminino de forma alinhada ou não à designada a elas no nascimento.

Nos três problemas enumerados acima, podemos notar que as pessoas trans* não-binárias possuem peculiaridades ao lidar com todos eles.

Em (1), não existe uma passabilidade para pessoas não-binárias. Nunca aparentam-se não-binárias porque ninguém jamais presumirá, ao olhar para como se vestem, falam, isto é, "como são" que não são "nenhum dos dois". Sempre será presumido que uma pessoa é homem ou mulher. Desta forma, é virtualmente impossível que alguém "acerte" estas marcações, exceto nas raras vezes que o fizerem não porque percebem serem pessoas não-binárias, mas porque não conseguem decidir se as encaixam como homens ou como mulheres. Dessa forma, estarão sempre à margem das soluções que indicam às pessoas que simplesmente "chutem" de acordo com como a pessoa se apresenta.

Desde a publicação deste texto originalmente, foi levantado que algumas pessoas podem ser dar a entender serem não-binárias pela sua aparência. Este entendimento é falso, faz sentido somente ao observador. Androginia não é sinônimo de não-binariedade, uma pessoa cis (que não é trans) pode muito bem ser extremamente andrógina e uma pessoa trans pode muito bem aparentar ser do gênero considerado "oposto" ao dela, bem como pode ser andrógina também.[1]

Em (2), não existe nenhum país no mundo onde pessoas não-binárias possam efetivamente, de forma regulamentada, serem reconhecidas em seus documentos. É muito mais complicado que uma pessoa não-binária consiga ser reconhecida nas burocracias do Estado, das instituições, de universidades, empregos, etc como completamente fora das opções do que como uma delas, ainda que essa posição seja contestada. Frequentemente o caso é não o de quem é expulso de uma categoria, mas o de quem não possui uma categoria.

Algumas pessoas levantaram que há países no mundo onde isto é sim possível. Estou ciente destas notícias e agradeço se alguém quiser encaminhar-me quaisquer novas notícias, mas se você ler o acima disposto verá que não, não há país no mundo onde as pessoas trans não-binárias possam de forma regulamentada e desburocratizada fazer isso. Assim como no Brasil isto não é realidade nem para homens e mulheres trans. Precisar da aprovação de um juiz ou de um parecer médico não é satisfatório.

Em (3), os gêneros das pessoas não-binárias costumam ser muito mais difíceis de explicar às pessoas, de forma que "não ser", "ser nenhum dos dois", ou ser qualquer um deles de forma não-normativa (bigênera, multigênera, pangênera, etc) será algo encarado como uma invenção, uma tolice, etc, porque estas experiências são apagadas, e estão sempre na margem. É certamente mais complicado explicar a alguém que você não é nem homem, nem mulher do que explicar que você é homem ou mulher, apesar de não assim terem te designado no nascimento.

Estas dificuldades demonstram no geral como o sistema está orientado no sentido de preservar uma estrutura rígida, de dois gêneros. Todas as práticas que retornam a estas afirmações são dificuldades encaradas porque organizamos o mundo ao redor destas duas categorias.

Por todos esses motivos, é importante perceber que construções neutras de gênero são importantes para tornar o mundo mais vivível às pessoas trans* não-binárias, e que elas ocupam um local importante nesta discussão sobre neutralidade e sobre o uso da linguagem demarcada. Em nossos cotidianos, as marcações de gênero e as tentativas de torná-las neutras ou melhores frequentemente falham nesse quesito específico, como em "todas e todos", "homens e mulheres", "senhoras e senhores", "masculino e feminino", "todos/as", "srs(as)" etc.

Se você recebeu esse texto de uma pessoa não-binária que queria que você aprendesse como referir-se a ela: por favor, tenha empatia e não trate isto tudo com leviandade. Isto é importante e são pouquíssimas as pessoas que realmente se importam. Tente ao máximo que conseguir, não se acanhe em parar no meio da frase e pensar ou pedir ajuda, aprenda junto com a pessoa e aos poucos você pegará o costume e falará naturalmente com ela. Não é um bicho de sete cabeças e conjuntamente é possível que consigam aprender cada vez melhor.
Por que abandonar o X?

1. O X não é acessível para leitores de tela. Pessoas com deficiência visual não conseguirão fazer programas de leitura de tela pronunciarem corretamente o texto.

2. O X não torna as coisas mais fáceis de entender. Quanto mais simples e direta for a nossa linguagem, melhor poderemos nos fazer entender Quando a intenção é fazer textos fáceis e didáticos, o X pode ser um constante entrave para quem está lendo.

3. O X não é pronunciável. Nós não podemos, em voz alta, usar o X. Isso é problemático especialmente para pessoas trans* não-binárias, para quem essa vocalidade é necessária no dia-a-dia.

4. O X não transformará a linguagem. Se o X é restrito à língua escrita, então ele não irá alterar a forma como falamos! Isso significa que ele não influenciará como, no dia-a-dia, nos referimos às pessoas, e que no fim das contas, ele não alterará nem a linguagem escrita, perpetuando-a como binária, e a forma neutra como restrita a determinados contextos "feministas", "lgbt", "trans", "de esquerda".

Como falar de forma neutra sem o uso do X? Tenha calma e aprenda no processo
Não pense que você vai ler o que está descrito abaixo e pegar o jeito de uma hora para a outra. Conforme você se pegar no meio das frases, conversar com a pessoa, se você e ela se ajudarem, a linguagem neutra vai se tornando hábito. Pense nos exemplos abaixo como formas de começar e de elaborar, e construa a linguagem neutra de forma natural.

Junto com a outra pessoa, vá falando de forma neutra, se deixe corrigir sem estresse quando necessário, e aos poucos aprenderá a falar de forma neutra. É uma questão de prática.
Utilize generosamente termos neutros como "pessoa", "indivíduo", etc. para retirar o gênero marcado diretamente. Coloquialmente, qualquer palavra serve.
Ela partiu > A pessoa partiu / essa pessoa partiu

A casa dela > A casa da pessoa

Todas as presentes > Todas as pessoas presentes

Quantas temos aqui? > Quantas pessoas temos aqui?

As presentes cujas bolsas ficaram no jardim > As pessoas presentes cujas bolsas ficaram no jardim

Boa tarde a todas > Boa tarde a todas as pessoas / boa tarde a vocês / boa tarde

Elas avançaram na competição > As pessoas (ou "estas pessoas") avançaram na competição

Ele nunca vai embora > Essa pessoa nunca vai embora

Sua namorada > A pessoa com quem você namora / A pessoa que namora com você

Minha > A pessoa minha irmã

Minha irmã > A pessoa minha irmã

Tua irmã > A pessoa sua irmã / A pessoa que é sua irmã

Nossa irmã > A pessoa nossa irmã
(Nota: O português provavelmente não oferece uma forma melhor de fazer isso com palavras como a acima. O que podemos fazer é literalmente sugerir a desgenerificação ao propor que "irmã" se refere a "pessoa". Como a construção não é usual, ela já impõe um motivo.)
Aquelas que ganharam estão liberadas para ir > Quem ganhou pode ir / Aquelas pessoas que ganharam estão liberadas para ir
Ao invés de usar um pronome, repita o nome ou suprima o pronome (melhor)
Ariel estava aqui ontem e desde então ela foi embora > Ariel estava aqui ontem e deste então Ariel foi embora / e desde então foi embora

Se eu quisesse ficar com Ariel, teria dito a ela > Se eu quisesse ficar com Ariel, teria dito a Ariel / teria lhe dito

A casa dela > A casa de Ariel

O Rio a inspira profissionalmente > O Rio inspira Ariel profissionalmente
Suprima artigos e pronomes desnecessários
A Ariel > Ariel

com a Ariel > com Ariel

Ela partiu > Ariel partiu

Eu fiquei com a Ariel > Eu fiquei com Ariel

Como pintora ela conquistou muito dinheiro > Pintando, conquistou muito dinheiro

Logo ela explicará seus motivos > Logo explicará seus motivos / Logo Ariel explicará seus motivos
Prefira alternativas neutras como "de" (ao invés de da/do) e "lhe" (ao invés de a/o)
da Ariel > de Ariel

Essa carteira é da Ariel > Essa carteira é de Ariel

Se eu quisesse ficar com Ariel, teria dito a ela > Se eu quisesse ficar com Ariel, teria lhe dito

A casa da Ariel > A casa de Ariel
Utilizar a voz passiva e o gerúndio, entre outras mudanças, são formas interessantes de desgenerificar. Do manual para uso não-sexista da linguagem:

"S. Semântico: Todos os trabalhadores poderão ir ao jantar com as suas esposas
Alternativa: O pessoal poderá ir ao jantar acompanhado.
S. Semântico: Os estudantes não poderão receber visitas femininas nos
dormitórios.
Alternativa: Não se permitem visitas nos dormitórios

[...]

Por exemplo, podemos dizer: O nível de vida em São Paulo é bom
Em lugar de: Os paulistanos têm um bom nível de vida
Podemos dizer: O pessoal docente da Universidade protestou por...
Em lugar de: Os professores da Universidade protestaram por..."

Mude a estrutura dos verbos na frase:
Você é muito requisitada? > Te requisitam muito?

Você está toda molhada > Você se molhou totalmente

Você está cansada? > Você se cansou?

Você é baiana? > Você é da Bahia?

Você está linda > Você está uma pessoa linda / Que lindeza você está / Sua roupa está linda / Seu corpo é lindo

Você está registrada > Eu te registrei / seu registro está feito
Manual para uso não sexista da linguagem
Para uma referência mais extensiva sobre linguagem neutra em português, recomendo o material "Manual para o uso não sexista da linguagem", de Paki Venegas Franco e Julia Pérez Cervera pela UNIFEM. Clique para baixá-lo. O manual deve ser lido com um olhar crítico, possui passagens onde faz abordagens teóricas sobre gênero que talvez não sejam as mais adequadas, mas pragmaticamente falando tem um bocado de exemplos e dicas úteis.
Notas:
[1]. A variedade de configurações possíveis no fim transforma o próprio conceito de "passabilidade" em algo muito limitado. A questão não é como nos veem, mas principalmente como nos tratam. Configurar-se como sujeito de uma opressão na sociedade não tem a ver simplesmente com te verem de uma determinada forma (como começamos a pensar se nos deixamos levar muito pela política identitária, quer ela se pretenda "feminista radical" ou não), mas como suas condições te forçam e limitam no sentido de como você vai conseguir ser visto. Neste sentido por exemplo a passabilidade muitas vezes é mediada pela classe. As opressões não existem separadamente, os sujeitos não são oprimidos por isto ou por aquilo, os sujeitos são oprimidos porque são entendidos como sujeitos a se oprimir. Delimitar um determinado "motivo" (por exemplo, "ser lido como homem", "ter sido socializado como homem") sem se perguntar sobre o sem-número de outras questões que marginalizam, segregam e matam alguém no máximo será capaz de criar correntes de pensamento e militância política que, fadadas a serem só isto, correntes políticas sectárias, no serão um fardo a ser arrastado por motores mais transformadores que visem realmente enfrentar as formas de marginalização, todas elas, que incidem sobre as pessoas.
Texto retirado de: https://naobinario.wordpress.com/2014/11/01/deixando-o-x-para-tras-na-linguagem-neutra-de-genero/

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"Deixando o X para trás na linguagem neutra de gênero", por Juno

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Para complementar um dos pontos do artigo, que trata da acessibilidade de textos que utilizam "X", "@" e outros marcadores, gostaríamos de lembrar que pessoas com as mais variadas dificuldades de leitura e processamento de dados visuais também acabam não podendo ler e compreender esses textos, assim como no caso de pessoas que necessitam de leitores de tela.

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Esse diccionario têm uma parte de pronuncia fonética. Como discutimos na aula, não existe uma transcrição oficial das palavras. Por isso tenho que ler o dicionário com cuidado porque há tantas maneiras de pronunciar palavras.

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O Portal da Língua Portuguesa é um repositório organizado de recursos linguísticos. Pretende ser orientado tanto para o público em geral como para a comunidade científica, servindo de apoio a quem trabalha com a língua portuguesa e a todos os que têm interesse ou dúvidas sobre o seu funcionamento.

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Estava confundida com o concepto de "minimal pairs". Achei esse site com exemplos de "minimal pairs" em inglês. Agora tenho uma melhor ideia da relação entre essas palavras.

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*Abbreviation for International Phonetic Alphabet ~ Voices are those of Nicola Smyth, to whom we extend our grateful thanks, and Tim Bowyer

Copyright 2000-2012 © Tim Bowyer - All rights reserved - U.S. Patent No. 20040162719

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Ship or Sheep : minimal pair ESL pronunciation practice - free online

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Shiporsheep.com teaches British English pronunciation with minimal pairs, providing free online pronunciation and elocution lessons for ESL learners and for accent reduction.

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Para nós, falantes de inglês e espanhol, as vogais nasais são muito muito difíceis. Essa pagina está escrita particularmente para nós. Têm exemplos e descrições de tudo uso de vogais nasais. O autor é um treinador de línguas para estrangeiros aprendendo o português. Vou ler isso outra vez quando não estou segura de como dizer algo.

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Today, we have a special guest post from Idahosa Ness. I've been really looking forward to this post because not only has he learned the science behind "language Flow", he's got Portuguese pronunciation down with pretty much 0 accent! Let's welcome him with big, open and Brazilian abraço - take it away Idahosa!
To learn Portuguese and blend in with Brazilians with your accent, you're going to need to master The Flow of Portuguese.

In my language-learning philosophy - The Mimic Method - "The Flow" of a language refers to the sound patterns that underlie its words and phrases. You can learn every word in the dictionary, but if you don't master the flow of Portuguese then you won't be able to converse fluently.

Without a doubt, your biggest challenge with Portuguese flow will be in mastering the nasal vowels. These sounds are not only difficult for most foreigners to articulate correctly, but they also occur all the time in Portuguese speech; so there's no avoiding them.

But not to worry, you can master the portuguese nasal vowels in less than a month with proper training.

Here's the process to Portuguese nasal vowel mastery:

Understand what a nasal vowel is and what it is NOT

Tune your ear to the sound of nasalization

Develop an awareness of your "Velum"

Train your control over the nasalization muscles.

Take the time to understand the diagrams and practice the drills in this post and you will eliminate over half of your foreign accent i n Portuguese and dramatically increase your comprehension and speaking fluency.

Let's get started...

Before we get into what portuguese nasal vowel are, it's important to know what they are NOT and start undoing any bad pronunciation habits you may have.

In general, nasalization refers to the flow of air through your nasal passage. When air passes through your nasal passage, a unique sound is created as the air vibrates within your nasal cavity.

In English, nasalization typically only occurs when any of these nasal consonants sounds are present:

Since these are the only times nasalization occurs in English (and many other languages), we learn to associate the /n/ and /m/ sounds with nasalization in general.

In other words, if nasalization occurs when there is NOT an /n/, /m/ or /ŋ/ present, you will probably hallucinate one.

For example, Portuguese learners often press their lips to make the /m/ sound at the end of the word "sim," or place the tip of their tongue against the back of their gumline to make the /n/ sound in the middle of "gente".

These are incorrect pronunciations - there is no /m/ in "sim" and there is no /n/ in "gente.

Watch a Brazilian's mouth while the say these sounds and you will able to see that their lips don't move for "sim" and the tip of the tongue is at rest for "gente". So if you hear these /m/ and /n/ sounds before, it's because you hallucinated them!

In my experience as a Portuguese accent coach, I identify this replacement of nasal vowels with nasal consonants as the most common pronunciation error of portuguese learners and biggest giveaway of a foreign accent.

You may be wondering how I can say there is no /m/ or /n/ sounds in these words when the written words contain the 'n' and 'm' letters. E ven though you see an 'n' or 'm' written down on papers, that does NOT necessarily mean that the /n/ and /m/ sounds actually occur.
Language does NOT always sound the the same way it's written.
In fact, I recommend people to learn how to speak and understand a language before learning how to read and write it, since visualization of script can seriously distort your perception of sound.

You can learn more about how written word can misguide you in language-learning on my post " The Virtues of Illiteracy." For now, just remember to always trust your ears over your eyes.

Speaking of our ears, let's learn learn how to tune them to the real nasal vowels.

Now that we know what nasal vowels are not, it's time to take a little phonetic crash course to understand what nasal vowels are.

The act of speaking requires the expulsion of air through the mouth, nose, or both at the same time. If you completely block the oral passageway so that air escapes ONLY through your nose, the resulting sound is a "hum".

Usually when we hum, we block airflow out the mouth by pressing our lips together, but I want you to try to hum with your mouth completely open and tongue-tip sticking out past your teeth as I do in the audio file below.

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/91523858%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-iEszp" params="" width=" 100%" height="166″ iframe="true" /]

When you hum with your lips and front of the tongue disengaged, the only way to block the oral passage is by pressing the back of your tongue against your soft palate, or velum.

Fool around with this humming sound and focus on the sensations at the back of your mouth. The goal of this exercise is to mentally localize your velum. It's important to develop an awareness of your velum, as controlling it is the key to mastering the nasal vowels.

The velum is a grouping of soft-tissue at the back of your mouth.

The velum is surrounded by muscle fibers that can pull it back to block the nasal passage when speaking. When you create "oral sounds," you are actively contracting muscles to pull the velar back to block the nasal passage and redirect 100% of the air out your mouth
If you relax these muscles and leave the velum in its rest position, the air will pass through BOTH the nose AND the Mouth. The resulting sound is a nasal vowel. So the trick to the nasal vowels is to relax.
This can be challenging because you are so accustomed to activating these velar muscles all the time when you speak English. Whenever you practice these sounds, know that if you are forcing any sort of exertion, then you are probably doing the opposite of what you need to do.

The name "nasal vowel" can be misleading, as it suggests that air comes out through ONLY the nose. But vowel sounds by definition require air to pass through your mouth, so "nasal vowel" really means "Oral vowel WITH nasalization on top."

If you're an English speaker, you may be surprised to know that we actually do have nasal vowels, depending on the accent and circumstance. Here are a few examples of words where you might actually add some "nasalization on top" of the vowel sound.

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/91522747%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-dSXQ0″ params="" width=" 100%" height="166″ iframe="true" /]

It's important to train your ear to this "nasalization on top" because it plays a major role in Portuguese. For example, the only acoustic difference between the portuguese words "se" (if) and "sim" (yes) is this "nasalization on top:

In the recording below I do the following steps 5 times in a row.

1. I start with a Portuguese oral vowel

2. I then make a humming sound

3. I finally do both sounds at the same time (i.e. articulate a nasal vowel).

If you listen closely to the recording, you should be able to hear that the third sound of each set is indeed a combination of the first two.

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/91522750%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-dSXQ0″ params="" width=" 100%" height="166″ iframe="true" /]

If you are new to Portuguese sounds, there is a good chance you will NOT hear the difference between the oral and nasal sounds at first.

If this is the case for you, I suggest you spend some time listening to this recording repeatedly, as these are actually the 5 nasal vowel sounds of Brazilian Portuguese. Once you have acclimated your ear to these sounds, you can then focus on creating them with your mouth.

The best way to learn how to pronounce the Portuguese nasal vowels is to start with their "oral equivalents."

To take a step back in our Phonetics crash-course, the main thing that distinguishes one vowel sound from the next is the position of your tongue in the mouth.

For example, the /a/ vowel has a lower tongue position than the /u/ vowel. Alternate between the sounds "AAAAH" and the sound "OOOO" and you will notice your tongue moving up and down between the two.
If you remove the nasalization from a given nasal vowel while keeping the same tongue position, you get its "oral equivalent".
For example, if I take the /õ/ vowel and block the nasal airflow with my velum without moving my tongue, I get its oral equivalent - /o/.
Conversely, if you add nasalization to a given oral vowel while keeping the same tongue position, you get its "nasal equivalent.
This is very helpful for learning these new nasal vowels. If I am having trouble getting the /õ/ vowel, I can start with the much more familiar /o/ and then focus on adding nasalization WITHOUT changing the position of my tongue at all.

This type of reverse-vowel-engineering will help you manually tune your Portuguese nasal vowel sounds while you're still building the muscle memory to articulate them without thinking.

In the recordings below, I alternate between each nasal vowel and its oral equivalent. Remember that when doing this, I am keeping the tongue completely still while contracting and relaxing my velar muscles.

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/91522742%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-dSXQ0″ params="" width=" 100%" height="166″ iframe="true" /]

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/91522745%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-dSXQ0″ params="" width=" 100%" height="166″ iframe="true" /]

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/91522744%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-dSXQ0″ params="" width=" 100%" height="166″ iframe="true" /]

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/91522756%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-dSXQ0″ params="" width=" 100%" height="166″ iframe="true" /]

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/91522749%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-dSXQ0″ params="" width=" 100%" height="166″ iframe="true" /]

The same theory applies to the nasal diphthongs as well (Dipthongs are when you combine two vowel sounds in the same syllable). Listen to the recording below and try to mimic me if you can.

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/91522748%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-dSXQ0″ params="" width=" 100%" height="166″ iframe="true" /]

The most challenging aspect of nasalization in Portuguese is the frequency that you must alternate between oral and nasal in normal speech.

Take this phrase for example: "A gente não vai continuar de cozinhar os pãozinhos"

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/91522752%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-dSXQ0″ params="" width=" 100%" height="166″ iframe="true" /]

In the 3 seconds it took me to say this sentence, I had to alternate between nasal and oral ten times. That means I'm doing an average of 200 fine motor contractions/relaxations of the velum per minute on average when speaking Portuguese!
To make such fast, fine motor movements, you will need to develop a solid control over your velar muscles.
I wasn't born with this control - I had to train it. I personally train my foreign language motor skills by learning and repeatedly singing songs in the language with a perfect accent. This is what I train my students in with my Flow Series courses.

Aside from song-training, however, you can specifically train velar muscle control through targeted speech therapy drills.

The first drill I do is the "Double-Time Drill". In this drill, you take each oral-nasal pair and alternate between them at a slow and steady beat. Then, you double the speed and try to maintain the clear distinction. Then you double it again. Finally, you work your way back down to the original slow pace.

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/91522743%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-dSXQ0″ params="" width=" 100%" height="166″ iframe="true" /]

The second drill is called "The Rally Drill" and its purpose is to increase my maximum speed. The goal is to be able to do this alternation way faster than you'll ever need to in normal speech so that in comparison the normal rate will seem slow and easy.

This drill also starts by alternating slowly between the nasal and oral equivalents, but instead of keeping a steady pace, you want to gradually increase the speed until you reach your max, then maintain it as long as you can until you start to mess up.

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/91522755%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-dSXQ0″ params="" width=" 100%" height="166″ iframe="true" /]

The purpose of the Double time and Rally drills is to develop your core command of the velum. But these sound combinations never occur in Portuguese, so it's good to have some real life portuguese words to practice these nasal/oral alternation.

Here are a few words to practice with. When you're bored, practice saying them over and over again as fast as you can and this will also develop your velar control:

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/91522746%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-dSXQ0″ params="" width=" 100%" height="166″ iframe="true" /]

You might feel silly doing speech therapy drills like these, but if you take them seriously now, you will rapidly accelerate your Portuguese acquisition.

The biggest determinant of how quickly and fully you learn a language will be your mastery of the Flow.

If you try to learn the flow passively while you learn vocabulary and expressions, the entire process will be slowed down. Many learners can achieve a decent flow mastery after a long period of exposure and experience with the language, but most do not learn it at all and end up hitting a ceiling early one.

If you know a lot of Portuguese vocab but still struggle to understand Brazilians when they talk fast, then you have a Flow problem

If you know all the portuguese grammar rules but still trip over every other word when you speak, then your problem is with the flow.

It personally took me a month to develop a strong command of the flow of Portuguese, and I did it before before studying a single vocabulary or grammar concept. Then when I got to Brazil, I was able to achieve conversational fluency within 3 weeks just by mimicking and interacting with people as much as possible.

By the end of my second month, I was alright able to trick brazilians into thinking I was a native (though the afro helps).

If you're interested in learning more about Flow, then I strongly recommend you sign up for my free e-course - Flow 101 (click here to learn more). In it, you will learn all the basics of phonetics and how to train your ability to hear and produce the sounds of Portuguese or any other language you may wish to study.

I also recommend checking out The Mimic Method Flow Blog and T he Mimic Method Youtube Channel for regular tips on Flow-Training and Language-Learning. You'll enjoy this post on How I found my Portuguese Spirit-Guide in Brazilian singer Seu Jorge.

Thanks for reading - and keep on flowin!

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How to Master the Brazilian Portuguese Nasal Vowels

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Today, we have a special guest post from Idahosa Ness. I've been really looking forward to this post because not only has he learned the science behind "language Flow", he's got Portuguese pronunciation down with pretty much 0 accent! Let's welcome him with big, open and Brazilian abraço - take it away Idahosa!

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Esse vídeo é uma introdução à fonética portuguesa com exemplos comuns. O que é útil para mim são os desenhos das partes da boca que prodcumen os sons. Como aprendimos as partes da fonética no livro e na aula com desenhos similares.

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Portuguese Pronunciation, Video 1: Portuguese Phonetics and Spelling

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Achei interessante ver porque razões oficiais as pessoas estudam o português. Otra vez vejo a explicação de que seria interessante aprender o português soó para poder ter uma "língua secreta" é que um deve escolher uma língua menos popular para estudar. Não pensei nisso antes e não acho que é uma justificação suficiente para estudar uma língua.

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Reason 1: The language is gorgeous!

Is there a better reason to learn a language than for pure pleasure? The Portuguese language, especially as it's spoken in Brazil, is possibly the most mellifluous, honey-smooth mode of communication on Earth. It simply sounds like music and is a joy to listen to, but it's an even greater pleasure when you can also understand and take part in the sonorous, lilting song that is the Portuguese language. No wonder Portugal and Brazil have such rich musical traditions. Fado, Bossa Nova, Choro, Tropicália, Samba ... the music is a great entry point into the language, and singing along is a very good way to improve your listening and pronunciation skills.

The beauty of the language is also evidenced in Portuguese and Brazilian literature: notably José Saramago and Fernando Pessoa in Portugal; Jorge Amado, Clarice Lispector, Hilda Hilst and João Guimarães Rosa in Brazil.

Reason 2: 215 million people can't be wrong!

Portuguese is the sixth most spoken language worldwide, with 215 million native speakers - mostly in Portugal and Brazil, but also in several African countries. There are also almost a million native-Portuguese speakers in the USA.

Reason 3: To have a "secret" language advantage

Despite the high number of native speakers, few people choose to learn Portuguese as a second language (compared to other global languages like Spanish and English) - only 35 million people worldwide. But this lack of interest in Portuguese is a lucrative opportunity for the clever few who choose to learn it. By learning the language, you will be setting yourself apart from everyone else wanting to bolster their CVs and improve their job prospects with more popular languages.

And there couldn't be a better time to capitalize on this shortage of non-native Portuguese speakers. In the past decade, the Brazilian economy has skyrocketed to become the seventh largest economy in the world. The country is finally being recognized as an economic powerhouse to contend with, and it's predicted to become one of the five largest economies in the next twenty years. Now is great time to do business in Brazil, and speaking Portuguese will give you a big advantage over competitors.

Reason 4: To visit Brazil (and maybe even stay)

But all work and no play would be a waste of your newly-acquired language skills. You know that picture you have in your mind when you close your eyes and think of a tropical paradise? Yeah, that picture was probably taken in Brazil.

Anyone can go to Brazil and sit on one of its world-class beaches for a week (there are 7,000 km of beaches, so you certainly won't get bored), but would you rather hang in a boteco, drinking cervejas estupidamente geladas with your new Brazilian friends until the sun comes up? Speaking at least some basic Portuguese will allow you to access the real culture that is out of reach to monolingual tourists. And as we pointed out in reason #3, plenty of visitors to Brazil aren't satisfied by a short stay. The opportunities to live and work in Brazil grow along with its booming economy.

Reason 5: It's your gateway to all the other Romance languages

Understanding Portuguese has a knock-on effect when starting to learn any other Romance language like Spanish, Italian, French and Romanian. Knowledge of one makes it much easier to pick up any of the others, since they all evolved from Latin and still share grammar and syntax, and have lots of similar vocabulary.

To put it another way, can you think of one good reason not to learn Portuguese?

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Is there a better reason to learn a language than for pure pleasure? The Portuguese language, especially as it's spoken in Brazil, is possibly the most mellifluous, honey-smooth mode of communication on Earth.

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Na descrição desse vídeo disse que um bom motivo para aprender o Papiamentu é que pode ser uma língua secreta entre você e os seus amigos. Isso é interessante é que poucas pessoas falam o Papiamentu. As cinco palavras que aprendi nesse vídeo são 1. dushi=dolce 2. zjeito=/ jeito 3. bula = saltar 4. choka mata = longe 5. chanbon = não é justo

Dessas 5 palavras só uma parece muito ao português.

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Papiamentu 101: Five Awesome Words!! and how to use them

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Being able to speak Papiamentu has many advantages when living in countries outside the Antilles, it's pretty much your own secret language. But it's also a very beautiful and unique language, both in its origins and its spoken word. We asked on Facebook for some favorite words and we got a BUTT TON of awesome examples.

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Aqui têm o mapa do mundo lusófono. O que gosto desse mapa é que não pretende dizer que o português é falado por todo o mundo com igual importância o que é a língua mais falada em 17 países. Esse mapa nos ayuda a visualizar a importancia relativa da língua hoje em dia. Ilustra as línguas criolas e cidades onde o portuguê só é falado por uma minoria de pessoas.
http://portugues.uol.com.br/gramatica/mundo-lusofono.html

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Uma conversa entre o Galego e o Português

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Uma conversa entre o Galego e o Português

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Achei uma conversa entre uma mulher de Galicia e um homem brasileiro. Mostra que tão parecidos são as duas línguas. Eles podem comunicar bem mas há algumas diferenças culturais e de vocabulário. Estou de acordo com o Professor Kelm, que o galego é mais similar a português de Portugal que o português de Brasil. Para mim é impressionante.

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Comedia - Diferenzas/Diferenças entre o galego e o portugués/português brasileiro

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Conversa 1 de chibi iasumiña e chibi mautrinho. Ligazón ao blog: http://aprendegallego.blogspot.com.es/2012/09/comedia-diferenzasdiferencas-entre-o.html Este vídeo trata de xeito divertido algunhas das diferenzas do galego e do portugués. Se ten éxito e vos gusta subireimos máis e mellor realizados! Sempre mellorando, ho!