# data[].attributes.body
Normalmente, quase sempre troco de código quando falo com meus amigos e familiares. Ao ler o que outras pessoas escreveram sobre suas razões para a troca de código, acho fascinante poder me relacionar com as razões dessas pessoas. Troco de código porque, às vezes, uma frase em outro idioma é diferente do inglês e vice-versa. Às vezes esqueço as palavras e uso outro idioma para preencher o espaço. Às vezes, quero ter uma conversa muito particular com um amigo em comum e falar espanhol para que um grupo de americanos não escute. Há tantas ocasiões que nos permitem trocar de código de maneira eficiente, sem que percebamos, e acho isso legal.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Monday, April 8, marked the launch of Code Switch, our new blog covering race, ethnicity and culture. To commemorate the blog's launch, all week we solicited stories about code-switching - the practice of shifting the languages you use or the way you express yourself in your conversations.

People sent us hundreds of stories illustrating the many ways we code-switch and the many reasons for doing it. Five of those motivations came up again and again in the stories we read:

Eventually, I started code-switch-screaming English profanities.

1) Our lizard brains take over: The most common examples of code-switching were completely inadvertent; folks would slip into a different language or accent without even realizing it or intending to do it. One such story came from Lisa Okamoto, who told us she was born and raised in Los Angeles by two parents from Japan, a place she's visited all her life. This trip was particularly memorable (warning, profanity euphemisms ahead):

If you ever watched the original Ring movie, I think you will understand this: the Japanese take horror stories pretty seriously, but in a very creepy quiet way. I find Japanese horror movies and haunted houses to be ten times scarier than the American counter-part.

I went back to Japan with a friend during the summer of 2009, the height of haunted house season in Japan. (The Japanese have this concept that the summertime is the best time to tell scary stories, because the chill you feel from fright will cool you down during the humid months.) My friend loves scary stories, and she wanted to go into a haunted maze when we were visiting Yokohama. I protested and protested but eventually she convinced me to go through the haunted maze, instead of making her go through it alone.

The premise of the haunted maze was the following: The setting was a haunted middle school, where a little girl named Mi-chan died a tragic death. She died so suddenly that she didn't properly enter the after world, and her spirit was still lingering at the school. You were supposed to go through this maze with an amulet, find Mi-chan, and place it on her so that she can properly enter the afterlife.

We were handed a flashlight and an amulet prop, and entered into the maze. I already knew I was getting myself into trouble, but I didn't expect how scary it was going to be. It was terrifying. Periodically, you would hear quiet scratches and taps on the walls of the maze, with a voice saying, " Watashi wa Mi-Chan" - translation: I am Mi-Chan.

I was talking in Japanese when entering the maze, but I started losing control because I was just so scared. Eventually, I started code-switch-screaming English profanities - "OH MY F-ING GOD, GET ME THE F OUT OF HERE!" - etc., etc. You can fill in the blanks with your imagination. I consider myself fully bilingual, but I realized at this moment that, when I'm in a fight or flight/survivor instinct situation, my mind switches to English. (This is probably because I've lived in the US all my life, and never lived in Japan.)

I was yelling and screaming in English throughout the whole maze, and still hearing the " watashi wa Mi-Chan" voice here and there. But suddenly the voice said, " Watashi wa Mi-Chan... watashi wa... I am... My name is Mi-Chan," in the most awkward, Japanese-accented English possible. The staff had taken such pity on my rude profanity-stricken fear that they also code-switched for me. When I heard that awkward English, I literally fell to the floor and cried and laughed at the same time. I was so scared, but the English took me by such surprise, and I felt the oddest combination of release.

2) We want to fit in: Very often, people code-switch - both consciously and unconsciously - to act or talk more like those around them. While this can be effective, it can also be perilous, as John Davis told us:

I am a Spanish teacher in a high-needs school in Nashville. I grew up in a homogenous town in rural Pennsylvania. Foreign languages came easily for me, so I majored in Spanish and minored in French at the University of Pittsburgh. When I moved to my school in Nashville, I had to learn another language: Southern, African American English. I entered my learning experience with fervor. My students taught me almost as much as I taught them in my first years. Now that I am well versed in the language, I have trouble code switching back to Standard American English.

One day my principal walked into my room and asked me, "Mr. Davis, I didn't receive your editions to the School Improvement Plan." I replied, "Nah, you flaugin' bruh, I put that on your desk yesterday." My boss froze, with his jaw dropped and one eyebrow raised. After a moment he shook his head and said, "you're spending too much time with the kids." "My bad."

In our pitch to users for stories about code-switching, we asked jokingly whether anyone learned Farsi to eavesdrop on their in-laws. And sure enough, in came this story from Amy Proulx:

Yes, I actually did secretly learn Farsi to snoop on the in-laws. I married an Iranian-Canadian, and after torturing myself trying to learn through the standard language tapes and computer programs, I sort of gave up, and instead, started watching Iranian soap operas. Oh the drama, the intrigue, the suspicion and suspense! What a way to learn Farsi, through the vice of sappy television.

My bad habit lead to good Farsi skills, but my handle on slang and colloquial language was the real kicker. When at a memorial ceremony for my late-father-in-law, I proceed to intone a rather dramatic, but reasonably common Shi'ite prayer (courtesy of my TV watching). My brother-in-law, in the middle of this most dramatic and somber moment, nearly fell over laughing. He declared that I proclaimed this Shi'ite prayer with perfect diction and pronunciation, and that I was a model of a perfect daughter and sister-in-law. I was in the in-crowd with the in-laws, thanks to soap operas.

3) We want to get something: A lot of folks code-switch not just to fit in, but to actively ingratiate themselves to others. We can not tell you how many dozens of stories we got from people who work in service industries who said that a Southern accent is a surefire way to get better tips and more sympathetic customers. Apparently everyone who works in a restaurant picks up "y'all" immediately upon arriving at their job. If you can pull off the right accent in the right context, you can get all kinds of favors, as this story from Patti Hollingshead illustrates:

We lived in Ireland some years ago and noticed there were often two prices for goods and services - reasonable prices for the locals and much more expensive costs for others (Americans). It was not easy, but I practiced my Irish accent until we qualified for 'local pricing'. Still, they would often ask me where I was from, as my accent was anything but flawless. But I'd come up with the name of some obscure town hundreds of miles away, which explained my 'odd' Irish accent and usually satisfied them. Once, to my, "Ack, I'm from dahn twards Clara Bog," the guy responded in Gaelic.

I had no idea what he was saying. I continued to smile, laugh, and nod at what I hoped were appropriate times as he excitedly talked on and on. Finally, another English speaking customer entered the shop and he flipped back to English then whispered to me, "We need to be careful here (in Northern Ireland) about speaking Irish." "Oh, aye," I replied.

I pulled my wallet out to pay for my my flowers and he held up his hands, "No, me lass, keep yer money. 'twas a pleasure speakin' to ya."

4) We want to say something in secret: We collected many sweet stories of people code-switching in order to hide in plain sight, a habit most common among people in love. Because this tactic often relies on assumptions, it can get one in trouble, as Veronica Rodriguez can attest:

I am from Venezuela and speak Spanish and English fluently and without an accent in either language. However, I look what most would describe as "Middle Eastern," this means that not only do people assume that I am from Turkey or Lebanon and try to speak to me in Farsi or Arabic and become very disappointed when I don't, but many times Hispanic people assume that I don't speak Spanish. This ultimately leads to someone speaking very candidly around me thinking that I cannot understand what they are saying.

I also speak French fluently enough to get myself into trouble. Living in Chicago during college I encountered lots of interesting people on the L. We often chose to comment on some of these people in French rather than English or Spanish since it was far less likely that someone would understand us. One rainy afternoon a very nice-looking man ran into the train, and my friend and I made some comments to each other in French about how handsome he was. To our surprise, he answered back, " Merçi!" - in perfect French.

Suffice to say,we were both extremely embarrassed and decided that maybe we would keep our comments to ourselves from then on.

5) It helps us convey a thought: Certain concepts need that perfectbon mot to come across effectively. Many people switch languages or employ colloquialisms to express particular ideas, as in this story from Jennifer Monahan:

I ... work in a bilingual school, and my coworkers and I code-switch constantly. Here ... code-switching centers around lexical gaps: Nonprofit fundraising is a very American idea, so the French speakers tend to switch to English when that's the topic. Same with technology; if I learned about a piece of equipment or software in English I have a hard time discussing it in French. It's not just a language proficiency issue, my coworkers who are native French speakers follow the same pattern. So we tend to talk about "le smartboard" or "un programme de planned giving." And some concepts just don't translate. French kids eat lunch in the school cafeteria; the notion of bringing lunch from home is, well, foreign. So is the notion of having a designated container to bring your lunch from home. So we all refer to "le lunchbox."

The reasons people code-switch and the ways in which they do it are far more numerous than the few examples we've listed here. While many people told us they code-switched to fit in, for example, several also told us they did it to stand out. What the stories reiterated most of all, though, is what our colleague Gene Demby pointed out in his inaugural post: No matter your race, ethnicity, class or cultural background, you probably do it.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Pretty much everyone shifts between different languages or ways of speaking in different context. From hundreds of stories you sent us, here are some of the common motivations behind it.

# data[].attributes.headline
a difícil relação entre goianos e portugueses

# data[].attributes.subject
a difícil relação entre goianos e portugueses

# data[].attributes.body
Uma coisa importante a ser observada é que os cabanos usam português principalmente em cristãos de classe alta porque faz parte de sua religião. Seja por colonialismo internalizado ou por regras religiosas estritas, o português permanece em vez de ser uma parte importante de sua cultura. É oferecido em ensinamentos oficiais e particulares em Goa, mas parece que muitas pessoas não falam isso por causa da evidente estrutura religiosa das classes.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"Falantes de português em Goa? Não sei, e duvido que alguém saiba. Em números redondos, anualmente, estudam português cerca de 1.500 alunos divididos pelos vários níveis de ensino", afirma, à agência Lusa, o responsável pelo Centro de Língua Portuguesa do Camões - Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua - e leitor na Universidade de Goa.

Segundo Delfim Correia da Silva, há "um aumento gradual e consistente" do número de alunos em Goa, "numa tendência que se tem verificado sensivelmente nos últimos oito a dez anos". "Depois daquele interregno, que foram os acontecimentos de 1961, houve, de facto, um impasse muito complicado: o português deixou de ser língua obrigatória e praticamente só com o reatamento das relações diplomáticas entre Portugal e a Índia (1974) e nomeadamente com a instalação das instituições portuguesas - como o Consulado, o Camões e a Fundação Oriente - é que se verificou um novo reacendimento e procura pelo português", observou.

Delfim Correia da Silva exemplifica: "No nível secundário os números há uns anos eram relativamente reduzidos - entre 200 e 300 alunos - e segundo informações que obtive recentemente, há uma tendência, embora pequena, de crescimento. Na universidade, isso é muito mais evidente: os números dispararam".

"Costumo dizer que se houvesse mais professores qualificados poderíamos ter aqui uma situação verdadeiramente surpreendente em termos da procura pelo português", realçou o docente, cuja "experiência indiana" começou em 1996 em Nova Deli e continuou em Goa, onde vive desde 2008.

Actualmente, cerca de 800 alunos estudam português no ensino secundário - do 8.º ao 12.º ano de escolaridade -, enquanto no ensino superior há aproximadamente uma centena, com 70 inscritos em cursos opcionais que o Departamento de Português da Universidade de Goa oferece (língua, cultura portuguesa, cinema e arte) e dez alunos do Mestrado em Estudos Portugueses no mesmo estabelecimento de ensino - o único em toda a Índia que disponibiliza esse nível.

E na Índia, como assinala o cônsul-geral de Portugal em Goa, António Sabido da Costa, "há uma percepção grande de que Goa pode ser uma mais-valia em termos do ensino do português".

Prova disso mesmo, revelou, é que "várias multinacionais indianas abordaram instituições portuguesas com a perspectiva de que havia muito mais gente a falar português em Goa do que há na realidade".

No plano dos cursos livres, além do Centro de Língua do Camões - que conta anualmente com cerca de cem alunos -, há outros polos, como o Chowgule College, em Margão, com o qual existe um protocolo, e instituições como a Indo-Portuguese Friendship Society e a Communicare, a somar a um grupo de associações que ensinam a língua de Camões um pouco por todo o estado indiano, explica Delfim Correia da Silva.

O Departamento de Português é o mais pequeno figurando como "uma espécie de Goa dentro da própria universidade", pelo que se debate com "alguns problemas de infra-estruturas e sobretudo ao nível do corpo docente", observa o leitor, optimista, porém, em relação ao futuro. "A Universidade abriu um programa de oferta de postos e estou muito confiante que, com a contratação de professores qualificados, o Departamento de Português possa dar o salto que toda a gente espera, ou seja, poder responder de forma mais eficiente às solicitações não só do mercado de trabalho, mas também da área académica", indicou Delfim Correia da Silva.

O Departamento de Português da Universidade de Goa conta, neste momento, com dois professores a tempo inteiro e com a colaboração de outras duas docentes, que asseguram duas cadeiras.

Apesar de o rácio professor/aluno ser semelhante ao de outros departamentos, Delfim Correia da Silva reconhece a dificuldade em contratar docentes. "É complicado. Desde o século XVI que era difícil convidar portugueses para virem para a Índia, porque não é propriamente fácil viver nesta zona do planeta", acrescendo a isso as dificuldades burocráticas, a adaptação à vida e aos valores culturais, concluiu o mesmo responsável.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"Falantes de português em Goa? Não sei, e duvido que alguém saiba. Em números redondos, anualmente, estudam português cerca de 1.500 alunos divididos pelos vários níveis de ensino", afirma, à agência Lusa, o responsável pelo Centro de Língua Portuguesa do Camões - Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua - e leitor na Universidade de Goa.

# data[].attributes.body
Eu assisti esse filme cerca de um ano atrás para outra aula e a razão pela qual pensei nesse filme ao ler sobre a África e a expansão do português foi porque ao ler e assistir ao filme, havia palavras que eu não entendi porque eram mais moçambicanos do que uma lingua franca. Palavras como nhamussoro (feiticeiro), nganga (aquele que atira ossículos divinatórios) e machimbombo (autocarro) eram novos pra mim.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Terra Sonâmbula - Sleepwalking Land- [Teresa Prata-Mozambique- 2007] with English subtitles

# data[].attributes.body
Eu queria encontrar contos folclóricos em mirandês, mas não consegui encontrar nenhum, mas me deparei com este blog que é como um pedaço da vida em uma vila madeirense.  Eles são curtos, mas retratam observações bastante poderosas entre a família e outras interações. Gostei muito de ler.

# data[].attributes.headline
The Portuguese Language Orthographic Agreement

# data[].attributes.subject
The Portuguese Language Orthographic Agreement

# data[].attributes.body
Este artigo era muito interessante de ler porque fala sobre os câmbios da lingua Português que foram oficializados. Muitos casos dos câmbios eram palavras como "leer" e "leêr". São pequenas coisas assim mas fazem um câmbio necessário para que os faladores e escritores do futuro não tem dificuldades.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Does it ever bother you when someone corrects your grammar or spelling? Or do you do it to other people?

If so, spare a thought for this 'OFFICIAL ORDER TO MIND YOUR LANGUAGE!'

Portuguese has new rules in place since Wednesday 13th May, 2015.

The rules are supposed to apply to all the countries where Portuguese is the official language. Added up, that is approximately 261,000 million people, although Brazil has nearly 80% of the world's Portuguese speakers.

The Portuguese Language Orthographic Agreement (Portuguese abbreviation: NaO)
was signed in 1990 and began being implemented in 2009.

After an initial transition period, official documents from public institutions started to be written exclusively according to the new rules in May 2012. In schools the new rules have been phased in since 2011.

The NaO agreement's main goal is to standardise the sixth most spoken language in the world. (The most spoken is Mandarin, then come Spanish, English, Hindi and Arabic.)

The Portuguese written word is being brought closer to the spoken word, creating a unified spelling to be used in all Portuguese-speaking countries.

NaO was signed by official representatives of Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and São Tomé and Príncipe. Timor-Leste signed in 2004. Angola and Mozambique have not yet ratified it.

Until NaO, orthographic rules differed between Brazil and the other Portuguese-speaking countries.

If it bothers you that someone corrects how you speak or write, or if you have an urge to correct others, you will grasp the potential for strain within the debate surrounding this rule change.

Differences proliferate among linguists, academics, journalists, writers, translators, artists and political and business societies in the Portuguese-speaking countries.

While the unifying principle of the agreement is ostensibly political and economic (publish printed texts in one version not two, for example), diversifications in languages have a great deal to do with identity; it gets personal.

The NaO changes govern only around 1.5% of Portuguese words, and yet they have raised objections across the Lusophone world.

Petitions calling for the suspension of the implementation are being evaluated by the National Assembly in Portugal, where many feel the reform as a 'Brazilianisation' of the language and question the purported benefits for users not in Brazil.

Critics deride NaO as interference in culture. They feel it ought to be left to its own devices.

Language professor Marcelo Leite, for example, notes: "Difference is the cool thing," in cultural heritage.

The details considered important to some might seem minor to others, outsiders alike.

Examples? How about 'penguin' spelled according to the (lately) Brazilian standard, 'pingüim', while the Portugal standard is (was) 'pinguim'.

Or: idéia vs ideia (idea), infecção - infeção (infection).

Even hyphens may be grounds for simplification or dispute: há-de as opposed to há de (will be, singular).

Some observers dismiss the perceived 'ownership' of language as pedantic, and dismiss NaO as silly.

But the new rules are now law.

'Hey buddy, what did they jail you for?' -- 'Spelled 'penguin' wrong.'

Earlier attempts at reform, such as in 1967 and 2002, went some way to stripping out accents and other simplification, but not far enough in some eyes.

Fiction author and former history teacher Jose Geraldo Gouvea, for instance, writes that: "Portuguese has come to have a spelling of its own, hindering the learning of other languages by Brazilians and of Portuguese by foreigners.

"Thanks to the spelling reforms, our literary classics had to be re-edited several times. If you find an old copy of Machado de Assis you won't be able to read it, because the ancient spelling often rendered words completely different."

Gouvea continues: "When I was a child, my school received a huge donation of books for its library, but they were all trashed because they featured four different spellings. Some were traditional, some were Portuguese spelling, some were Brazilian spelling."

Tatiana Vaz Pereira, writing an online comment, describing herself as a lover of the great Portuguese poets Camões and Pessoa, asks: "Is standardisation of language destroying free thinking and therefore cultural diversity... with institutionally imposed rules?"

Pereira contrasts the Portuguese move with the institutional enshrinement of many languages in the European Union bloc (motto 'Unity in diversity'), now 28 countries using 24 official languages (standardised):

"The EU has a concern for the preservation of its countries' cultural identities."

She concedes, however: "It is actually very hard for a Brazilian person to understand the Portuguese accent, and the Portuguese can be totally in the dark if their Brazilian interlocutor resorts to vernacular a lot. It's like a foreign language to me!

"I see the difference between European and Brazilian Portuguese as a hard-core version of the American/British English pair. Both languages evolved differently and at different times, and have their very own accents, spellings and colloquialisms."

A comment posted under the name Manu Scrita reads: "I am Portuguese, living in Brazil after many years in English speaking countries. I think Portugal would benefit from updating its orthography."

Scrita writes that NaO "...is not the death of the Portuguese language as some nostalgics of the empire seem to feel it is. In fact it shows how alive the Portuguese language is. I have completely integrated it in my writing and I feel also totally free in many writings about contemporary culture to transcribe the street jargons as I hear them. Languages don't die, they evolve."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Portuguese language reform law goes global

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Does it ever bother you when someone corrects your grammar or spelling? Or do you do it to other people? If so, spare a thought for this 'OFFICIAL ORDER TO MIND YOUR LANGUAGE!' Portuguese has new rules in place since Wednesday 13th May, 2015.

# data[].attributes.body
Essas frases populares são, na minha opinião, muito fáceis de entender e "ver" em minha mente por que elas dizem as coisas da maneira que fazem. Por exemplo, queimar como pestanas soa como uma piada engraçada do pai para mim e faz sentido, porque se você estiver lendo muito, poderá queimar os cílios do movimento constante do globo ocular (a ciência diz o contrário, mas eu gosto de pensar em dessa maneira).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Forget everything you know about Portuguese, it's time to "burn the eyelashes". Here are some colourful everyday Portuguese phrases used in Portugal and Brazil.

The Portuguese phrases I've included in this phrasebook is of the European usage which differs from the Brazilian in sounds and pronunciation. Even though both European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese speakers will slightly understand each other if they do communicate.

Needless to say, if you know a Romance language, it will be easier for you to learn Portuguese. However, if you who know a little don't make the mistake of assuming that Portuguese is close enough that it doesn't need t be studied separately. While you might be able to figure out the meaning of some signage, items on a menu, etc., understanding of verbal communication will be very low to nothing. Words such as "gente" (people) are pronounced so differently in either variant of Portuguese, that you would hardly recognise them. Also, some personal names such as "Jorge Ramos," for example, will be pronounced quite differently as well.

If you speak , watch for a lot of new vowels, a huge number of contractions (comparable to del and al) and irregular plurals. For the non-fluent, some pronunciation differences can be easily missed, such as año (year) becoming ano. If you speak French well, you may find Portuguese pronunciation to be fairly easy, though much of the vocabulary will have changed substantially.

Let's take a look at some everyday funny Portuguese expressions.

Here we go!

1. Go with the pigs

2. Flea behind the ear

3. Burn the eyelashes

4. Silly cockroach

5. Wake up with the feet outside

6. Be with the olive oils

7. Many years turning chickens

8. Have little monkeys in the head

9. Go comb monkeys!

10. Swallow frogs

11. Take the horse from the rain

12. Breaking all the dishes

13. Go bother Camões

14. Water in the beard

15. A lot of cans

16. Bread bread, cheese cheese

17. Under the shade of a Banana Tree

18. A head of dry garlic

19. I'm in the inks

20. You're here to eat!

21. You're letting water in

22. Monkeys are biting me!

23. God gives nuts to those who don't have teeth

24. To speak by the elbows

25. John without arms

Watch the video!

Want to know more about learning languages? Start here!

Over to you!

Which of these Portuguese expressions is your favourite? Do you know any other funny Portuguese expressions?
Let me know using the comments section below or join me on social media to start a conversation.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this post.
Like what you see? Subscribe using the form below to have all of my posts delivered directly to your email.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
25 Hilarious Portuguese Phrases That Make No Sense

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Portuguese phrases I've included in this phrasebook is of the European usage which differs from the Brazilian in sounds and pronunciation. Even though both European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese speakers will slightly understand each other if they do communicate. Needless to say, if you know a Romance language, it will be easier for you to learn Portuguese.

# data[].attributes.body
Apesar de algumas das palavras no começo serem as mesmas (e isso derrota o objetivo do artigo), a maioria são exemplos bem legais dos quais as palavras em inglês são semelhantes ao português do Brasil. O que eu realmente gostei de ler foi sobre zumbis e gostaria de examinar mais sobre a origem dessa palavra.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Learning New Vocabulary Words with Portuguese Origins

You might be surprised at how many words from Portuguese are used in English! Some of them are specifically for talking about Brazilian culture, but many of them are everyday words that you'll find useful to talk about many topics.

One of the best ways to remember new vocabulary is to connect it with something else. If you connect new words with words or concepts that you already are familiar with, that's even better. If you have visited Brazil, or are familiar with Brazilian culture, some of these words will already be familiar to you. But you may not know they are also used in English!
Learn more about how to memorize vocabulary with my C-R-U method in this video lesson.
I know a lot of Brazilians and even Portuguese people will find this lesson very interesting. You may be surprised that some of your native language is used in English. Even more surprising will be how to pronounce these words like a North American. I apologize in advance for how strange they sound!

Even if you are from somewhere else, if you are a language lover and interested in diversifying your English vocabulary, you'll love this lesson too! And hey, it's a great way to learn a bit of Portuguese at the same time.

And for the native English speakers who may be reading this, I found it really interesting when I was learning Portuguese to see so many words that I was already familiar with in English!

How English Vocabulary Words are Influenced by Brazilian Portuguese Words

You'll notice most of these words are very close to the original Portuguese. Geographically we know they originated in Brazil and then entered the English language through trade. In fact, many of these words will be commonly used to talk about Brazilian food and animals in English. Because we do not have these traditional foods or indigenous animals in North America (or England), the word entered English in its original form and a translation in English was never created.

Please note that some of these words are very similar to Spanish words and it's not really 100% clear if historically they came from Portuguese or Spanish first.

25 English Words with Brazilian Portuguese Roots

1. Açaí - a berry made into a smoothie and sometimes other products, trendy with health nuts.

2. Banana - is actually from African origins, but made it's way into English via South America (same in Spanish).

3. Caipirinha - the national drink. Really popular in the US now.

4. Capoeira - a martial art made popular in Brazil and exported to the US and worldwide.

5. Cashew - a kind of nut.

6. Coconut - actually a fruit, not a nut.

7. Creole - mix of cultures, usually European and Black, in the Americas.

8. Dodo - unclear origins, but some say it is from the Portuguese doido, meaning crazy. It's a kind of bird, and if you call someone a "dodo," it means they're not very smart, maybe a bit crazy.

9. Feijoada - national Brazilian dish with black beans and pork.

10. Farofa - toasted cassava that you put on feijoada.

11. Flamingo - funny looking pink bird that lives in tropical climates, like Florida.

12. Guarana - seed that gives natural caffeine.

13. Lambada - a type of song and dance.

14. Launch - in English "to launch" means to put a boat in water, or in a broader sense to begin a project. Lancha in Portuguese is a type of small to medium-size powerboat.

15. Lingo - in English "lingo" means jargon, dialect or foreign language, which comes from the Portuguese lingua, meaning language.

16. Mango - a fruit that comes from the Portuguese / Spanish manga.

17. Manioc - a kind of starch vegetable like a potato that comes from the Portuguese mandioca.

18. Mosquito - that annoying bug that drinks your blood and gives you an itchy bump.

19. Negro - meaning person of African ancestry, really should not be used in English as now it is considered inappropriate.

20. Piranha - fish with sharp teeth.

21. Potato - from batata in Portuguese.

22. Samba - a kind of dance from Brazil.

23. Savvy - in English, means person who knows, originating from the Portuguese / Spanish saber "to know."

24. Tapioca - a kind of flour or pearl made from manioc / cassava.

25. Zombie - a fictional character, a person who has died and is still walking, from the Portuguese/Congolese Zumbi. The origins of this word and how it got into English are kind of unclear, but it's said that an English poet brought it into English with a history he wrote about Brazil.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
25 English Words that Come from Brazilian Portuguese

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
You might be surprised at how many words from Portuguese are used in English! Some of them are specifically for talking about Brazilian culture, but many of them are everyday words that you'll find useful to talk about many topics. One of the best ways to remember new vocabulary is to connect it with something else.

# data[].attributes.headline
outras palavras que não podem ser traduzidas

# data[].attributes.subject
outras palavras que não podem ser traduzidas

# data[].attributes.body
É muito legal ver palavras que significam especificamente um certo ato ou um certo sentimento de que não há traduções para ele em inglês. Ele coloca a idéia dessas palavras em perspectiva que sentamos e pensamos: "bem, isso seria legal em inglês, porque me expressar seria muito mais fácil!". Também é muito fofo ver frases como xodó que podemos observar em paralelo com o boo.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
8 Portuguese Terms We Wish Existed in English

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Sometimes we must turn to other languages to fill the gaps that English just can’t get right. These Portuguese words are perfect for satisfying those gaps.

# data[].attributes.body
Saudade é uma palavra que é descrita como indescritível e, a julgar pelas toneladas de páginas da web que mencionam a palavra, todas elas têm uma idéia comum: a sensação de saudade e solidão. Saudade é uma palavra maleável para enunciar que você sentirá muita falta de uma coisa que não suporta suportar partir com ela. Para mim, parece uma palavra para evocar conforto em um estado emocional.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
What is "Saudade"?

"Saudade" is a untranslatable Portuguese term that refers to the melancholic longing or yearning. A recurring theme in Portuguese and Brazilian literature, "saudade"refers to a sense of loneliness and incompleteness.

The Portuguese scholar Aubrey Bell attempts to distill this complex concept in his 1912 book "In Portugal":

"Saudade is a vague and constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot exist, for something other than the present. - Aubrey Bell

"Saudade" can more casually be used to say that you miss someone or something, even if you'll see that person or thing in the near future. It differs from nostalgia in that one can feel "saudade" for something that might never have happened, whereas nostalgia is a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or period in time.

"Saudade for a brother who lives far off.
Saudade for a childhood waterfall.
Saudade for the flavor of a fruit never to be found again.
Saudade for the father who died, for the imaginary friend who never existed...

Saudade for a city.
Saudade for ourselves, when we see that time doesn't forgive us. All these saudades hurt.
But the saudade that hurts the most is the one for someone beloved"
-Miguel Falabella-
One very funny expression that it's used in the Portuguese language with the word "saudade" is "matar saudades", meaning "to kill saudades". This expression is used, for example, when we say that we don't want to miss something or someone anymore.

We say that we want to kill "saudade" that we feel about that someone or that something. The "saudades" are killed when we're with the person we've been missing or when we do something that we were missing doing.

The word "Saudade" and the Portuguese soul

This beautiful word is deeply connected to the Portuguese soul, that can be described as very melancholic and romantic. In the everyday speech in Portugal it's very common to hear this word being used with a more or less profound meaning. The Portuguese people are very warm and friendly, but they're also nostalgic and very sensitive.

Portugal is a country full of poets and dreamers, and dreamers are easily disappointed when the reality doesn't match to their high expectations. The word "saudade" is a word for dreamers.

This state of mind has become a "Portuguese way of life" that consist in a constant feeling of absence, the sadness of something that's missing.

Fado is the most famous Portuguese music style. It's generally sung by a single person (the fadista) along with a Portuguese guitar. "Saudade" is one of the most popular themes of fado, alongside with nostalgia, jealousy, and short stories of the typical city quarters.

The word fado comes from Latin fatum meaning "fate" or "destiny".

"Fado is a musical cultural expression and recognition of this unassailable determinism which compels the resigned yearning of saudade, a bitter-sweet, existential yearning and hopefulness towards something over which one has no control." - Wikipedia

Amália Rodrigues was a Portuguese fadista (fado singer) and actress. Known as the ' Rainha do Fado' ("Queen of Fado"), Rodrigues was instrumental in popularising fado worldwide and travelled internationally throughout her career

In 1954, Amália Rodrigues conquered the heart of the United States, being the cover of the American magazine Billboard for achieving an album in the first position among the best sellers in the United States. In the same year, she also performed at Radio City Hall in New York.

Amália's immense talent and beauty were no longer exclusively of the Portuguese people and became of the world.

One of the most famous songs of Amália Rodrigues is called "Fado da Saudade" ("Song of Saudade"):
Without your bitter mourning I could not sing as I sing You are now what I suffer and cry? It is for you I sing fado!"
José Ferraz de Almeida Júnior (8 May 1850 - 13 November 1899), commonly known as Almeida Júnior was a Brazilian artist and designer. He is the author of one famous painting called "saudade". This painting captures this feeling in a very beautiful and special way.
SEE ALSO: The most beautiful Portuguese palaces
A Piece of Portugal in your Home

We believe that a bed linen piece should be comfortable like summer holidays and a true piece of ar t.

Since 1922, Amalia Home Collection has been developing and producing luxurious and artistic home textiles, made in Portugal and inspired by the Portuguese culture and beauty. Visit our USA Online Store and discover our premium bedding collections.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The meaning of "Saudade" the most Portuguese word | Amalia Home Collection

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"Saudade" is one of the most beautiful words in the entire world and it has no English equivalent. The meaning of this word is deeply connected with the Portuguese culture and soul. People from many countries are falling in love with this word, wishing they had a similar word in their language.

# data[].attributes.body
Este artigo é incrivelmente interessante no sentido de que o autor aprendeu português praticando os sons da palavra em vez de se preocupar com o material da gramática técnica. Em geral, ele diz basicamente que, sem pronunciação, o português nunca parecerá autêntico se não parecer. Por isso ele imitou a maneira como as palavras estavam sendo ditas e foram dali.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Note: Flow Series courses are no longer for sale. Click here to learn about our new course: The 55 Elemental Sounds of Portuguese Master Class.

Or scroll down to learn more

Hello Friend!

First off, can I just say that you're awesome? The fact that you are taking the time to look into a course on Portuguese pronunciation speaks volumes.

Most Portuguese learners completely skip pronunciation training. There are two reasons for this:

They don't understand why training Portuguese pronunciation is important.

They don't not know how to train Portuguese pronunciation.

Since you are reading this, you are obviously wise enough to appreciate the "why" of Portuguese pronunciation training. But you may still struggle with the "how."

That's where I come in.

The main reason why is because they don't know how to train Portuguese Pronunciation.

Your teacher can tell you "this sounds wrong." But they won't be able to tell you how to fix it. You won't be able to hear how you are doing it wrong. And even if you could, you still don't know what you need to do.

You can't learn Portuguese pronunciation without direction. That's where I come in.
I will show you exactly how to perfect your pronunciation so that you can speak Portuguese WITHOUT sounding like a Gringo.

Who am I, and why should you listen to what I have to say about Portuguese?

My name is Idahosa (pronounced ee-DOW-ssah) and I am fluent in six languages. My accent in Portuguese is so good that I can even trick native speakers into thinking that I'm one of them.

The secret to my language learning success is in my obsession with pronunciation. Pronunciation is the key to becoming fluent in Portuguese.

Do you have a problem with Portuguese conversation?

You can "study" Portuguese for years and still struggle to hold a fluid conversation with a Portuguese person.

This is because "studying" vocabulary and grammar won't give you the most fundamental skill of Portuguese conversation: Portuguese Pronunciation.

If you answered yes to any of the questions above, let me ask you this: But I guarantee that if you focus on Portuguese pronunciation "How much time and energy have you invested in Portuguese pronunciation training?"

Most likely you have invested little. I don't blame you for this - perhaps you had no idea where to start until you found this website.

now, you will start to feel your Portuguese learning pains fade away within a week.

Pronunciation First,
Everything Else Second

Buy any Portuguese textbook, turn to the first page, and the first thing you will learn is how to spell and translate basic phrases like "Como você está?"

Sign up for a fancy new Portuguese-learning app, and you will do the exact same thing but with special effects and gamified power ups.

No matter what the packaging is, all of the traditional approaches teach literacy first, pronunciation last.
Portuguese literacy is of course a useful skill, but you have to ask yourself this question at some point:

"Is my goal to read Portuguese newspapers or to communicate with Brazilian and Portuguese people in real-life conversations?"

If your goal is to fluently communicate with Portuguese people, then the traditional approach will fail you.

Think about it - when was the last time you heard this conversation?

"Wow John you speak Portuguese so well! How did you become so fluent?"
"Rosetta Stone, baby!"
The key to becoming conversationally fluent in Portuguese is to focus on Portuguese pronunciation first, everything else second.

﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿Imagine﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿ ﻿﻿﻿this﻿﻿﻿ scenario...

In this course you will learn how to pronounce phrases with a perfect accent before you know what they mean.
You might be wondering:
"What's the point of knowing how to pronounce something if you don't know what it means?"
As you saw in the story above, it's not too difficult to learn what something means after the fact. You just need to pay attention.

The real challenge is learning how to pronounce that something in the first place. But I like to flip the question:

"What's the point of knowing what something means if you don't know how to pronounce it?"

You can learn to read and write the phrase "buckle your seatbelt" but if you can't properly pronounce it then people won't understand you.

If your goal is to communicate with Portuguese speakers...
focus on pronunciation first & everything else second.

​

​

Common Portuguese Mistakes

If you are already making these common Portuguese learning mistakes, then it is time for you to try The Flow of Portuguese.

You use the written word as a crutch:

Most people begin learning to read and write in Portuguese. This makes you reliant on visual media to learn new things in Portuguese. By using the written word as a crutch, you deny your ears the opportunity to adapt to the sounds of Portuguese.

You obsess over grammar:

Grammar is important, but do you really need to memorize all those charts and technical terms? Do you think Portuguese people know all that high level grammar stuff? How is it that a child or uneducated person can speak English fluently without ever knowing what a "preposition" is?

You have a habit of pronouncing everything as if in English:

I get it - Portuguese pronunciation is hard and no one showed you how to do it properly before, so you just default to English pronunciation because it's easier. Problem is that you are now reinforcing bad muscle habits that take a lot of extra work to correct. You can reverse these bad habits but the more you build them the longer it will take you to fix them.

You always translate in your head:

Being fluent in Portuguese means you will think in Portuguese - you shouldn't be translating English in your head. The only way to develop this skill to speak without thinking is to build a habit of mimicking.

You speak word for word:

Portuguese people never speak Portuguese word for word. Instead, they blend words together naturally into larger phrases. This is the same for English and every other language.
The sooner you reverse these mistakes, the faster you will achieve your goal of reaching Portuguese fluency.

How to save yourself thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours

The inspiration for The Mimic Method came through my study of Brazilian Music in Rio de Janeiro.
Let me share with you how I came up with the idea of making a Portuguese pronunciation course:

The idea actually came while I was preparing to go to Brazil to learn Portuguese.

I could already speak Spanish fluently after living in Mexico for 6 months. I also knew Portuguese grammar and vocabulary was like Spanish vocabulary and grammar.

The real difference between Spanish and Portuguese is the pronunciation. Portuguese sounds are so different from Spanish sounds.

I knew that to master Portuguese, the important thing was to focus first on pronunciation.

To tackle this problem, I started to study phonetics. I read several textbooks on the subjects.

But this wasn't enough because phonetics is about sound. And you can't truly learn sound just by reading about it - you need to hear it, too.

I searched the web for more interactive audio information, but everything was so disorganized. I could not find a single source that explained all this information in practical terms.

There was also a problem with accents. No matter what language you study, there will always be different standards of pronunciation.

What you learn on one website can be completely different from another just based on the author.
I realized that the only real way to master the sounds of Portuguese was to hack it myself.
I downloaded hours of audio content from Brazilian music, television and radio. Then I learned how to manipulate the audio using different computer softwares.

I would take a Portuguese phrase, slow it down then transcribe every single sound. I spent hours every day listening over and over again to sounds to make sure I was hearing them right.

For the sounds I didn't quite get, I had to scour the phonetic textbooks for explanations on how to make them.

It was a painstaking process. But through it I learned an incredible amount about how language really works.

The first thing I realized is that Portuguese is never spoken the way you write it on paper.

When people speak to foreigners or babies they talk slowly and word for word. But in real life we always chop and blend words together.

Then I realized its the same thing in Spanish. It was the same in English. And now I know it is the same for ALL languages.
But the most important thing I learned is that the process of listening and speaking the sounds in a language was the most effective way to master fluency of a language.
I memorized Brazilian songs syllable by syllable with perfect pronunciation. So by the time I got to Brazil, everything sounded familiar to me. Just by listening to people in the street, I was able to pick up words and expressions.
Within three weeks of being in Brazil, I was able to hold a conversation. Within three MONTHS I becoming fluent enough to trick Brazilians into thinking I was one of them.
And this was without taking a single class or reading a single Portuguese textbook.

All it took was for me to build a solid foundation of sound. My ears and mouth adapted to Portuguese the same way that a child does.

But to achieve this, I had to spend hundreds of hours doing trial and error with sounds. Now that I know it, it's so simple. But to get there I had to make a lot of wrong turns and drive my car down a lot of dead ends.

If someone who had already known before me had just showed me the way, I would have been able to do it all so much faster.

That's how I came up with the idea for this course. Now that I know the fastest path to mastering Portuguese, I can show that path to you so that you can master it as quickly and painlessly as possible.

Introducing The Flow of Portuguese

The Flow of Portuguese is unlike any other Portuguese learning program that has ever existed. In other programs, you focus on memorizing grammar rules and vocabulary lists. You don't do any of that in The Flow of Portuguese.

Actually, it's better that you do not think of The Flow of Portuguese like like a normal language course at all. Think of it more like a Q-tip, Yoga Class and Software Update:

The Q-Tip for your Portuguese Ears.

It will swab out the "interference" of your native language so you can hear Portuguese sounds more clearly.

The Yoga Class for your Portuguese Mouth.

It will stretch out your lips and strengthen your tongue so you can articulate Portuguese sounds effortlessly.

The Software Update for your Portuguese brain.

It will re-format the language centers in your brain so that you can absorb new Portuguese words and expressions naturally.

It took me several years of building, testing and tweaking to perfect the process of Portuguese pronunciation training. Luckily, you don't have to go through all that trouble at all.

All you need to do is follow the instructions in the course modules and you will master Portuguese pronunciation in a matter of weeks.

Since releasing this course, I have helped thousands individuals from around the world master their pronunciation in Portuguese and other languages. You can do the same.

How the Training Works

The video below explains my other course, The Flow of English. It is structured similarly to The Flow of Portuguese.

Familiarize yourself with the core sounds of Portuguese and teach yourself the basics of "tuning" your ear and mouth to those sounds.

Learning to sing & mimic Portuguese song is everyone's favorite part of the course. The process of articulating these lyrics tunes your ears, brain and mouth to the sounds of Portuguese.

We listen to your recordings to pinpoint the exact sounds you mispronounce, then tell you exactly what you need to do with your mouth to fix the error.

Through a process of "re-tuning", I will help you rapidly eradicate pronunciation weaknesses and sharpen your Portuguese ears, mouth and brain.

Example Flow Training Session

Here's another example of how the training works. After each lesson, should be able to repeat lyrics like these with perfect pronunciation.

Start with the Rhythm

First, you will chant along with the track below to ingrain the core rhythm into your auditory memory.

Pronounce the Syllables

Once you have the rhythm down, your next task is to make sure you can pronounce each syllable. When you take the course, we do an audit of every single Portuguese syllable to make sure you can pronounce each one perfectly.

Build Your Capacity

The next step is to combine the syllables and rhythm. We do it this way so you can focus on one piece of the puzzle at a time. Listen closely to the track below and repeat after me.

Put It All Back Together

Finally, we can practice chanting along with the original artist at slow speed. Sing along with the track below to see how you do.

This song-training system is extremely effective at developing the pronunciation skills you need to mimic Portuguese. We use song is because learning these new motor skills requires a lot of repetition and music is the only context repetition is actually fun.

But like anything else, you will inevitably miss a few details. That's where I come in...

7 Reasons The Flow of Portuguese Can Work For You

Why would you want to start the Flow of Portuguese right away? Here are just a few reasons:

1) Resolve all your unanswered questions about Portuguese pronunciation

Have you ever had this frustrating experience: you say a word in Portuguese and a native speaker tells you that you are pronouncing it wrong? But you can't hear the difference between what you are doing and what he is doing.

You ask him to explain, but his answer doesn't make any sense: "You gotta open your throat more. You know... it's like a more happy type of sound."

Here's the truth - no one has any idea what they are talking about when it comes to pronunciation. It requires many years of study and hands on experience speaking many languages.

But after you go through the first unit of The Flow of Portuguese, you will have several "aha!" moments and finally understand exactly what's going on in the mouths of Portuguese speakers. And of course you can always ask me specific questions throughout the training process.

2) Identify the fundamental sounds that you struggle with the most

The first thing you do in the Flow of Portuguese is submit a recording of yourself saying every Portuguese sound. Then I will tell you which sounds you are mispronouncing.

These will be the sounds that your ears, mouth and brain have not adapted to yet. These are your personal Portuguese sticking points that no one ever pointed out to you before. As soon as you know them, you will be able to narrow your energy toward fixing them. Curious to find out what your sticking points are?

3) Get some emotional support from a real human being

I'm a cool guy, I promise! I am personally invested in your Portuguese development and won't be satisfied until you get everything perfect. I can be tough and make you practice something over and over again until you get it right - but once you do you'll be more than thankful. Sometimes all it takes is a little support from a real human being to help you get through the steepest learning curves.

4) Learn some catchy Portuguese songs to impress your friends with

For the most part, music is just a tool for us to help you master pronunciation the fastest way possible, but there's cultural value as well. After you learn the first few song lyrics you will discover the joy of being truly involved in a foreign culture. It's no longer just academic stuff - you know the music! I guarantee that your Portuguese friends will be thoroughly impressed 🙂

5) Unblock your Portuguese ear canal

After a week of training, you will start to notice that Portuguese will sound different to you. If you hear natives speaking in the street or listen to Portuguese TV or radio, you will start to recognize all the fundamental sounds you trained.

Before taking this course, your ear will not be open to Portuguese sounds - but this training program will immediately unclog those sound pipes. The words you know will become more clear to you, and the ones you don't know yet will be more memorable.

6) Boost your speaking confidence

Does your accent make you nervous about speaking Portuguese? When you're nervous you end up speaking worse, and the worse you speak the more nervous you get. It's a vicious cycle. Choosing NOT to speak up in situations is the worst thing ever because speaking is the ONLY way to fluency.

Once you improve your pronunciation, your words will flow and sound more authentic. Imagine not worrying about people judging you for your thick accent or excessive stuttering and mumbling. That boost in confidence is exactly what you need to speak more and speed up your progress toward Portuguese fluency.

Guaranteed Results

If you go through the the Flow of Portuguese, here's what I'll promise you:

Guarantee #1: No Gimmicks
"Learn Portuguese with music? Is this just some sort of gimmick?"
I know other programs that talk about "the magic of music for language learning," but they're just all fluff. The Flow of Portuguese is thorough and pragmatic.

Guarantee #2: Your brain will wrinkle

The first thing you will notice is that the training is challenging. You will not casually read or listen to things. Rather, you will be forcing your ear and mouth to adapt to new sounds and commit sequences to your auditory memory - not easy!

If you work through the challenge, your brain will reshape. You'll feel your growth the next day after you give your brain time to grow with a full night of sleep.

Guarantee #3: No Deadlocks

Yes, each lesson will have its own challenges. But I designed the lessons to take no more than 30 minutes or so.

The lessons also get progressively more intensive over time. This way, you can gradually build confidence and fundamental hearing and speaking abilities as you move along. It's designed for you to NOT get stuck forever.

Guarantee #4: You will have fun

The addictive power of the song training is beyond even my comprehension. Our brains are wired to enjoy any activity involving music and language and that is exactly what this course provides you.

No more boring text book reading, let's really learn Portuguese at the source. Because at the end of the day, all language is really comes down to sound.

Guarantee #5: You will Notice Drastic Improvements

The Flow of Portuguese is unlike any other Portuguese course that has ever existed on the web. Most people expect a textbook with vocabulary and grammar drills. They don't know what to make of The Flow of Portuguese training program when they hear about it.

They think: "If I'm not studying vocabulary and grammar, then what could I be learning?"

I can never truly communicate the feeling to you in writing. The only way to understand is to do the training yourself and feel the results.

100% MONEY BACK GUARANTEE

That's why I am absolutely confident in giving you a better than 100% money back guarantee. If at any time you are not satisfied with the training in these 60 days, just send me an email and I'll refund you your order (no questions asked).

The handful of returns I have given have all been from people who never tried a single lesson. They were turned off by the challenge and couldn't understand the value of working through it.

Those that did work through it have all had nothing but the highest praise to give.

So take advantage of my 60 Day Guarantee and start mastering Portuguese pronunciation today with The Flow of Portuguese.

Is it even possible for you to lose in this scenario?

The Most Affordable Portuguese Training on the Web

The Flow of Portuguese is dirt cheap compared to alternative that offer not even half of the value.

You could hire a private Portuguese tutor to meet with you in person. That will run you at least $20 an hour, and as much as $50 an hour if you want anyone who knows anything about Portuguese! Never mind that you'll have to mull over what you've learned in your sessions and then try it again later.

Given my expertise, I could easily charge over $100 an hour training high level executive in Portuguese and the my other five languages, but I was never interested in that.

I created my system so that I would be able to train as many people as possible in a way that was convenient for both of us. The profit motive has always been secondary to my vision to change the way the world thinks about language.

There's no need to use hundreds of dollars a month for private tutoring - because I've set the price at as low as I can. Plus, you will receive any and all future updates to the program for free, forever.

That's right, this isn't a subscription. It's a once-off flat fee that gives you access to any and all future updates that we make to The Flow of Portuguese.

Is This Really For Me?

I get it - you're not sure if The Flow of Portuguese is going to help you.

Because The Flow of Portuguese has worked for many people, rather than tell you who it is for, let me tell you who it is not for. If one of the below is NOT you - then The Flow of Portuguese will work for you. I'll tell you who The Flow of Portuguese is NOT for:

Someone who is convinced that Portuguese pronunciation is NOT that important

I have met a few people who resist the idea that mastering pronunciation is the most fundamental step to mastering a foreign language. These are people who have convinced themselves that they are "tone deaf" and thus had to solidify themselves into language learning myths of "visual learning."

What these people don't realize is that the reason they struggle with pronunciation is NOT because they are tone deaf; it's because they never had proper training. The Flow of Portuguese would give them what they need, but if you are too stuck in your ways you will never find that out.

Someone who is not willing to work through a challenge

As I've mentioned before, Flow Training requires a lot of mental energy and focus. It's like weight training for the ear, brain and mouth. Every human being is capable of lifting weights and increasing weight as their muscles grow, but only some people are willing to put in the work.

If you are still searching for the non-existent "easy path" to Portuguese, this course is not for you.

Someone who refuses to accept that they are NOT actually Tone Deaf

Tone deafness is a pathological condition that only affects 1% of the population. Funny enough, over 60% of people self-report themselves as "tone deaf" in surveys.

Tone deafness means you are physiologically incapable of processing certain nuances of sound. The 60% of people who claim to be tone deaf are really just saying that because they haven't trained their voices to sing. That's like saying "I am genetically incapable of riding a bicycle" after only trying a few times and falling.
If you refuse to accept the fact that you CAN master Portuguese pronunciation with hard work and proper training, then then this course is not for you.
Someone who is simply unsure if this is for them

We love all our customers, but it goes both ways - we want our customers to enjoy and use their training too. If you are unsure about The Flow of Portuguese, please don't buy it yet.

Someone Looking for a vocabulary and grammar course

Just to be clear, you do not learn any vocabulary or grammar in this course. You can easily find that anywhere else on the web. In the Flow of Portuguese we focus on the essential skill that you won't get anywhere else - the ability to hear, correctly pronounce and mimic native Portuguese speakers.

Common Questions about The Flow of Portuguese

Q: Can I take this course as a complete beginner?

Intermediate and Advanced speakers will definitely have more "aha!" moments as they realize all the things that they learned wrong in the past, but I honestly believe that pure beginners have the most to gain. If you focus on Portuguese pronunciation first, you are priming your brain to acquire Portuguese as quickly and efficiently as possible. You are also saving yourself the trouble of unlearning the mistakes that advanced speakers picked up while learning with the wrong sounds.

Q: How Long Does Training Take?

If you train 5 days a week, you will complete this course in 6 weeks. Most people take around 8-12 weeks to complete the course.

Q: Do I have to train every day? Do I have to start right away?

The Flow of Portuguese is self-paced. You can start whenever you want and go through the materials at whatever speed you like. I will only give you feedback when you submit a recording. That can be every day or once a week. It is all based on your schedule and convenience.

Q: Will I learn any vocabulary or grammar?

In each unit there is a "Mimicry & Meaning" section. In it, you practice mimicking a native speaker saying the phrases normally without singing. Once you can mimic, you will then learn what the phrases mean. This will be the only time that you will learn any vocabulary or grammar in the course.

Q: Can I do this course on all my devices?

All the materials of this course are accessible via your computer, tablet or smartphone. However, iPhone/iPad are the only devices that are not currently supported by our feedback system. Despite that, you should use your computer for the best experience.

Q: Which Portuguese Accent Will I Learn?

In The Flow of Portuguese, we only use Brazilian speaker recordings. This is because Portuguese from other countries is quite different.

That being said, there are several different accents in Portuguese, they all draw from the same group of fundamental sounds. In other words, 95% of the sounds in all forms of Portuguese are the same.

After completing this course, you will have a command of all these sounds. It is only then that I recommend you adapt to the accent of whichever group of Portuguese speakers you wish to connect with.

I also spent some time living in Lisbon and the Algarves region of Portugal - so I know exactly how the accent sounds there. If you have any specific questions, I am always happy to answer you.

I don't learn languages, I learn people - and people connect through sound. Whether you are a complete beginner or have been learning Portuguese for years, my hope is to welcome you as a Mimic Method student soon.
Keep on Flowin!
-Idahosa

Idahosa Ness
Founder of The Mimic Method

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Flow of Portuguese - The Mimic Method

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Note: Flow Series courses are no longer for sale. Click here to learn about our new course: The 55 Elemental Sounds of Portuguese Master Class. Or scroll down to learn more Hello Friend! First off, can I just say that you're awesome?

# data[].attributes.body
Achei muito interessante que uma pessoa tivesse dito que todos os sotaques soavam iguais quando na realidade não é. A pessoa que respondeu à pergunta, explicou e de quais regiões e cidades se originam alguns sotaques.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Can Portuguese speakers tell apart the different accents within their respective countries?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Answer (1 of 13): Hi. I am Brazilian and, in the past, every non Brazilian Portuguese speaker I thought they all sounded the same. Now I can tell someone is not from Portugal but is from an African country but not exactly from which country.

# data[].attributes.body
Este vídeo fala sobre o extenso alfabeto fonético e fornece exemplos detalhados, além de uma explicação sobre como sua boca deve ser posicionada ao pronunciar as palavras. O vídeo fala sobre vogais fechadas e abertas, vogais nasais, ditongos e triphthongs, as quais, para a maioria, entramos no início desta semana.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Pronounce Portuguese Like a Native Speaker

# data[].attributes.body
Este artigo fala sobre as diferentes pronunciações do letra R que existem no Brasil. Por exemplo, o R pode se pronunciar como o R que é muito comum na língua Inglês (country=Liberdade/porto) ou como o R na língua espanhol (cerrar=porto). Dependendo da região, à pronuncia vai ter variedade.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Hello there and welcome to our Portuguese Basic Tips 61 called Brazil accents - Pronunciation differences of R letter in several parts of Brazil

On today's episode, we are going to speak about the pronunciation differences of the "R" letter in several parts of Brazil. You know, Brazil is a big country, it is a country of great dimensions. We have been colonized by several people, throughout history. And this people left great differences of accents in the regions of Brazil.
Listen to our previous episode called Changing the meaning of adjectives in the sentences in Portuguese
For instance, sometimes you can hear the word "porta" (door) being pronounced as "porta" (listen to the audio recorded). Today we are going to exercise those pronounces, so that you can chose which one fits you best.
Brazil accentsR retroflexo or "R caipira"- This is something as "country r"
People call it "r caipira" in Brazil, because this is something you find most in country regions of São Paulo and Minas Gerais here.

Most Portuguese scholars agree that this pronunciation comes from ancient languages, as the Tupi-Guarani. They say that people had a few problems to speak the "l" letter correctly, so that the "country r" became popular those days. For instance: instead of saying "falta" they pronounced "faRta". Over time, they learned how to pronounce it correctly, however this pronunciation way of words containing the "r" letter remains the same in some country regions.

This is very similar to the "r" pronunciation people use in American English.

Repeat with me:
Brazil accents - R guttural
This is something that comes directly from your throat. See the differences between the two: porta (country r) and porta (guttural).

Most people say that this sound is natural from the French language: au revoir, Ribery. Forget about my French pronunciation. What I want you to know is that this sound is very similar to the one we use in some parts of Brazil. You'll find the "guttural r" in places as Rio de Janeiro and in the Northeast region, in general.

Repeat with me:

Even when you find words written with double "rr", the sound will be pronounced the same way. For instance: ca rr o (car), morro (hill) and so on.
Brazil accents - Mute r
In the Northeast region, you'll also find what we call "the mute r", that is, precisely, not to pronounce the r letter at the end of the words.

For instance:

Instead of saying "Salvador" (city) people say "salvadô". Instead of saying "amor"(love) people say "amô".

Repeat with me:

Eu vivo em Salvadô, meu amô! (I live in Salvador, my love!).

In those cases, I suggest you also pay attention to the end of verbs in Portuguese: fazer (to make / to do) turns into fazê, trazer (to bring) turns into trazê and so forth.
Brazil accents - Pronouncing the r letter like a Spanish speaker does
Our last tip today has to do with the pronunciation of the r letter as the Spanish speakers do. I'm speaking about this sound here: rrrrrr.

People from São Paulo, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul usually speak like that: português, porta, torta. At the end of words, they say: amor, salvador, fazer, trazer.

There's another thing to pay attention here: sometimes you will hear older people saying "rrrio", "rrrua" in the beginning of words, while younger people speak "rio", "rua", in those cases.

Repeat with me:

Become a Premium Member to download our full transcripts
Click on the link to watch a video about the R letter pronunciation in Brazil.
That's enough for today!

See you next time.

Thanks!

Marcos Sales

Podcast (portuguesebasictips): Play in new window | Download

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Brazil accents - Pronunciation of the "R" letter in several parts of Brazil

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On today's episode, we are going to speak about the pronunciation differences of the "R" letter in several parts of Brazil. You know, Brazil is a big country, it is a country of great dimensions. We have been colonized by several people, throughout history.

# data[].attributes.body
To wrap this section off, I'm still very much intrigued at the fact that the Middle East had a huge effect in Europe in the way that it did. Besides art, I found a video pertaining to the influence of Arabic in the Portuguese language itself, which is really really cool.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
ARABIC Influence on Spanish & Portuguese!

# data[].attributes.body
The video description goes more in-depth about the meaning/usage of Galician-Portuguese vs. Castilian language. It's really neat to listen to because most of us have heard of Middle/Old English songs but never really once thought "I wonder how this sounds like in "Old Portuguese".

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Galician-Portuguese language, tongue of culture

# data[].attributes.body
This article goes into the very common question of the difference between European and Brazilian Portuguese but it explicitly lists certain grammar rules that apply to one language but not the other. It's for that reason I wanted to include the article on my wall because the differences show us how Portuguese ended up diversifying.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
While doing some research about the Portuguese language you'll find that there are two main types of it: Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese. From vocabulary, grammar, & pronunciation there are many differences between Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese. Even natives can misunderstand each other!

Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese might seem the same to a non-speaker, however, there are considerable differences between the two: the most obvious is the accent but there are also differences in the grammar and there are even some words that sound perfectly normal in European Portuguese but are an insult in Brazilian Portuguese. So, where did the Portuguese language came from? How did it evolve? and what are the main differences between the two types. That's what we'll be looking at as the Brazilian Portuguese vs Portugal Portuguese battle begins.

Where is Portuguese spoken? How many people speak Portuguese?

It might be hard for you to believe but, the truth is, Portuguese is the sixth most spoken native language in the world. The amount of native Portuguese speakers is estimated to be around 220 million people. Portuguese is spoken in ten different territories in four continents including:

If you search for sites to learn Portuguese online, you'll find a lot of options but there's one thing you'll definitely notice: most of these sites and information are related to Brazilian Portuguese instead of European Portuguese. Even though Portuguese has its origins in Europe, there are way more Portuguese speakers in Brazil alone than anywhere else and that makes its accent the most spoken. To illustrate this, let's look at the population of Rio de Janeiro compared to Portugal: the Brazilian city has 12 million citizens alone while the whole country of Portugal has only 10 million. So obviously, most of the 220 million native Portuguese speakers are actually Brazilian.
Going to Portugal? Get my free Portuguese travel phrase guide
Can Portuguese and Brazilians understand each other?

Even though the language is exactly the same, there are some differences between European and Brazilian Portuguese. When it comes to writing, both are very similar, but the pronunciation makes everything harder for Brazilians and the Portuguese to understand each other. Usually, it is more difficult for Brazilians to understand the Portuguese than the other way around. This might sound strange considering the language has its origins in Portugal but there are a few reasons why this happens. Portuguese people are used to listening to Brazilian Portuguese because there are a lot of Brazilian immigrants in Portugal. Another reason is the fact that the Brazilian culture is widely popular in Portugal. For many years, Brazilian soap operas were on the television in Portugal during primetime. Brazilian music is also extremely popular all over Portugal. Whilst Brazilian music and TV programs are popular in Portugal, the opposite is not true.

Why are there different types of Portuguese?

Just like the European Spanish is different from Latin American Spanish, so too is the Portuguese spoken in Europe compared to that in Brazil. Let's go back a few centuries and try to understand why there are so many different types and accents of Portuguese. Portuguese is a romance language that, just like , , and French, evolved from Latin after the Romans invaded the Iberian Peninsula 2,000 years ago. Portugal gained its independence in 1143, but it was only in 1290 when the first university was created in Lisbon by King Dinis that Portuguese was officially recognised as the official language of the country. From then on, the language was used for most official documents and, as time passed by, the similarities to Spanish faded as both languages evolved differently even though there are still lots of words that are written the same way.

During the Discoveries Era in the 15th and 16th century, Portuguese sailors brought their language to many parts of the world and that is the reason why the language is spoken in Europe, America, Africa and Asia. When taking the language to other territories, it ended up mixing with the language previously spoken in those areas.

The Portuguese discovered Brazil in 1500 and soon began to export their traditions, however, the language was only officially established in 1758. By that time, it had suffered from the influence of the indigenous people already living in the territories occupied by the Portuguese in the 16th century.

Colonies often follow the linguistic advances of the mother country but with a delay due to the geographical distance which leads some people to believe that the colonies often preserve the original language better than the mother country which has evolved faster.

The African countries that belong to the CPLP ("Comunidade de Países de Língua Portuguesa" or "Community of Countries with Portuguese Language" in English) use a Portuguese more similar to the European type than Brazil. That happened mainly because Brazil gained its independence from Portugal many years before the African countries. While Brazil was an independent country by 1822, Angola, for example, only became independent from Portugal in 1975 similar to most African countries. All those additional years of direct contact with the Portuguese makes the African accent more similar to the Portuguese accent.

Brazilian Portuguese vs Portugal Portuguese: What are the main differences?

By now you might be thinking: "what are these differences between Brazilian and European Portuguese you keep on mentioning?". Well, wait no more, here are some of the top 8 differences between European Portuguese vs Brazilian Portuguese:

1. 'Tu' vs. 'você'

Brazilians use the word 'você' both for formal and informal situations (just like with 'you' in English). That doesn't happen in European Portuguese. In Portugal, you either use 'tu' or 'você' depending if you're talking to someone in an informal or formal way. The ending form of the verb you use with 'tu' or 'você' changes accordingly.

2. The Gerund: When is it used?

Whilst in Brazil people use the gerund on a regular basis, the same doesn't happen in Portugal. Instead, European Portuguese uses a preposition followed by the infinitive of a verb. For example, to say "I'm making dinner", a Brazilian would say "estou fazendo o jantar" (auxiliary verb + gerund + noun) while the European Portuguese would say "estou a fazer o jantar" (auxiliary verb + preposition + verb in the infinitive + noun).

3. Pronunciation

Brazilians have an open pronunciation whilst European Portuguese have a closed one. Trying to explain it a little better, Brazilians pronounce every single syllable in the word while in Portugal people do not. Let's take the word "telefone" (telephone) as an example: Brazilian Portuguese would pronounce it accentuating every single vowel in the word while a Portuguese person would cut the first "e" and pronounce it something like "tlefone". This is one of the many examples there are as European Portuguese tend to cut a lot of vowels in the words making them harder to understand for foreigners and even Brazilians.

In addition to that, there's also the pronunciation of some consonants such as the "s" at the end of a word. In Portugal, the "s" at the end of a word is read as "sh" while in Brazil it is read as "ss". The word "dois" (two), for example, would be said "doish" in Portugal but "doiss" in Brazil. The "t" also has different pronunciations in both countries. While in Brazil you'd say the word "quente" (hot) as "quentchy" (adding a "ch" to the "t"), in Portugal you'd pronounce it solely "kent".

Another significant difference in the pronunciation is the way the letter "L" is said in both countries. In European Portuguese it is said the same way as in English but in Brazil it gains a whole different pronunciation which is one of the most typical characteristics of the Brazilian accent. To say 'Brazil' in Brazilian Portuguese, you'd say something like "Brásiu", replacing the "l" for an "u". This happens with all L's that are at the end of a word.

4. No need for personal pronouns before the verb

One of the biggest differences there are between Portuguese and English is the fact that you can omit the personal pronouns before the verb in Portuguese and still make yourself understood because the verbs are conjugated differently for all the pronouns. Even though that is acceptable in both European and Brazilian Portuguese, it is more commonly used in European Portuguese than in Brazilian Portuguese.

5. Spelling - The new writing agreement and its consequences

While pronunciation is different in both languages, the spelling is pretty much the same except for the when the words are different. In 2009 an agreement was signed in order to make the spelling of some words the same in European and Brazilian Portuguese. The biggest change was in European Portuguese where most words lost the silent consonants. For example, the word "baptismo" (baptism) lost its "p" in European Portuguese since no one would read the "p". The new word is "batismo" which is exactly how it was said in Brazilian Portuguese even before the agreement was implemented.

This agreement caused a lot of adverse reactions mainly from the European Portuguese side as it made the most changes to the spelling of the words. Even if there are words that lost their silent consonants in European Portuguese, there are the cases where those consonants still exist in Brazilian Portuguese. "Receção" (reception) is one of those cases. It used to be written "recepção" both in European and Brazilian Portuguese but with the new agreement it lost the "p" in European Portuguese but not in Brazilian Portuguese.

6. Pronouns - Do the pronouns come before or after the verbs?

The easiest way to know if you're reading something written in European or Brazilian Portuguese is where the pronouns are: either before or after the verb. In European Portuguese, pronouns come after the verb, while in Brazilian Portuguese the pronoun comes before the verb.

For example, let's take the way "I love you" is said in Portuguese. First of all, as explained before, you can omit the personal pronoun "I" (which is "Eu") yet it is much more common to do so in European Portuguese than in Brazilian Portuguese as it sounds better in both types that way. That said, in European Portuguese we would simply say "amo-te" while in Brazilian Portuguese we would have to say "Eu te amo". The "te", which refers to "you" changes its position in the sentence according to the type of Portuguese you are writing or reading.

Pronouncing this word or sentence is incredibly different too. As we saw earlier, Brazilian Portuguese is pronounced with an open accent while European Portuguese uses a closed accent. While in South America, natives would say this sentence as "eu tchi amo", in Europe natives would say something like "am't" cutting most of the sound of the vowels.

7. Vocabulary

Just like in American and British English, there are also different words for the same thing in European and Brazilian Portuguese. We could be here all day talking about those but here are some examples:

Some words, such as "ônibus" and "trem" have clear influences on English words with the same meaning. Some others like "fato" have a different meaning in European and Brazilian language. "Fato" means 'fact' in Brazil while in Portugal it is said "facto".

8. False friends

It might be the same language but there are some words that have completely different meanings in European and Brazilian Portuguese: "Rapariga" means "girl" in European Portuguese and is the most common word used for it. But do not call a girl "rapariga" in Brazil. It isn't something they won't understand, on the contrary, they will understand but won't take it as an ordinary word but as an insult - a big one as a matter of fact - as "rapariga" is another word for "prostitute" in Brazilian Portuguese.

"Propina" might sound like a perfectly ordinary word in Portugal. It is the fee students pay in the university. In Brazil, referring to a payment as a "propina" actually means "bribe".
"Apelido" refers to a name on both sides of the Atlantic yet asking for someone's "apelido" in both countries will get you different answers. In Brazil, people will tell you their nickname while in Portugal people will tell you their surname.
"Cara" means "face" in both types of Portuguese. In Brazil it is also commonly used to call someone. Kind of the equivalent to "dude" in English.

Which type of Portuguese is easier to learn?

Portuguese isn't the easiest language to learn, especially if you don't speak Spanish or Italian (which are fairly similar to Portuguese when it comes to grammar). People learning Portuguese tend to say that the Brazilian Portuguese is easier to learn and understand. That happens because of the pronunciation. As Brazilians say all the letters in a word with an open accent, it makes it easier to understand for a foreigner than when the Portuguese cut the sound of most vowels.

One thing for sure is you'll learn the language easier if you decide to study it in the country of its origin. When it comes to deciding whether you should study Portuguese in Portugal or in Brazil, there are some things to take into consideration. Portugal is much smaller than Brazil and it is more of a European country with a Mediterranean climate, while Brazil is a large country where summer lasts all year around. But, besides the language itself, there is one thing that unites these two countries: the people. Whether you go to Brazil or to Portugal, you will be made to feel welcome in both countries and you'll find people available to help you.

What are the main difference between Portuguese and English?/h2>

There are a lot of words that are similar in Portuguese and English but there are also a lot of differences mostly in the grammar. The most obvious difference is the verbs conjugations. While in English the regular verbs have the same conjugation for I, he/she or you, we and they, in Portuguese there are different conjugations for every person.
Another significant difference between the two languages is the verb "to be". In Portuguese it has two different meanings: "ser" and "estar". The difference is quite simple but doesn't exist in English: using the verb "to be" to say "I am American" or using it to say "I am in America" is completely different. For the first example, the verb "ser" is used in Portuguese while for the second example it is the verb "estar" that is used. "Eu sou bebedo" (I am a drunk) and "eu estou bebedo" (I am drunk) are two very different things yet in English they sound the same as the verb doesn't change.

In English, the adjective comes before the noun it is referring to while in Portuguese it happens the other way around. For example, while in English we'd say "a red hat", in Portuguese we'd say "um chapéu vermelho" ("vermelho" meaning red and "chapéu" meaning hat).

Which type of Portgueuse Should You Learn?

When it comes to deciding whether you should learn European or Brazilian Portuguese, it depends a lot on your personal goals. You'll be able to read in both types no matter which one you'll choose to learn even if there are a few differences. When it comes to speaking and listening, it won't always be easy for you to understand what people with a different accent are saying but, as we've learned, not even the natives can understand each other all the time.

A big thanks to Lusa Language School who helped write this guide. Feeling inspired to learn Portuguese?

Learn European Portuguese in Portugal

Lusa Language School is a Portuguese school for foreigners located in Cais do Sodré, in the heart of Lisbon. Besides the courses, it has social activities such as dinners every Friday night and organises tours to some of the most famous monuments in Lisbon including the castle or Mosteiro dos Jerónimos.

Types of courses:

Sources
Lusa Language School / Oxford Dictionaries / Babbel / Mezzoguild

Like it? Pin it for later!

Want more? Here are some hilarious Portuguese expressions!

Want to know more about learning languages? Start here!

Over to you!

Are you learning Portuguese? Which of these differences surprises you the most?
Let me know using the comments section below or join me on social media to start a conversation.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this post.

Intensive course: 4 hours a day, 5 days a week for each module

Part-time course: 2 hours a day, 2 days a week, 5 weeks for each module

Full Immersion course: mixes the intensive course with 5 extra private lessons each week

Private classes

Online classes

Like what you see? Subscribe using the form below to have all of my posts delivered directly to your email.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
8 Surprising Differences Between Brazilian Portuguese and Portugal Portuguese | The Intrepid Guide

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese might seem the same to a non-speaker, however, there are considerable differences between the two: the most obvious is the accent but there are also differences in the grammar and there are even some words that sound perfectly normal in European Portuguese but are an insult in Brazilian Portuguese.

# data[].attributes.body
Azulejos are not only extremely beautiful, they are amazing monuments that record history in pictures. I found this particular art style interesting because it shows how Arabic influence impacted Portugal/Spain and how it still lingers in Portuguese/Spanish architecture.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Glazed blue ceramic tiles or azulejos are everywhere in Portugal. They decorate the winding streets of the capital, Lisbon. They cover the walls of train stations, restaurants, bars, public murals, and fountains, churches, and altar fronts. Azulejos can be seen on park benches and paved sidewalks or adorning the facades of buildings and houses in towns and municipalities all over the country.

Traditional tile art tells the stories of Portugal's proud seafaring history by depicting navigators and the famous ships called the caravel. More modern tile art might show animals such as tigers and elephants - compositions inspired by oriental designs of the 17th century CE - or the contemporary geometric expressions of Portuguese artist Maria Keil (1914-2012 CE) who produced the stunning tilework for Lisbon's metro stations in the 1950s CE.

The distinctive blue of azulejos might lead you to think that the word derives from azul (the Portuguese word for blue). But azulejos has its origin in the Arabic term for a small, smooth polished stone - aljulej or azulej - and this evolved to azulejo in Portuguese (pronounced ah-zoo-le-zhoo).

Tile art is not merely decorative; it forms a visual historical record of Portugal. So let us take a tour of the national tile museum and discover the history of Portuguese ceramic tiles.

Visiting the Museu Nacional do Azulejo

To really appreciate the beautiful tile art of Portugal, a visit to Lisbon's national tile museum ( Museu Nacional do Azulejo) is well worth the time. The museum preserves Portugal's ceramic art from the 15th century CE, and visitors will learn how the decorative language of azulejos traces the country's cultural identity and the evolution of techniques that were used in crafting azulejos.

The use of glazed & decorative ceramic tiles did not originate in Portugal but stretches back to ancient Assyria & Babylon.

The museum is located in the Xabregas district of Lisbon and covers three floors of the Madre de Deus Convent, founded in 1509 CE by Dona Leonor de Viseu (1458-1525 CE), widow of King Joao II (r. 1481-1495 CE). The golden and gilded interior is due to the renovation that took place after the Great Lisbon earthquake of 1755 CE, which partly destroyed the convent.

Historical Snapshot

The use of glazed and decorative ceramic tiles did not originate in Portugal, but stretches back to ancient Assyria and Babylon and shows us that the ancient world was filled with colour. Decorated tiles and bricks have been found on the walls of ancient Assyrian palaces. The Great Gate of Ishtar, which stood at the entrance to Babylon, is perhaps the most famous example of ancient tile art. The Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II (r. 605/604-562 BCE) ordered the gate to be constructed c. 575 BCE, and it features lions, young bulls ( aurochs), and dragons ( sirrush) against a vibrant cobalt blue glazed background.

In ancient Egypt, Pharoah Djoser (c. 2670 BCE), who was the first king of the Third Dynasty of Egypt, had his funerary chamber in the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara covered with blue faience tiles with yellow lines for papyrus stems.

Lead glazing was known to the Romans who first used the technique in the 1st century BCE. The Greco- Roman world, however, favoured the mosaic technique which was created by setting tesserae - small pieces of stone or glass - into intricate designs on floors and walls in public buildings, private homes, and temples. They also decorated surfaces by painting on wet lime plaster (called the fresco technique) and applying interior or exterior plaster to create relief effects (called stuccowork).

The Moors brought Islamic mosaic & tile art to the Iberian Peninsula in the 8th century CE.

In countries where Islamic culture flourished, wall tiles using geometric designs became an important aspect of tile art and religious expression. Islamic potters developed lustre tiles for use in palaces, mosques and holy shrines, which gave these buildings a distinctive iridescent finish.

Perhaps the earliest example of Islamic tile decoration can be seen on the Mosque of the Dome of the Rock (Qubbat al-Sakhra) located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It was erected by the Muslim caliph Abd el-Malik in 688-691 CE, but Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566 CE) was responsible for the mosque's renovation and the replacement of exterior mosaics with shimmering tiles.

Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey is known as the Blue Mosque because more than 20,000 striking blue and white Iznik tiles cover its interior. Iznik was a Turkish centre of tile and ceramic production for the Ottoman Empire in the late 15th century CE.

You may be wondering why the ancient world seemed to be saturated in blue, and that is because the semi-precious stone lapis lazuli (which means "stone of the sky") was prized in antiquity for its royal blue hue and was thought to be connected with knowledge, insight, and magical powers.

Islamic & Italian Influences

The Moors brought Islamic mosaic and tile art to the Iberian Peninsula in the 8th century CE and it is here that our story really begins.

King Manuel I of Portugal (r. 1495-1521 CE) visited Seville and the Alhambra palace in Granada and was dazzled by the Islamic geometric-patterned ceramic tiles he saw. King Manuel was one of the wealthiest monarchs in the Christian world thanks to the Portuguese age of discovery (early 15th - mid 17th century CE). He imported azulejos from Seville and decorated The Arab Room in his palace at Sintra ( Palácio Nacional de Sintra). The Spanish Muslim geometric patterns used in this room are called mudejar, and this period of tile decoration is known as the Hispano-Moresque.

The palace at Sintra remained largely intact after the 1755 CE earthquake destroyed most of the city. Should you visit the national tile museum, you should also take a tour of the palace at Sintra (around 25 km or 15 m north of Lisbon).

The highlight of the Museu Nacional Do Azulejo is the 1,300 traditional blue and white panoramic panel called The Great View of Lisbon. Located on the top floor, it is 23 metres (75 ft) in length and was made by the Spanish-born tile painter Gabriel del Barco (c. 1649-1701 CE) in 1700 CE. It is one of the few extant visual records of the cityscape before the devastating earthquake.

But perhaps the most fascinating example of Portuguese tile art is the polychrome panel known as Nossa Senhora da Vida (Our Lady of Life) located on the first floor of the museum. It is Portugal's oldest azulejo and is an important piece of 16th-century CE Portuguese tile production.

The 1st Marquis of Pombal (1699-1782 CE) presided over the reconstruction of Lisbon.

Following the Reconquista - when Spanish and Portuguese territories on the Iberian Peninsula were taken back from Muslim control - the Portuguese were free to develop their own style of hand-painted azulejos. Tile painters were no longer bound by Islamic law that forbade the portrayal of human figures and they could now paint animals and humans, historical and cultural events, religious imagery, flowers, fruit, and birds.

By the mid-16th century CE, Italian and Flemish artisans were settling in Lisbon, attracted by the flourishing tile art and the possibilities of working with new techniques. One of these techniques was the Italian majolica, which made it possible to paint directly on the tiles and depict a more complex range of designs such as figurative themes and historical stories. Nossa Senhora da Vida is a superb example of the influence of majolica and Renaissance influence (the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity that took place from the 14th to the 17th centuries CE).

The 1580 CE panel consists of 1,498 azulejos painted in trompe l'oeil (a style of painting that is intended to give a convincing illusion of reality). It is an early and outstanding example of Portuguese religious iconography and includes images of the adoration of the shepherds and John the Evangelist (c. 15 - c. 100 CE). The blue and white squares create illusory depth, while the green, yellow, and blue painted figures and patterns imitate a painted board with a gold gilt frame. The rectangle in the upper lunette indicates that a window was once in the azulejo (it was originally a retable wall in the Church of Santo André in Lisbon).

The Portuguese Style

The 1st Marquis of Pombal, Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, (1699-1782 CE), presided over the reconstruction of Lisbon and architectural ceramic tiles started to follow the so-called Pombalino style. Known as azulejos pombalinos, ceramic tiles moved from the interior of churches and buildings to the exterior - covering public and religious monuments, palaces, stairway walls, houses, restaurants, and gardens. Azulejos pombalinos were also considered an effective and low-cost building solution.

Up to this point, the church and nobility had commissioned decorative ceramics, but we start to see the democratisation of tiles because of their extensive use in urban housing and the rebuilding of the city. To meet demand, the Real Fábrica de Louça tile production factory opened in the Rato district of Lisbon, and 1715 CE saw the last foreign import of ceramic tiles.

The Portuguese overseas expansion starting in the early 14th century CE resulted in a meeting of many cultures, and azulejos reflected a sense of the exotic by including elephants, monkeys, and indigenous peoples from colonies and territories such as Brazil. Indian printed textiles showing Hindu and nature symbols became fashionable between 1650-1680 CE, particularly a composition called aves e ramagens ("birds and branches").

The Leopard Hunt (1650-1675 CE), which is on display at the museum, incorporates themes from Portugal's overseas conquests along with European cultural traditions. The polychrome faience panel came to the museum from Quinta de Santo António da Cadriceira in Torres Vedras (about 50 km or 30 miles north of Lisbon) and shows a female leopard being hunted by indigenous people crowned with feathers.

The Chicken's Wedding panel (1660-1667 CE) demonstrates the creative flair of Portuguese artisans in the 17th century CE but it also shows how commissioned azulejos often spread social satire or political messages. In this large panel, a chicken is conveyed in a carriage that is escorted by a cortege of monkeys playing musical instruments. Singerie (French for "Monkey Trick") is the name given to a visual image in which fashionably dressed monkeys display human behaviour, and it emerged as a distinct genre in the 16th century CE.

The panel is at the museum and a tour guide might tell you that monkeys are often linked to satire and that The Chicken's Wedding could be interpreted as a political commentary on Spain and its supporters during the War of Restoration (1640-1668 CE), which ended 60 years of dual monarchy in Portugal and Spain under the Spanish Habsburgs and established Portugal's new ruling dynasty: the House of Braganza.

By the early 18th century CE, Portuguese tile artisans had fallen under the influence of Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 CE) Chinese porcelain design and Dutch Delftware, both of which led to the cobalt blue and white visual appearance of the Portuguese tiles that are seen all over Portugal today.

The Baroque (c. 1600-1750 CE) and Rococo (c. 1700-1800 CE) movements resulted in a style of azulejos that is unique to Portugal - figuras de convite or invitation figures. These were ornate life-size figures, usually a finely dressed nobleman or woman, and they were fixed to the walls of stairways and at entrances to palaces to welcome or invite guests inside. They made direct eye contact with people and one can only imagine the surprise guests received when coming upon one of these figures. Invitation figures were a design innovation for the Portuguese because they were outlines or cut-outs rather than the traditional square tile composition.

After the flirtation with ornate flourishes and often macabre themes during the 17th and 18th centuries CE, azulejos designs of the 19th century CE catered to the tastes of the newly emerging bourgeoisie (a social order that was dominated by the so-called middle class). The bourgeoisie wanted azulejos to reflect their social success and status and the nouveau-riche emigrants returning from Brazil brought with them the trend of decorating the facades of their houses with ceramic tiles that kept the interior cool and reduced outside noise. As a result, there was a move away from large panels to smaller and more delicately executed azulejos.

Industrialisation introduced new techniques such as the transfer-print method on blue and white or polychrome azulejos, although hand-painted tiles remained popular. Mass production meant that tiles could be produced at a lower cost and a greater variety of stylized designs, from traditional patterns to foreign adaptations, could be offered.

The Art Nouveau period (c. 1890-1910 CE) saw facades decorated with the flowing, curved lines of flowers, plants, vines, leaves, insects, and animals that were typical of the Art Nouveau movement. The cultural elite, however, started to view tile art as old-fashioned and dismissed it as being for the masses.

By the early 20th century CE, ceramic tile art had fallen out of favour and was in danger of becoming a lost art, but thanks to contemporary Portuguese artists like Maria Kell, there was a revival in the 1950s CE as metro stations were constructed and tiles were used in murals as modernist works of art.

Public Art

You can spend hours at the museum, going room by room through Portugal's visual history, but you can also stroll down any street in Lisbon and see azulejos that have weathered rain and sun for hundreds of years. Often you will see someone outside their house cleaning and polishing azulejos.

When you reach the museum, sit down at the café, sip a galão - the Portuguese coffee that is like a milky latte - and you will see an amazing 18th-century CE azulejo panel showing pigs and fish hanging up and waiting to be prepared for cooking.

How To Get There

The Museu Nacional do Azulejo is located on Rua da Madre de Deus 4, Lisbon. You can take bus 794 from Comercio Square and this will drop you at the entrance to the museum. Or you can enjoy a 20-minute walk from Santa Apolonia metro station, stopping to look at street azulejos along the way. There is a handy map on the museum's website.

The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm with the last admission being at 5.30 pm.

Before your visit, you can download a mobile app that offers a guided tour of the most significant azulejos on exhibition.

And if you want to start your own azulejos collection, you can take a workshop at the museum on creating faience tiles - what design would you do?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Glazed blue ceramic tiles or azulejos are everywhere in Portugal. They decorate the winding streets of the capital, Lisbon. They cover the walls of train stations, restaurants, bars, public murals, and fountains, churches, and altar fronts. Azulejos can be seen on park benches and paved sidewalks or adorning the facades of buildings and houses in towns and municipalities all over the country.