Category: English

Posted in English

A Wild Portugeese Chase

Posted on by Colin Lusk

In t-shirt news, I saw this t-shirt, referencing the current portuguese fuel crisis, on the Cão Azul website…

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…and although I had no desire to own the thing, I did get a bit obsessed by what the joke was. I asked around and found someone who explained it was to do with the way the words are pronounced in regional accents/dialects in the north, where the sound of words is more influenced by Galician – so a V might become a B and the ão sound would be more like an “on” or “om” (so “televisão” becomes “telebisom”). She also mentioned an explanation of the gasoil/gasoleo thing that included the word “gozar” which unfortunately I misunderstood as her saying that gazoil would be pronounced “gozar”

So I started trying to put the mispronounced syllables into a sentence

Camion… Bidon… Gasoil… Jarrican

Cá meu m… something… gozar… já something

but I couldn’t make sense of it so I asked again and she explained that, no, it’s just about how the northerners talk funny. I find this a deeply disappointing piece of news and keep looking at it again trying to find a hidden meaning in there like it was some sort of crossword clue, and I don’t think I can rest easy until I find one.

If you’re reading this and you have a better answer for why this is funny (feel free to invent one – I’ll be as gullible as you like) then please, please, tell me.

 

Posted in English

Diz-se Que Existem Outras Línguas.

Posted on by Colin Lusk

Bon Soir, Boa Noite and Good Evening

Well, I think this is the longest gap between blog posts for quite some time now. I have been wibbling about doing other things, busy with work and actually took a whole week off portuguese to brush up on my french for a family holiday. It was sort of a strange experience. On the one hand, I was surprised by the experience of accessing the francophone bits of my brain. I’ve forgotten a lot in the 34 years since my O’Level of course, but I used to be pretty good at it back in the day, and the language has pretty deep roots in my head, such that I’ve always been able to hold my own in conversations I’ve had as an adult. But to continue the deep roots metaphor, the whole plant has been buried under a thick mulch of portuguese vocabulary. I had to read a couple of comic books to reawaken it, and even then I’d find portuguese would just tumble out of my mouth at every excuse. I consistently said “et” like the portuguese “e” and standards like “merci”, “pardon” and “oui” would all just give way to their portuguese equivalents even if I was a few sentences deep into a conversation. Words that are similar between the two like “fácil” and “facile” got a bit blurry too.

What was weirder still, though, was that the day after I got back, I had a portuguese lesson after having not spoken, read, heard, or written a word of portuguese for about 8 or 9 days. Normally if I have a delay like that I find I’m really rusty and can’t get a word out, but it actually flowed pretty well, and I can only conclude that whatever mental equipment I use for producing portuguese was getting a good workout from producing the bizarre Françuguês I was bellowing at the longsuffering garçons of Nantes.

Posted in English

Chulé, Madly, Deeply

Posted on by Colin Lusk

Apparently there’s a specific word for the smell of stinky feet in Portuguese: Chulé.

Ricardo Araújo Pereira mentions it in “Estar Vivo Aleija” and wonders how “línguas bárbaras” like English manage without it in sentences like “Após a meia-maratona, os meus pés cheiravam a chulé”. We’d have to say “(they) smell of smelly feet” which would be tautologous.

If never come across the word before. As an example of an untranslatable word it’s not as impressive as “Saudade” but it’s much more fun.

Posted in English

Big Day

Posted on by Colin Lusk

Right, well here I go then…

Tuesday

  • Read on the train
  • 1 hour accent practice (speaking)
  • 1 hour accent practice (listening – while walking)
  • Write about o Mosteiro de Batalha

Wednesday

  • Read on the train
  • 1 hour lesson
  • 1 hour conversation practice
  • Write a letter of complaint
  • Go to bed early

Thursday

  • Exam
Posted in English

Exam Prep Review #6

Posted on by Colin Lusk

Last 3 days. Biff. And also: Thwack.

Monday:

  • 1 hour lesson
  • Watch “Gatos Nao têm Vertigens”
  • Write about the Padrão dos descobrimentos
  • Write about the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos (did a text about my book instead)
  • Watch 1 episode of “O Ministério do Tempo”

Tuesday

  • Read on the train
  • 1 hour accent practice (speaking)
  • 1 hour accent practice (listening – while walking)
  • Write about o Mosteiro de Batalha

Wednesday

  • Read on the train
  • 1 hour lesson
  • 1 hour conversation practice
  • Write a letter of complaint
  • Go to bed early

Thursday

  • Exam
Posted in English

Exam Prep Review #6

Posted on by Colin Lusk

Crossin’ off dem tasks:

Sunday:

  • Do the Just a Minute Challenge
  • Watch “Gatos Nao têm Vertigens” (not done)
  • Spend 15 minutes trying to commit the song to memory
  • Do half an hour more on the transcript
  • Go through DIPLE model exam (mostly done but not quite)

Monday:

  • 1 hour lesson
  • Do half an hour on the transcript
  • Watch the film from Sunday instead of the above which I’ve now decided is a waste of time.
  • Write about the Padrão dos descobrimentos
  • Write about the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos
  • Watch 1 episode of “O Ministério do Tempo”

Tuesday

  • Read on the train
  • 1 hour accent practice
  • Write about o Mosteiro de Batalha

Wednesday

  • Read on the train
  • 1 hour lesson
  • 1 hour conversation practice
  • Write a letter of complaint
  • Go to bed early

Thursday

  • Exam
Posted in English

Exam Prep Review #5

Posted on by Colin Lusk

Progress update on the list of topics to cover.

Speaking Goals

  • Build Confidence: I need to speak clearly and confidently even when I get to a bit I’m not sure about. If I don’t know the word, just guess and keep on going rather than fretting and looking confused.
  • Conversely, don’t be cocky: talk at a sensible speed to give myself time to think, and don’t go off at a tangent that seems interesting if I’m not sure where I’m going with it. Obviously this is in conflict with the point above. I haven’t really got anywhere with these first two but I’m planning to do a sort of portuguese version of “just a Minute” as a way of making myself do it. One for the next couple of days, I think. 
  • Speak portuguese for at least 5 minutes every day between now and the exam. Crossing this one off – I have done loads and have 4 hours of conversation practice booked in the next 5 days, plus whatever I can coax out of Mrs Colin

Listening Goals

  • Listen to videos of people speaking in a range of accents from Alentejo, the rural centre of the country. and the islands (hence that Açoriano video I just posted).
  • Listen to at least 3 video films with subtitles. Not really a film but I’ll count “Na Ponta da Língua” for one and the Ricardo Araújjo Pereira thing as another. One to go.
  • Get to grips with the Raul Solnado “Guerra de 1908” sketch Done!

Cultural Goals

  • Read at the very least:
      • A Língua Portuguesa (Fernando Pessoa) I probably won’t get to finish this but it’s locked and loaded. I have read two extra (smaller) books in the meantime.
      • Mensagem (Fernando Pessoa) Done!
      • Brevíssima História de Portugal (A.H. De Oliveira Marques)
      • Maybe even A construção da democracia em Portugal (Kenneth Maxwell) although that seems a bit ambitious. No way is this happening. 
  • Make a timeline of portuguese history to get a sense of how it hangs together. Done
  • Write about portuguese landmarks – the Padrão dos Descubrimentos, Torre de Belém, Mosteiro dos Jerónimos and so on. I’ve done one and listened to some audio about the others

General Language skills

  • I need to build my vocabulary – Memrise and Lingq daily goals – Still winning
  • I’m getting better at the ver/vir (which was one of the 4 Evil Exes I identified a year or so back) but need to step up my game on some of the other weirder irregulars like Por and Dar
  • Finish the exercise book I’m on now Done!
  • Do a couple of mock exams to get a feel for the speed I need to be working at to get in under the time limit Work still needed. Only half a one!
  • Practice writing legibly. I type so much these days I need to get my hand used to forming letters or I’ll be penalised for spelling errors. Crossing off. If I can’t do it now, I’m in trouble,
  • Letter format and forms of address Still one to do
  • Learn – actually learn verbatim – one song. Still not done.

 

Plans for the next few days to make sure I hit all the remaining items

Sunday:

  • Do the Just a Minute Challenge
  • Watch “Gatos Nao têm Vertigens”
  • Spend 15 minutes trying to commit the song to memory
  • Do half an hour more on the transcript
  • Go through DIPLE model exam

Monday:

  • 1 hour lesson
  • Do half an hour on the transcript
  • Write about the Padrão dos descobrimentos
  • Write about the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos
  • Watch 1 episode of “O Ministério do Tempo”

Tuesday

  • Read on the train
  • 1 hour accent practice
  • Write about o Mosteiro de Batalha

Wednesday

  • Read on the train
  • 1 hour lesson
  • 1 hour conversation practice
  • Write a letter of complaint
  • Go to bed early

Thursday

  • Exam