Progress on the list I made a week or two back
Speaking Goals
Not really winning with any of this stuff. 😦
- 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.
- Speak portuguese for at least 5 minutes every day between now and the exam.
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). Some done but not enough
- Listen to at least 3 video films with subtitles. One down, 2 to go… oh no, wait, Ramiro doesn’t count because the only subtitles were in English and that’s no bloody good! OK, 3 to go still, then.
Get to grips with the Raul Solnado “Guerra de 1908” sketchDone!
Cultural Goals
- Read at the very least:
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- A Língua Portuguesa (Fernando Pessoa)
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.
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- Make a timeline of portuguese history to get a sense of how it hangs together. Drawn but not yet filled in. I need highlighters – stat!
- Write about portuguese landmarks – the Padrão dos Descubrimentos, Torre de Belém, Mosteiro dos Jerónimos and so on. Assembled some materials for this but not yet put pen to paper
General Language skills
- I need to build my vocabulary – Memrise and Lingq daily goals – Doing alright so far!
- 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 Not done
Finish the exercise book I’m on nowDone!- 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 Nope
- 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. Started working on this: transcribed a song and translated it. It started breaking down when I was low on space but I’ve shown I can do it if I put my mind to it. More practice needed.
- Letter format and forms of address Nope
- Learn – actually learn verbatim – one song. I started looking at a song by Márcia called “Menina” but she writes in a weird, cryptic style that’s really hard to decipher. I thought maybe Deolinda but having dug around a bit, I’m more inclined to go for “Dia de Folga” by Ana Moura because it’s got proper sentences and a wide range of fairly ordinary, everyday language in it, plus it would be good fun to belt it out while I’m doing the housework.
Para mim, os livros electrónicos não chegam. Apenas o papel, solido e confiável é suficiente para uma experiência óptima da leitura. Quero cheirar a polpa da madeira, às vezes o pó dos anos longo na estante. Quero sentir a capa debaixo do polegar. Quero encher a estante com tesouros da livraria. Além disso, não quero que acontece uma situação como bateria fraca durante um capítulo divertido. Mas gostos não se discutem. Eu sei que existem pessoas que verdadeiramente preferem os livros electrónicos. Nunca compreenderei essas pessoas mas devo de reconhecer que têm muitas boas razões para as suas preferências esquisitas. Um “kindle” deixa o seu dono carregar uma biblioteca inteira na mala ou na bolsa. Não necessita que uma floresta seja cortada para fazer mais livros. Também, suponho que poupam muito dinheiro por não terem de comprar mais estantes para casa mas na minha opinião é uma casa desgraçada por não ser cheia de livros bonitos.
Luso 