I’ve really on a reading kick at the moment. My poor smartphone has been gathering dust for hours at a time 🎻. More worryingly, I can’t stop buying them, no matter how the TBR shelves groan under the weight, suspended above my head while I sleep, threatening to kill me with a nocturnal literature-avalanche.
Some of my favourite Portuguese Booktubers are doing themed challenges and I thought I’d tag along and carry on the momentum from finishing the chunky-ass thriller I’ve just put back on the shelf. I’m going to read some books in both languages and try and write/say something about them in Portuguese just because it’s more fun than doing exercises.
I haven’t done many videos and don’t intend to make it a regular thing (I know, I know, the Lord is merciful) but it’s fun to do, and I learn how to use the video editing software as well as stretching my Portuguese speaking skills a bit. I’m quite happy to see how much better this is than the last one, but there is still a lot of umming and ahhing, and a lot of really horrible errors that even I can see, so god knows how it comes across to others! In other words, there’s a long way to go… Useful trends to pick up are that I use “por isso” more than I think is really natural, seem to be using “no” instead of any other em-related word, and “isso” for all my demonstrative pronouns for some reason, even when I know the thing is masculine and I’m actually holding it in my hand. The other thing that’s starting to bother me is how lazy my accent is. I never used to worry about it before because I was more concerned about understanding the mechanics of the language but I’m at a stage now where I ought to be able to roll my Rs properly and make a proper -ĂŁo sound that isn’t a disgrace to humanity. I think I might go back to the Portuguese With Carla blog and really do it properly, making an effort to say everything out loud and teach my mouth to be less flat and british.
No, I’ve no idea what that first few seconds is about, but it took me about two hours to make, so I hope you enjoy it!
Update:
While writing this, five people (five!) have commented on the video. I don’t know why this should surprise me since I posted it in public on a social network using a hashtag, but I suppose I thought it’d be like the last one and get seen by three people over a period of about six months. I’m simultaneously happy to be so warmly received and blushing slightly at the attention.
So I’ve finished my reading for this book blogging challenge and it’s been a brilliant source of motivation to read portuguese in massive (for me) doses. I’ve written reviews of all three books on iTalki and I wanted to make a recorded version as well to make some of the vocabulary stick, and my daughter, who is an expert on vlogging, helped me record it. It’s pretty dreadful though, I’m afraid… I’ve put it down at the bottom where it belongs
Luso 