 |
Learn Brazilian Portuguese by Talking to Brazilians!At the beginning of my language journey, I did a very simple thing which you can also do to learn Brazilian Portuguese: study with Brazilian friends!
While he was reading his Holy Scriptures in English, I followed along with a Portuguese version under mine. When it was my turn, I did my best to imitate the way he had pronounced the words and phrases. By following this listen-and-repeat pattern, my understanding and pronunciation improved naturally. Learning a skill on your own doesn’t mean doing it alone. All you need is to organize the resources available at the moment, be it time your time, talents, money or a group of friends – and move toward your language goals. A Great Example of TeamworkNature has a lot to teach us, if we just pay attention to its lessons. The seagulls are a great example of that:1. When a group of seagulls fly in the shape of a ‘V’, each fowl creates a support for the next one. By doing so, they can fly at least 70% more than any of them flying solo. 2. If one of them leaves the team, it will feel the wind resistence, and will soon return to the group. 3. When the leader is tired from the journey, she takes the last position, and a fresh one takes the crew leadership. 4. Most of them make continuous sounds to excite/encourage their leaders to keep the rhythm and the speed/velocity. 5. When one of them gets hurt, she will leave the group, and two others will stand by her, to help and protect her. After she gets better, they will return together to the original team, ou will join another one.” Wow! I really had this kind of fellowship: one or two foreigners were all by my side to help me improve my English! Likewise, there are LOTS of Brazilians willing to help you with Portuguese on the Web. (Count me in!) When you show a little interest in their language, they will make an effort to help you too. It all boils down to creating a 'language universe' around you. You can do it by downloading free Brazilian songs and a Pronunciation Guide that fit your needs. You can sing along the Brazilian singers, and if none of your neighbors call the Fire Brigade, you will improve your pronunciation quite soon! “Everyone must be nonsense to grow.” - Arnaldo Antunes, Brazilian singer 1 + 1 is Much More Than 2!After dreaming for years of how to play the violin, I finally decided it was time to give it a try.I invited a very talented young man who taught at my children's school to become my tutor. From about 3 months we had the pleasure of receiving him at home every Friday, from 8 to 9 PM. Then I played for the first time publicly. It was an unforgetable day! Then, all of a sudden... We stopped the violin classes, and my performance hasn't improved since that time. Though I still have the time and the violin, without a friend to give me a sincere feedback, it becomes a little bit difficult to achieve a goal all by myself. One of the many benefits of teamwork is that we have specific goals and a plan to achieve them. Another time I realized the value of teamwork happened when I was in my teens. We had been jogging for a while when I got a stomachache. We were half way through, and I thought to myself: “I can’t spoil his race...” After the training, I told him what happened. He said he had felt the same. When I asked why he had not quit the race, his reply surprised me: “- I couldn’t spoil your race!”
“When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates.” - Thomas S. Monson Develop Your Writing Skills
|