Real Brazilian Portuguese & Culture
Traditional Food of Bahia & The Brazilian Northeast First of all… Thanks Lani Brown! This is a post about Bahian food. Bahia is the state that is most known for having the best carnaval celebration…ever….which is centered in the capital city Salvador. But it is also known for its food. Bahia is perhaps the most well [...]
Social Networking: Where Are Brazilians Meeting Up Online? An interesting graphic representation of the use of popular social networks in Brazil, thanks to Marco Vergotti…
The Culture of Plastic Surgery Among Rio’s Lower Classes A ‘Necessary Vanity’ Alexander Edmonds, an anthropologist studied the culture of plastic surgery among Rio’s lower classes and found a desire for both equity and self-esteem: I first met Ester through her former employer, a successful plastic surgeon, for whom she’d worked as his personal cook. [...]
ELITE SQUAD 2:THE ENEMY WITHIN (TROPA DE ELITE 2: O INIMIGO AGORA E OUTRO) When Elite Squad (Tropa de Elite), José Padilha’s film about Rio de Janeiro’s infamous military-police unit, BOPE, was released in 2007 the director found himself under siege. Many critics found its full-frontal assault on the issue of favela violence – baldly narrated by the [...]
Best Resources For Learning Brazilian Portuguese Online Best Portuguese To English Translation Site: - Google Translate - Not always accurate, pretty bad for looking up slang…but of all the terrible online word-for-word translation sites, this one is the lesser evil Best Portuguese Slang Dictionary: - Dicionário InFormal - This site is great for looking up slang words in Portuguese, [...]
Here’s the Portuguese word of the day! If you have any words that you would like to nominate for this word of the day series, let me know! portugueseblogger@gmail.com “CAMELÔ” camelô - n. street vendor
Anonymous Street Artist “JR” Gives A Face To Brazilian Favelas Here is a beautiful installation by graffiti artist JR in Brazil. This group effort is part of a larger project to document the lives of women living in poverty worldwide. JR is the name of a photographer and artist whose identity is unconfirmed. JR’s Women Are Heroes trailer
This Week’s NYT Magazine Profiles Brazilian Artist Vik Muniz I first learned about Vik Muniz, the highly successful New York-based Brazilian artist, when I saw Waste Land, the documentary about Muniz that won the Public Award in the Sundance Independent Film Festival and shows his work with garbage pickers in Jardim Gramacho, the largest landfill of [...]
The New Senna Documentary Premiers TODAY In The US! Like most Americans will remember where they were when they first heard about the tragedies of 9-11, any Brazilian will remember where he or she was when they heard the news of Ayrton Senna’s death. This wonderful documentary, based on the amazing life of Brazilian F1 [...]
Obtaining an Internship In Brazil & Making A Resume in Portuguese In Brazilian Portuguese, an internship is called an estágio. Like in other countries, it’s an opportunity for students or young people to gain experience in a company, either unpaid or with a small stipend or salary. In Brazil, interns are called estagiários, and to participate in [...]
What is a Capixaba? Espírito Santo (literally means “Holy Spirit”) is a small state on the coast, squished between Bahia, Rio de Janeiro & Minas Gerais. It’s a state a lot of people say has no accent really, because each part of the state borders another state with such strong cultural and linguistic traits that [...]
Emails In Brazilian Portuguese Here are some suggestions for writing both formal and informal emails in Brazilian Portuguese: How To Write Formal Emails in Portuguese For those who need to learn Portuguese for work, this will come in handy… 1. Salutation / Greeting (Introdução) A formal salutation to use is “Prezado Senhor” or “Prezada Senhora”, depending on the [...]
Welcome To Brazil: A Brazilian’s Critique of The Issues Surrounding The Upcoming World Cup in Brazil It’s not really news anymore that Brazil is setting an example for how to not organize a World Cup, with its endemic corruption, and both social and structural problems that could turn out to be really embarrassing when it [...]
A Great Guide for Your Trip To The Amazon Thank You Brazil Travel Blog for posting this awesome list of suggestions for people’s itineraries in the Amazon!!! (I’ve just copied and pasted their wonderful article below)… 1. General information When to go? To choose the right time to visit the region we published the post when to [...]
Increased Tourism In Rio’s “Pacified” Favelas: Encouraged by The Brazilian Government, But Is it Ultimately Fair to Inhabitants? The traditional conception of a favela is being subverted in Rio. Every day, dozens of tourists are led through some of Rio’s most dangerous slums to witness the conditions of the favela. In the wake of U.S. President [...]
“The way you buy art for your home, a Brazilian woman buys jewelry for her outfit.” true, oh so true… They call it Ginga. Technically a sweeping move in the Brazilian martial art dance of Capoeira, it also describes that “certain something” that Brazilian women ooze as they move through space. It’s a self-confident, independent, [...]
Weird News: Brazil’s Hottest Grandpa Crowned in Sao Paulo First it was prison inmates, now it’s grandpas. What’s going on Sao Paulo? Via HuffPost… “They want to see people who are dynamic…who are good speakers who also have good looks and a young soul…how is able to somehow pass this energy to the public.” That’s [...]
How To Pronounce The Brazilian Portuguese “R” & How The Sound Varies By State The “R” – A lot of people seem to have trouble with the Portuguese “R” but the good news is that it can be pretty much pronounced however you wish because the sound of the letter “R” changes from state to state in [...]
Restaurant D.O.M In Sao Paulo Just Voted The Best Restaurant In Brazil Yum! javali (that’s a boar) filé mignon with polenta!!! S. Pellagrino Just Voted D.O.M. in Sao Paulo the best restaurant in Brazil (…and number 7 in the world). I’ve been to this restaurant, the food is amazing, as it should be for the absurd [...]
I just watched a clip from Fantastico about how foreign words are integrated into the Brazilian vocabulary by taking on a whole new spelling that adapts to Portuguese orthography. I have already written a bit about this in my post on Portuguese words of English origin. Some words taken from other language keep their original [...]
