How do I rekindle my love for Brazilian Portuguese?

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acorngalaxy
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How do I rekindle my love for Brazilian Portuguese?

Postby acorngalaxy » Sat Sep 11, 2021 2:58 pm

When I started learning Portuguese several months ago, my main motivation (NOT goal) was to understand Brazilian news (both spoken and written) as well as other programmes like YouTube videos.

However, I’m currently not feeling very motivated to learn it. Most people would say they lose motivation because they find the language hard, but for me it’s the opposite.

It’s strangely easy. Way too easy at a stage/time when I’m supposed to be at a plateau.

My Portuguese routine (same for Italian) typically consists of watching Portuguese videos (usually news videos- think CNN news bites- sometimes as background listening as I do my chores and go about my day), as well as a couple of chapters of a book (meant for natives- I make it a point to never read graded readers), as well as reading some news clippings from Brazilian newspapers. My library gives all users free access to newspapers and magazines from all over the world- it’s amazing. (Check if your library provides this service too)

Of course, I’m not claiming to understand EVERYTHING. There will be about a dozen+ words I come across each day (+ accents can get in the way sometimes) , but most of them do not hinder comprehension. (I have a strong C1 background in Spanish, yet in Italian, a language that I’ve been studying for a longer period of time than Portuguese, many of the words I come across DO hinder comprehension, thus I feel motivated to continue with my daily routine with that language).

Apart from that, there’s a more important factor that has led to this decrease in motivation- I don’t feel excited when I come across a new Portuguese word. In Italian, every word has this strange charm to me- as if it carries some sort of weight to it (I don’t know if I’m sounding delirious or too melodramatic), and it shows- I currently retain Italian words better than Portuguese words.

I carry out this learning routine almost daily, yet it never seems monotonous when it comes to Italian, but it feels like I’m simply going through the notions with Portuguese. I don’t feel challenged enough, perhaps. I don’t know.

Is it worth trying to reignite my passion in Portuguese, or should I just move on to another language/ spend more time on my existing languages?
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Re: How do I rekindle my love for Brazilian Portuguese?

Postby iguanamon » Sat Sep 11, 2021 3:35 pm

I was going to ask why you wanted to learn Portuguese in the first place, but you've answered that. All I can say is that there is a whole world of culture and cultures in Brazil, Portugal, Africa and all Lusofonia. To access them, you need to actually go beyond B1, study the language as a language in its own right.

There is music to discover, books, series, films. Start exploring beyond the obvious. Have you discovered Brazilian authors like Rubem Fonseca. The HBO series "Mandrake" is based on a character he created. The two season are available on DVD for under $5.00 from Amazon.


There are many entertaining and well made series from Brazil to explore. Brazillian music was very motivating for me. I memorized the lyrics for "Aguas de março". My favorite version is by the incomparable Tom Jobim e Elis Regina.


I've traveled in Brazil and Portugal, pre-covid. Speaking Portuguese enriched my experience in both countries in immeasurable and amazing ways. When I run into someone randomly here who speaks Portuguese, they will speak with me in long conversations.

I remember being in a patio restaurant in Rio once, eating lunch. A group of Argentine tourists sat at the next table. The waitress and I were chatting pleasantly. After she took my order, she came back with my caipirinha (it was a hot day!) and we chatted again. She then went next door to serve the Argentines who made no effort to use "portunhol" and was obviously not happy with their arrogance in speaking to her in Spanish. She told me later she felt like going to the bathroom and getting their "vaso de agua" for them. In Portuguese "vaso" is most generally understood to mean a toilet bowl (or a vase). A glass of water in Portuguese is "un copo de água". It's little things like this that can not only be embarrassing but also show a certain lack of care and respect in thinking we know a language because we speak a similar one.

Sometimes, because we speak one Romance language, we think we don't have to make so much of an effort to access the other. In some respects, this can be true. In most others it isn't. While Spanish and Portuguese may be 80% similar, that other 20% is what makes Portuguese, Portuguese. It is indeed another language and to really get the most out of it, it has to be approached and learned as a separate language. Your knowledge of other Romance languages can be leveraged to help you along the way. It's hard to tell you what to do to get yourself motivated. I don't know you or your interests. You have to motivate yourself. I hope you do. Portuguese will open doors for you to wonderful cultures and people across the Lusophone world, and not just Brazil.
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白田龍
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Re: How do I rekindle my love for Brazilian Portuguese?

Postby 白田龍 » Sat Sep 11, 2021 3:41 pm

News are very boring... try watching some Globo soap, (there are many on youtube, or you can subscribe to globoplay for better quality), and/or reading a modern novel. Learning materials should be entertaing on themselves.

If you can't find anything that you like, unless you have a very concrete reason to learn the language, you should probably better switch, because it's unlikely that you go very far.
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Re: How do I rekindle my love for Brazilian Portuguese?

Postby AllSubNoDub » Sat Sep 11, 2021 4:18 pm

To add to Iguanamon's excellent suggestions, there are also things that exist in Portuguese that you just won't have good access to in Italian (or other languages). Brazil's rich history of martial arts (capoeira, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, etc.), the cultures of the tribes in the Amazon basin, mythology and religions associated with the area such as Candomblé and tribal religions, the interesting story of Japanese in Brazil (Issei/Nisei/etc. and the Dekasegi). And this is just one country! Portuguese is definitely worth being learned as she is spoke in all her glory.
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Re: How do I rekindle my love for Brazilian Portuguese?

Postby acorngalaxy » Sat Sep 11, 2021 4:37 pm

iguanamon wrote:I was going to ask why you wanted to learn Portuguese in the first place, but you've answered that. All I can say is that there is a whole world of culture and cultures in Brazil, Portugal, Africa and all Lusofonia. To access them, you need to actually go beyond B1, study the language as a language in its own right.

There is music to discover, books, series, films. Start exploring beyond the obvious. Have you discovered Brazilian authors like Rubem Fonseca. The HBO series "Mandrake" is based on a character he created. The two season are available on DVD for under $5.00 from Amazon.


There are many entertaining and well made series from Brazil to explore. Brazillian music was very motivating for me. I memorized the lyrics for "Aguas de março". My favorite version is by the incomparable Tom Jobim e Elis Regina.


I've traveled in Brazil and Portugal, pre-covid. Speaking Portuguese enriched my experience in both countries in immeasurable and amazing ways. When I run into someone randomly here who speaks Portuguese, they will speak with me in long conversations.

I remember being in a patio restaurant in Rio once, eating lunch. A group of Argentine tourists sat at the next table. The waitress and I were chatting pleasantly. After she took my order, she came back with my caipirinha (it was a hot day!) and we chatted again. She then went next door to serve the Argentines who made no effort to use "portunhol" and was obviously not happy with their arrogance in speaking to her in Spanish. She told me later she felt like going to the bathroom and getting their "vaso de agua" for them. In Portuguese "vaso" is most generally understood to mean a toilet bowl (or a vase). A glass of water in Portuguese is "un copo de água". It's little things like this that can not only be embarrassing but also show a certain lack of care and respect in thinking we know a language because we speak a similar one.

Sometimes, because we speak one Romance language, we think we don't have to make so much of an effort to access the other. In some respects, this can be true. In most others it isn't. While Spanish and Portuguese may be 80% similar, that other 20% is what makes Portuguese, Portuguese. It is indeed another language and to really get the most out of it, it has to be approached and learned as a separate language. Your knowledge of other Romance languages can be leveraged to help you along the way. It's hard to tell you what to do to get yourself motivated. I don't know you or your interests. You have to motivate yourself. I hope you do. Portuguese will open doors for you to wonderful cultures and people across the Lusophone world, and not just Brazil.


Thank you for this very insightful reply :)
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acorngalaxy
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Re: How do I rekindle my love for Brazilian Portuguese?

Postby acorngalaxy » Sat Sep 11, 2021 4:38 pm

白田龍 wrote:News are very boring... try watching some Globo soap, (there are many on youtube, or you can subscribe to globoplay for better quality), and/or reading a modern novel. Learning materials should be entertaing on themselves.

If you can't find anything that you like, unless you have a very concrete reason to learn the language, you should probably better switch, because it's unlikely that you go very far.


Will keep this in mind . Thank you!
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acorngalaxy
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Re: How do I rekindle my love for Brazilian Portuguese?

Postby acorngalaxy » Sat Sep 11, 2021 4:39 pm

AllSubNoDub wrote:To add to Iguanamon's excellent suggestions, there are also things that exist in Portuguese that you just won't have good access to in Italian (or other languages). Brazil's rich history of martial arts (capoeira, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, etc.), the cultures of the tribes in the Amazon basin, mythology and religions associated with the area such as Candomblé and tribal religions, the interesting story of Japanese in Brazil (Issei/Nisei/etc. and the Dekasegi). And this is just one country! Portuguese is definitely worth being learned as she is spoke in all her glory.


Hmm yea that’s a valid point too
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Re: How do I rekindle my love for Brazilian Portuguese?

Postby Sonjaconjota » Wed Sep 15, 2021 8:19 am

So, here's a completely different idea: You mentioned that your initial motivation was to understand things.
But what if you change strategy completely and concentrate just on output for a while, on speaking and writing?
Maybe that would be a challenge that could rekindle your interest.
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Re: How do I rekindle my love for Brazilian Portuguese?

Postby Fuerza » Wed Sep 15, 2021 10:03 pm

Perhaps you could read something more challenging for a bit. Try reading a few pages a day from The Lusiads. Aside from being a beautifully written epic, it’ll help you see lusophone culture from a slightly different angle. This is typically what I do when I get bored with a language, but then again, my goal with language-learning is generally reading proficiency rather than speaking (though I practice that as well), and I actually enjoy the grammar-translation method. YMMV.
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Re: How do I rekindle my love for Brazilian Portuguese?

Postby Diomedes » Thu Sep 16, 2021 2:23 pm

I'll try to help from my native speaker's perspective.

First of all, I can relate with your situation. I seek for languages I have a thrill for, and that thrill, as I see, is not just about the language itself, but especially about the culture, the history, the people that speaks that language.

Also, it's really hard to get lost with not-so-good stuff nowadays. For a non-native, to "separate the wheat from the chaff" can be almost impossible. That pushed me out of north-american english for a while, because I find the mainstream cultural products mostly boring and underwhelming (most of sitcoms, pop music, mainstream Hollywood movies, etc.).

Regarding brazilian portuguese, I would be glad to recommend dozens of authentic material available online.

About brazilian news clippings - how you ever manage to watch them?? They are so depressing... brazilian politics, in particular, is revolting. If I only watched this, I would hate Brazil instantly.

A good recommendation would certainly be brazilian music. Probably not the current brazilian music (again, separate the wheat from the chaff is not easy). The "águas de março" clip recommended in this thread is an excellent start, if you like it (and I do), but there's so much more.

Since you have such a good comprehension level: have you ever watched "Porta dos Fundos" (available on YouTube)? If you like intelligent humor and understand portuguese so well, I would definitely check it. Personally, I'm addicted to it. I believe it's probably the single best brazilian cultural product from the last decade, and it's my first recommendation to (advanced!) brazilian portuguese learners. Since there are thousands of videos and some are much better than others, you may ask me if you want more specific recommendations. If you get into it, it will give you more than a glimpse of contemporary Brazil. I think you can put english subtitles if you need it.

And since you can watch in spanish as well, there are also mexican adaptations of some few sketches in a channel named "Backdoor", that are also very good. But the best ones are in the brazilian channel, and were not translated, as far as I know.
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