português do Brasil

[Lysander]

The last few weeks have been a complete and utter bust. I left my Assimil book in the airbnb I was staying at on the trip I mentioned in my last post. I ordered another copy, but it didn't arrive until this past Monday when I was already out of town for a work retreat, and suddenly I have not done anything with Portuguese in about 2.5 weeks. I just got home and the new copy was in my mailbox.

I was feeling so good having gotten to Lesson 50 with basically no problems, damn.

Looking at Assimil with fresh eyes, I am wondering if I should depart from my previous plan a bit. I am thinking maybe I shouldn't go any further than the end of Lesson 49, and I should just start to focus on really absorbing what has already been covered. I have a stack of notecards so am going to start making flashcards for useful phrases and words, and also write out the conjugations and such for regular and the most common irregular verbs and try to get back in the swing of things that way. Plus getting back to the sweet sweet tunes of Jorge Ben.

If I know the first 49 lessons well, I think then I can reassess whether it is time to move along to DLI, continue with Assimil, or maybe just try to transition to doing more with native materials.

[Lysander]

I will be house and dog sitting for a friend for the first week of June. Since it is a lot of down time, I want to do something big with my Portuguese during that time.

Unfortunately, it is tough to find many Brazilian Portuguese books (or really any that aren't Spanish, Chinese, or French) where I am, but I found a used copy of "As aventuras de Tibicuera" by Erico Verissimo at a local bookstore. So, I think that week I will just try to read through the book using a dictionary and looking up everything I don't understand. It may be slow going, but hopefully is of some use!

[Lysander]

Anyone reading may be interested in my post here about downloading free Kindle books:
https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 78#p107378

Now, I have decided I want to make some flash cards, and I will write them by hand.

I already have a running list of phrases I want to learn, so this will be single words only. My strategy is just to go through the glossary at the back of Assimil. Since the English side of the Portuguese--> English part says the lesson a word was found in, I figured I'd just run down the English side and any word below the lesson I am in, I'd guess its meaning. If I know it in the glossary, I figure I know it well enough since there is no outside context. If not, I will make a flash card. But I will trail at least ~14 lessons behind where I am so I give myself time to assimilate more naturally through my regular revision.

Now, my question to anyone who may see this is, how can I make the most useful flashcard? For anyone who happens to read this and doesn't know or study the same language as me, there are two genders in Brazilian Portuguese.
the (male) = o
the (female) = a
a/an (male) = um
a/an (female) = uma

With that in mind, which of the following formats makes the most sense for noun flashcards:

A)
Side 1: cake
Side 2: bolo

B)
Side 1: cake (m.)
Side 2: bolo

C)
Side 1: cake
Side 2: bolo (m.)

D)
Side 1: cake (m.)
Side 2: bolo (m.)

E)
Side 1:
the cake
a cake
Side 2:
o bolo
um bolo

F) Something you think is better.

My thinking is A would be no good as I definitely want to learn the gender with the noun. Beyond that, I think there are pros and cons to all of them. My inclination would be either B, since I get the reminder of the gender and already know to say o/um for masculine, or E since then I'd see the full versions each time I reviewed, which might make it stick better in my mind.

Opinions are most welcome. Obrigado.

[Jaleel10]

Now, my question to anyone who may see this is, how can I make the most useful flashcard? For anyone who happens to read this and doesn't know or study the same language as me, there are two genders in Brazilian Portuguese.
the (male) = o
the (female) = a
a/an (male) = um
a/an (female) = uma

With that in mind, which of the following formats makes the most sense for noun flashcards:

Hi, Lysander

Fellow Romance language student and keen follower of your log haha

I would definitely go full noun "the cake" - "o bolo". I would leave out the indefinite article tbh, you already know them subconsciously haha

I only say "the cake" I wouldn't also type out "a cake" (or even the cakes, some cakes). The singular "the" will be reinforcement enough

[白田龍]

You can try sentences such as:

Side A:
Comi um bolo de banana.
Side B:
I ate a banana cake.

Side A:
Comi um bolo de canela esta manhã
Side B:
I ate a cinammon cake this morning

This way your not only fixing the gender, but also getting freeby words.

You can get some nice simple examples by seaching google twitter or some portuguese corpus.

[Lysander]

http://portugueseresources.wikispaces.com/Textbooks

A nice page that summarizes the pros and cons of various study options.

One annoying aspect of Assimil that bears repeating, or at least sharing a first time, is the habit to introduce new vocabulary in grammar notes. Lessons 55 & 66 both use "ontem" (yesterday) in explanatory notes. As far as I recall, it was never used in a dialogue up to that point. It is a straight-forward enough word that not having the pronunciation isn't a big deal. But here on the back half, I'd think it would not be too hard to either,
A) Only use vocab we have already heard in the grammar notes, or
B) Shoehorn in the vocab in a random sentence within the dialogue.

Oh well, no course is perfect, and I feel I am getting so much out of it.

Following random Brazilians on Instagram and having a few to exchange short messages with on WhatsApp is so helpful. All the most basic greetings and answers seem almost second nature now.

[Jaleel10]

One annoying aspect of Assimil that bears repeating, or at least sharing a first time, is the habit to introduce new vocabulary in grammar notes.

100%. I kinda regret not using Assimil as I would use a book in high school. Making notes of everything important because I constantly find myself looking at the back for the translations. I am definitely gonna do that next time with German. Too late now

[Lysander]

One annoying aspect of Assimil that bears repeating, or at least sharing a first time, is the habit to introduce new vocabulary in grammar notes.

100%. I kinda regret not using Assimil as I would use a book in high school. Making notes of everything important because I constantly find myself looking at the back for the translations. I am definitely gonna do that next time with German. Too late now

Very cool you know Afrikaans. I am hoping to visit South Africa sometime in the next year! I think it'd be cool to study Afrikaans, but I assume that as a tourist, and in such a multi-lingual country, it is not necessary?

Even if someone were to move as an expat, would English serve them just fine, or would Afrikaans get them those connections they may need to get by? Or is it more regional where maybe you definitely need Afrikaans in Pretoria but not Cape Town, etc...?

Sorry for all the questions I find your country fascinating.

[Jaleel10]

One annoying aspect of Assimil that bears repeating, or at least sharing a first time, is the habit to introduce new vocabulary in grammar notes.

100%. I kinda regret not using Assimil as I would use a book in high school. Making notes of everything important because I constantly find myself looking at the back for the translations. I am definitely gonna do that next time with German. Too late now

Very cool you know Afrikaans. I am hoping to visit South Africa sometime in the next year! I think it'd be cool to study Afrikaans, but I assume that as a tourist, and in such a multi-lingual country, it is not necessary?

Even if someone were to move as an expat, would English serve them just fine, or would Afrikaans get them those connections they may need to get by? Or is it more regional where maybe you definitely need Afrikaans in Pretoria but not Cape Town, etc...?

Sorry for all the questions I find your country fascinating.

No problem haha. It always brings a smile to my face to see someone taking an interest in my country.

Yep, English is just fine for most biggest cities and tourist attractions, don't worry. So come and enjoy yourself

Obviously when you visit smaller towns, you will find most of them are 'monolingual' in either Zulu, Xhosa or Afrikaans. But even so, all South Africans learn English as a 2nd language in school if it's not their first so you would be fine eitherway

If you want to get yourself a phrasebook or do some practice. Try your Afrikaans in Cape Town, Bloemfontein or Pretoria. People will be super chuffed to see you trying to use it

[Lysander]

Looking back to the first page of my log, I realized that had I not lost my Assimil book, I'd be done with the passive wave by now! Equal parts discouraging and motivating, really. I think that even with how far I will still have to go, getting that far will feel rather nice. With how time-consuming the active wave was when I tried it out, I still plan to just proceed all the way through the passive wave before going back to do the active. Just periodic review in the meantime.

The delay in getting through Assimil is okay, though. The thorough review I started doing of the earlier lessons after getting a replacement book seems to have really started to help solidify things. For the one monolingual Brazilian I message with, I still double check everything I recieve with google translate, but my instincts are right ~85% of the time, which is cool. Since our messages are short, when I do find new vocab, it is nice that I am being exposed in a colloquial context.

Instead of saying what I will do, since my planning never seems to come to fruition, I will tell you all what I have been doing:

A) Assimil passive wave lesson
B) Listening/reading over NHK*
C) A lesson from Língua da Gente.
D) A Portuguese Communication Exercises or two.

On the rare day, I may do all of the above. But I usually aim to do at least two of them. Outside of that, I throw on Portuguese tunes when I can just to try to always have the rhythm in my head.

*even when I get up early, this one seems to arbitrarily just have audio for some of the news stories listed and I cannot find others. It is very strange as I'd expect either all to be there or none. Regardless, I hope to one day fully understand what is being said even on the ones without a transcript. It is still good listening practice.