The iguana's tale- Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Ladino

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iguanamon
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Re: The iguana's tale- Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Ladino

Postby iguanamon » Fri Feb 25, 2022 12:29 am

Sometimes, events in the world make updating my language-learning log seem like something so trivial. That's how I feel today after waking up to the news in every language this morning.

We don't talk about politics here, just languages. So, I'm not going to get into the politics of the situation. I am reminded of a song from the Vietnam War Era by the late Marvin Gaye- "What's Going On" which expresses my feelings right now. From around 50 years ago, its message is still relevant today. We just never seem to learn, do we?! :(
Marvin Gaye wrote:War is not the answer



I'll be back, hopefully soon, with an update, when I feel more like making one.

Até mais!
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Re: The iguana's tale- Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Ladino

Postby iguanamon » Thu Mar 03, 2022 5:20 pm

Catalan
I finished the book "El jutge i el seu botxí" wriiten by Friedrich Dürrenmatt- original title: "Der Richter und sein Henker". It was a short novel, set in Switzerland and written by a Swiss author- so translated from German to Catalan. I enjoyed the story and the mystery. Dürrenmatt is a very good writer. I'd never heard of him before reading this book, I thought it would be a good read and it was.
I've moved on to a new book- "Aixeca'm més amunt" by Bill S. Ballinger
Image
synopsis per Edicions 62 wrote:Bryce Patch, director d’una agència d’investigació, s’enfronta simultàniament a dos casos: el robatori violent de la nòmina d’una gran empresa, i la recerca d’un individu a petició d’una dona bonica. Una acció febril recupera el culte a la dinàmica que s’exercia als antics «pulps», les revistes de narrativa popular en les quals va néixer el gènere negre, i s’integra en una visió documentalista de la tècnica detectivesca i de l’urbs de Nova York. Gradualment es va desvetllant un tema clàssic de l’autor, la pugna entre la simulació i les aparences, que condueix al descobriment de la veritat…

So we have a payroll theft and the search for somebody at the request of a beautiful woman. Throw in "Nova York" in the 1960's and it looks like the ingredients exist for a lively story, no doubt.
This book is from the "La cua de palla" collection of noir novels in Catalan. This isn't high-brow literature but it is enjoyable and has lots of natural dialog. The books are short enough to allow me to maintain momentum and keep my interest.

Spanish
Speaking from time to time, las noticias- CÑN; the AP en español; El País; twitter; etc. In these extraordinary times in the world, almost everything else seems trivial, but we have to go on with our lives. I enjoy watching baseball, which helps to take my mind off things- which pastimes do- and I watch baseball in Spanish. This year MLB (Major League Baseball) is in a "lockout"- the owners have locked out the players in order to force favorable negotiations over a work agreement... which isn't happening as the owners expected. Go figure. As a result, MLB has cancelled opening day and the first two series of the season. Sigh. MLB cancela día inaugural, no hay acuerdo laboral.
I've paused my watching of the telenovela "Dos Vidas" at episode 90 until I can get some more time freed up. Hopefully resuming soon.

Russian
I've had this idea for a long time of traveling across Russia on the Trans-Siberian Express from Moscow, stopping off at Lake Baikal and Novosibirsk, ending up in Vladivostok and taking the ferry to Japan, flying home from there. I wanted to do it in February of next year, but it looks like that's off the table now due to events beyond my control- sound familiar?! First Covid now war. I'd wanted to go in February of next year so I could experience a real Siberian "winter". Yeah, I know, leave the Caribbean in the midst of the best weather of the year to go to Siberia in February?! Yes, it's nuts. I though it would be a grand adventure.

So, I was going to learn some Russian to some level in preparation for the trip. I'd started going through the beginning lessons of "The Berlitz Self-Teacher Russian" course and Margarita Madrigal's "Invitation to Russian". Like all language-learners, over the years, I've hoarded some electronic supplies to learn a lot of languages. I have everything I need for a deep dive into learning Russian... but... now I don't know. I've still got work to do with Catalan. Maybe this summer, if the world is still here and I haven't sailed down to Ushuaia to wait out the arrival of the nuclear fallout from the Northern Hemisphere in a valiant (but futile) attempt to cheat death and fate. (I already speak Spanish. So, that's something, I suppose.) I may start Russian. Looks like a fun language to learn. It's the language of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Solzhenitzyn, Navalny; and Pussy Riot.

I've seen a lot of surprising events occur in my life. Things look bad now, but times do change and so do situations and events, sometimes for worse and sometimes for the better. I'll choose optimism, every time.

Orevwa zanmi m yo. M a wè nou pita.
Last edited by iguanamon on Thu Mar 03, 2022 6:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The iguana's tale- Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Ladino

Postby galaxyrocker » Thu Mar 03, 2022 6:39 pm

iguanamon wrote:I've had this idea for a long time of traveling across Russia on the Trans-Siberian Express from Moscow, stopping off at Lake Baikal and Novosibirsk, ending up in Vladivostok and taking the ferry to Japan, flying home from there.


If this ever works out, please let us know how it goes! It's actually something I've dreamed of doing myself (well, something similar), but starting in Portugal and taking trains/boats all the way down through Mongolia and China and into Vietnam and Indonesia, etc. I think it would be amazingly fun and an interesting, possibly life-changing experience. Man, now that you've brought that back up I almost want to start Russian myself, though I can afford to focus on it right now.
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Re: The iguana's tale- Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Ladino

Postby iguanamon » Thu Apr 14, 2022 7:16 pm

Catalan
Still moving along with Catalan. I finished reading "Aixeca'm més amunt" (Heist Me Higher) by Bill S. Ballinger. It was a good read but there's nothing really exciting in it to tell you all about. It's another Catalan book read and I have moved on to a next one that I thought might be interesting- "Joc de testemonis" by Stanley Ellin, again from the La Cua de Palla collection.

Image

synopsis wrote:Tots cinc podien haver-ho fet, perquè tots sostenien una mena de relació o altra amb Kate Ballou, la bella noia de Nova York que vivia a la casa del costat. I tots cinc, cadascú amb el seu llenguatge, conten llurs històries al cap de policia i al lector. Cinc històries que es complementen, que exhaureixen caràcters i oportunitats, que posen al descobert compromisos, quimeres, debilitats i, al final, un assassí.
Stanley Ellin sap anar al fons de les coses i al fons de les criatures. I el que hi troba, és clar, no sempre és bonic ni exemplar. Però és fascinador.

The book was written in 1951 and set in New York. It tells the tale of a murder from five points of view. I thought it would be interesting to see how it develops...

When I started reading in Catalan, I had no idea a collection of "noir" existed in the language. The short length of the books- 150-200 pages and the colloquial language made it a natural for me. It solved a problem of what to read in Catalan. It also allowed me to further explore the genre in a language other than my native one. There's a large selection:


All the reading I have done in Catalan, and I haven't been counting, is working its magic. I feel very confident in Catalan now. I've still got a way to go before reading is as natural for me as it is in my other languages.

Spanish
I'm back on the RTVE telenovela "Dos Vidas" after a few weeks break. I'm on episode 109... only 146 more to go ;). The show is quite well done and has a high quality of production. The story is compelling. I watch it on my phone. Even at an advanced level, there are always turns of phrase and vocabulary to pick up.

Of course, novelas are convoluted. There are multiple stories going on at the same time. In Dos Vidas, the stories are happening in two time periods and two continents. It's a lot to keep up with.

Major League Baseball is back. I'm watching on the MLB app with synchronized Spanish audio. It's still only April so I'm not too serious about it yet. It's a long time to October. Baseball has it's own vocabulary in Spanish. Here's a fun article that talks about it: Béisbol's Universal Language
Chicago Tribune wrote:MEXICO CITY — Cubs slugger Derrek Lee looked at the "shipment" from the Mexican "launcher" and then smacked it for un batazo grande over the head of the "right gardener."
"Un canonazo!" yelled the television announcer as Lee's "cannon shot" cleared the wall for a home run and he rounded the "cushions."
At least that's the version heard by Latino baseball fans watching or listening south of the border, across the Caribbean and throughout Hispanic neighborhoods in the U.S...

If I'm going to watch baseball anyway, I may as well watch it in Spanish... or maybe... Portuguese

Portuguese
Culture Trip wrote:...Baseball was first introduced to Brazil, the fifth-most populous country in the world, by the Japanese in the early 1900s, who emigrated to escape poverty and unemployment in their home nation. Brazil is home to the largest Japanese population outside of Japan — approximately 1.8 million people of Japanese descent live in the country.
So it’s no surprise Brazil’s national team has a Japanese influence. Players including Felipe Fukuda, Hugo Kanabushi, Claudio Matumoto, Bo Takahashi and Vitor Ito are of Japanese descent. There are also many Brazilians who play professionally in Japan.
“I fell in love with baseball through my family,” said Takahashi, a pitcher in the Arizona Diamondbacks system born in Presidente Prudente, Brazil. “In the beginning, baseball in Brazil had a more Japanese style, but now it’s a mix of Japanese, American and Latin — Brazilian baseball is a big mix of that.”


Here's Seth (Sete) Kugel, formerly the NY Times Frugal Traveler explaining baseball en 6 minutes for Brazilians. Seth is an American who lived in Brazil for many years. He has a youtube channel explaining The US to Brazilians- "Amigo Gringo".


When I was in São Paulo a few years ago, my home base was the neighborhood of Liberdade- the Japanese neighborhood. I loved the Japanese-owned hotel where I stayed. It was so amazingly clean. There were many Japanese restaurants. The neighborhood also had many recent East-Asian and Southeast-Asian immigrants.
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Re: The iguana's tale- Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Ladino

Postby Lysander » Sat Apr 23, 2022 4:28 am

iguanamon, I hope you have been well! I have hardly been active on here the last year and a half. A combination of career and personal life challenges, including an awful bout with covid and a couple job changes, and I have not done anything with any language since a little more thant a year ago!

I was curious for your opinion on something. I hope messaging in your log like this is not inappropriate, and I can definitely just make a new thread if you prefer.

That said, here goes:
For background since I don't imagine anyone to remember such an infrequent poster, I have gotten to what I'd guess was a solid A2 in Brazilian Portuguese, maybe an A1 or so in French, and somewhere between those two in Italian. I have not kept up with any of them as they served my purposes and then I moved on with other interests.

But now I am starting a new job this Monday with an NGO that focuses on Central American issues, and a lot of coworkers who are either heritage speakers of Spanish, or who have learned it to a high level. Though the org will eventually enroll me in classes as they have solid financial funding to do that, I wanted to get a jump on things on my own. I will also have the opportunity to travel to the region semi-regularly.

I notice most things I read online, and on this site, say to not worry about the difference in Peninsular Spanish courses and "Latin American" courses since the latter are quite varied anyway. It isn't like someone will mistake me for a Spaniard even if I used vosotros exclusively, etc...haha.

However, since my workplace is basically all people who are either from, or raised by, Central Americans and Mexican/Mexican-Americans or people who learned Spanish to a high-level in college in the US and via study abroad in Latin America, I thought it might be sort of weird to use resources that feature the accent of Spain. This seems a correctable "issue" even if all I did was use Peninsular Spanish resources until I was intermediate, but.....maybe it can be avoided to begin with? Especially since both work itself and travel will be so focused.

I have had solid luck with Assimil, but studying daily with Spanish With Ease and its Peninsular pronunciation also seems like I'd be working cross wise to my goal. Plus, there is no such thing as a magic bullet. So I am a keen on exploring other ways to pick up a language (I did have solid luck with Italian and Linguaphone, but the Latin American Spanish Linguaphone costs a pretty penny, haha) if for no other reason than to show folks it is doable. Even though I have only had very achievable and modest goals compared to most here.

I was thinking to just try to do the following as a multi-track approach:
    Global Voices parallel texts

    Working through McGraw-Hill Education Beginning Spanish Grammar (which is just the English translation of Gramática de uso del Español A1/A2 from what I understand)

    Michel Thomas' Spanish course.

    I noticed that both NHK and RFI Spanish news have a Peninsular pronunciation. Do you know of any news sites that have a "Latin American" approach to news with audio? I definitely like the idea of listening from the beginning in an intensive way. Maybe it is not a bad thing to have exposure to NHK/RFI, but I figured it did not hurt to ask if you knew of another place to try out since the other resources I listed are not aural.

So, yeah...what do you think? Am I going too far in the other direction from "don't have too many courses"? haha. I'd eventually move to the Intermediate Spanish Grammar Book, and following the Michel Thomas course, I could just start reading books with a dictionary since my public library has a huge selection of Spanish books from children's to young adults and up.

Or would you suggest I still do a proper course beyond just Michel Thomas and that grammar book? There are a few Latin American courses like Oxford Take Off in Latin American Spanish and Living Language Ultimate: Beginner-Intermediate. My library has both, and audio, so it would not be a big deal to use either. They seem a bit more boring and like a grind compared to what my experiences with Assimil have been, but I don't mind if you think I probably need something a bit more than what I have listed above.

Thanks for any suggestions or thoughts, and again I apologize if it was holy inappropriate to post this novel in your log!
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Re: The iguana's tale- Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Ladino

Postby zenmonkey » Sat Apr 23, 2022 6:28 am

Lysander wrote:I noticed that both NHK and RFI Spanish news have a Peninsular pronunciation. Do you know of any news sites that have a "Latin American" approach to news with audio? I definitely like the idea of listening from the beginning in an intensive way. Maybe it is not a bad thing to have exposure to NHK/RFI, but I figured it did not hurt to ask if you knew of another place to try out since the other resources I listed are not aural.[/list]


My 2 cents, even though I'm not the 'mon - you're lucky with Spanish there are tons of country-based material.

You can grab any of the many podcasts from places like here, focused on learning Spanish:
https://player.fm/podcasts/Mexican-Spanish

Or the top 100 podcasts from Mexico (for the locals)
https://podtail.com/es/top-podcasts/mx/

Or simply grab radio stations from any country here:
(here are the 100 radios from Mexico City)
http://radio.garden/visit/mexico-city/mFxWfHUs/channels
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Re: The iguana's tale- Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Ladino

Postby iguanamon » Sat Apr 23, 2022 4:34 pm

Lysander wrote:iguanamon, I hope you have been well!...For background since I don't imagine anyone to remember such an infrequent poster, I have gotten to what I'd guess was a solid A2 in Brazilian Portuguese, maybe an A1 or so in French, and somewhere between those two in Italian. I have not kept up with any of them as they served my purposes and then I moved on with other interests.
But now I am starting a new job this Monday with an NGO that focuses on Central American issues... I notice most things I read online, and on this site, say to not worry about the difference in Peninsular Spanish courses and "Latin American" courses since the latter are quite varied anyway. It isn't like someone will mistake me for a Spaniard even if I used vosotros exclusively, etc...haha.

I'm fine. I remember when you were learning Portuguese. So few do here that whenever I see someone is learning Portuguese, I pay attention.
Lysander wrote:However, since my workplace is basically all people who are either from, or raised by, Central Americans and Mexican/Mexican-Americans or people who learned Spanish to a high-level in college in the US and via study abroad in Latin America, I thought it might be sort of weird to use resources that feature the accent of Spain. This seems a correctable "issue" even if all I did was use Peninsular Spanish resources until I was intermediate, but.....maybe it can be avoided to begin with? Especially since both work itself and travel will be so focused.

I have little exposure here in the Northeast Caribbean to either Mexican or Central American Spanish. I live 100 miles away from Puerto Rico. The island where live has a 15% Hispanic population but they are from either PR or the DR mostly.

I know you love Assimil and yes, Assimil is Iberian Spanish. That's not really a problem in the beginning stages. Spanish is Spanish. There are so many resources for learning Spanish you are spoiled for choice. Before my friend quit learning Spanish, I put her onto a combination of Pimsleur and an old course with no audio called "Spanish Step By Step" by Charles Berlitz. Pimsleur (or the audio course "Learning Spanish Like Crazy") will sort out your LA Spanish accent quite well. It isn't as expensive as it used to be, between $15 US and $20 US a month by subscription. Also, the Routledge Colloquial Spanish of Latin American Course is quite reasonably priced used (abebooks.com- $3.95) and audio is downloadable for free on their website. There's also the free and legal Cortina Spanish course on the Yojik site plus several free and legal FSI courses- the progamatic course would be a good place to start. I wouldn't worry about accent too much, especially if you use Pimsleur or FSI.

Lysander wrote:...I was thinking to just try to do the following as a multi-track approach:

If you do this, start small and work your way up- a paragraph or sentence or two at a time. You can also use (though it does require more work) the AP in Spanish and the AP in English:
AP en Español wrote:Spanish
Twitter anunció que dejará de permitir en su plataforma a los anunciantes que nieguen el consenso científico sobre el cambio climático, haciéndose eco de una política ya vigente en Google.
“Los anuncios no deberían restar valor a las conversaciones importantes sobre la crisis climática”, explicó la compañía en un comunicado el viernes y que describe su nueva política. No hubo indicios inmediatos de que el cambio afectará lo que los usuarios publican en la red social, que junto con Facebook ha sido blanco de grupos que buscan promover afirmaciones engañosas sobre el cambio climático.
El anuncio, que coincidió con el Día de la Tierra, se produjo horas antes de que la Unión Europea llegara a un acuerdo para exigir a las grandes empresas tecnológicas que examinen sus sitios más de cerca en busca de discursos de odio, desinformación y otros contenidos dañinos.
Twitter agregó que en los próximos meses proporcionará más información sobre cómo planea proporcionar un “contexto confiable y autorizado para las conversaciones climáticas” en las que participan sus usuarios, incluido el Panel Intergubernamental sobre Cambio Climático, respaldado por la ONU.

Los informes del panel científico sobre las causas y los efectos del cambio climático proporcionan la base para las negociaciones internacionales para frenar el cambio climático.
La compañía ya tiene un sitio dedicado al tema climático y durante la conferencia climática de la ONU del año pasado ofreció una estrategia de “pre-bunk” (adelantarse a las noticias falsas desmintiéndolas por adelantado) para contrarrestar la información errónea sobre el tema.
Twitter says it will no longer allow advertisers on its site who deny the scientific consensus on climate change, echoing a policy already in place at Google.

“Ads shouldn’t detract from important conversations about the climate crisis,” the company said in a statement outlining its new policy Friday. There was no indication that the change would affect what users post on the social media site, which along with Facebook has been targeted by groups seeking to promote misleading claims about climate change.
The announcement coinciding with Earth Day came hours before the European Union agreed upon a deal requiring big tech companies to vet their sites more closely for hate speech, disinformation and other harmful content.

Twitter said it would provide more information in the coming months on how it plans to provide “reliable, authoritative context to the climate conversations” its users engage in, including from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The U.N.-backed science panel’s reports on the causes and effects of climate change provide the basis for international negotiations to curb climate change.
The company already has a dedicated climate topic on its site and offered what it described as “pre-bunks” during last year’s U.N. climate conference to counter misinformation surrounding climate change.

As you can see above, the language in the AP is advanced. At lower levels I like to start small- a song lyric, a Bible verse, an Aesop tale, a tweet. I like to do regular reading of native materials, but I don't want to bite off more than I can chew. It can be counter-productive. For me, it's about using synergy- learn a word(s) in my course and then see/hear them in native material and vice-versa, is a great way to get the "snowball effect" going.
Lysander wrote:...I noticed that both NHK and RFI Spanish news have a Peninsular pronunciation. Do you know of any news sites that have a "Latin American" approach to news with audio? I definitely like the idea of listening from the beginning in an intensive way. Maybe it is not a bad thing to have exposure to NHK/RFI, but I figured it did not hurt to ask if you knew of another place to try out since the other resources I listed are not aural.
Of course, there are several to choose from. But I only know of one available for free with a transcript and an LA accent- Democracy Now en Español and Democracy Now English go to the section marked "Titulares"/"Headlines" for the weekday podcast and transcript in both languages. Warning- it's not slow Spanish.
Lysander wrote:[size=90]...So, yeah...what do you think? Am I going too far in the other direction from "don't have too many courses"? haha. I'd eventually move to the Intermediate Spanish Grammar Book, and following the Michel Thomas course, I could just start reading books with a dictionary since my public library has a huge selection of Spanish books from children's to young adults and up.
Or would you suggest I still do a proper course beyond just Michel Thomas and that grammar book? There are a few Latin American courses like Oxford Take Off in Latin American Spanish and Living Language Ultimate: Beginner-Intermediate. My library has both, and audio, so it would not be a big deal to use either. They seem a bit more boring and like a grind compared to what my experiences with Assimil have been, but I don't mind if you think I probably need something a bit more than what I have listed above.

The main thing is to not be overwhelmed. You don't want to spread yourself too thin. A couple of complementary courses- Pimsleur and a more thorough one (traditional textbook with audio or even on old one like "Spanish Step By Step" would be fine. Combine it with a limited daily foray into native materials 10-15 minutes or so. After you've finished your basic courses- FSI Spanish Basic and the Gramática de uso del español series will be of great help. That's the time to really dig into reading and listening regularly.

Also, there's a school in Guatemala Proyecto Lingüistico Quetzalteco that offers online lessons (customizable- just ask) for $14 USD an hour. I'd wait until finishing Pimsleur and a course first.

Hope this helps ¡Suerte!
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Re: The iguana's tale- Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Ladino

Postby iguanamon » Thu Apr 28, 2022 9:09 pm

Spanish
Despite being busy with work lately, I am up to episode 140 of "Dos Vidas" the 255 episode (1 hour each) telenovela on Spanish network RTVE. So, this means only 115 more episodes to go. This is certainly the longest novela I've ever attempted to watch. I've watched some in Spanish and Portuguese before but they were all under 150 episodes. I wouldn't be watching it if I didn't enjoy it.

For those of you learning Spanish, watching a novela is one of the best ways I know to get massive exposure to common speech through scripted media. I highly recommend finding one to watch even if soaps are not your thing. The benefits to learning are huge. Watching a long novela as a daily habit will certainly improve your vocabulary, listening and abilities with common speech.

Along with my normal reading and baseball in Spanish, that's what I have time for now.

Portuguese
I had a long conversation in Portuguese last week. I also started a new book- A Descoberta da América pelos Turcos by Jorge Amado.
Wikipedia wrote:In a Foreword to the novel, Jose Saramago describes it as a "Brazilian picaresque", where people "think only of fornicating, of piling up money and lovers, and of drinking bouts".

Saramago also describes Jorge Amado as the heart and soul of Brazil. Unfortunately, he isn't very well known in the US and the rest of the English-speaking world, despite translations being available... but that's one of the reasons we learn languages, isn't it.

The "Turcos" (Turks) in question are really from Syria/Lebanon, not Turkey. Most immigrated in the 19th Century when the Levant was part of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. They had Turkish citizenship and passports, hence they were called Turcos in Latin America. The Arab Levant immigrant community is an integral component of Brazilian society.

The Levantine immigrants installed themselves in every rural corner of the continent, where opportunities for commerce and trade were overlooked by traditional immigrants and natives alike.

The book isn't long- 171 pages. So, I've half a chance to finish it. I have read Jorge Amado's books- Capitães da areia, and Gabriela, cravo e canela. I also watched the novela of Gabriela and read the graphic novelization of "Capitães". Jorge Amado is one of my favorite writers.

I also enjoyed this video from BBC Brasil about why Brazil and America ended up so different from each other despite many commonalities- comtinental size, immigration, indigenous peoples, slavery.
BBC Brasil wrote:Um país de dimensões continentais, rico em recursos naturais, formado por populações originárias de três continentes, moldado pelo colonialismo e pela escravidão.
Soa familiar? Pois é, todas essas características descrevem o Brasil. Mas não só ele: se a gente parar pra refletir vai ver que todas elas também valem para os Estados Unidos.
No papel, Brasil e EUA são marcados por semelhanças - e, no entanto, tomaram caminhos completamente diferentes.
Por quê?
Neste vídeo, nossa repórter Camilla Veras Mota mostra algumas discussões colocadas no curso Brazil: Another American History (“Brasil: Outra História Americana”, em tradução literal), da Universidade de Chicago, e conversa com a responsável por ele, a historiadora Brodwyn Fischer.
Entre elas, estão o colonialismo, o jeitinho brasileiro, a questão racial e o racismo.
Confira.



Catalan
Nothing much to report here. Despite its short length, I'm still reading "Joc de testemonis". There's only so much time in a day, sigh.
17 x

Lawyer&Mom
Blue Belt
Posts: 980
Joined: Sun Mar 04, 2018 6:08 am
Languages: English (N), German (B2), French (B1)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7786
x 3767

Re: The iguana's tale- Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Ladino

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Fri Apr 29, 2022 4:01 pm

The BBC Brazil video was eye-opening for me. I had no idea I could understand so much Portuguese! (Thanks French!) Alas it also reminded me how little I know about the history of Brazil and really Latin America in general. (Like so many Americans, my gaze has always been towards Europe.) I found an older edition of an undergraduate history textbook, Born in Blood & Fire: A Concise History of Latin America, on Thriftbooks for a whopping $5.29, which is now headed my way. Thanks for encouraging me to fill in some gaps in my knowledge of the world!
10 x
Grammaire progressive du français -
niveau debutant
: 60 / 60

Grammaire progressive du francais -
intermédiaire
: 25 / 52

Pimsleur French 1-5
: 3 / 5

User avatar
MorkTheFiddle
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2113
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:59 pm
Location: North Texas USA
Languages: English (N). Read (only) French and Spanish. Studying Ancient Greek. Studying a bit of Latin. Once studied Old Norse. Dabbled in Catalan, Provençal and Italian.
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 11#p133911
x 4822

Re: The iguana's tale- Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Ladino

Postby MorkTheFiddle » Fri Apr 29, 2022 6:35 pm

Gabriela, Clove and Cinammon, and Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands were read by me many years ago. Gabriela especially was one of my favorites. Unless my memory is confused, the idea that a man would fund his mistress's boy friend struck me as quite droll.
Dos Vidas, it pleases me to say, plays on my iPod ITVE app (but not, for whatever reason) from RTVE's regular web site ( :?: ).
And you are so right to recommend TV series, even soaps, for improving listening comprehension. The first few minutes of the first episode of Dos Vidas promise an amusing show. I do confess to not understanding all the dialogue, but I'm going to give the first episode an honest try. We'll go from there.
Thanks for the reference.
3 x
Many things which are false are transmitted from book to book, and gain credit in the world. -- attributed to Samuel Johnson


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