Boa Whatever
Since I am now living in Brazil, I am learning Portuguese, but I am still a beginner, so I sometimes have a brain freeze. The other day, we were leaving our housing development and my husband encouraged me to speak Portuguese to the security guard. I blanked and couldn’t remember how to say, “good morning”. There are two ways to say “good” and one goes with morning (“bom”) and the other (“boa”) goes with afternoon and evening. I panicked and said, “boa whatever”. Roberto and the security guard thought this was hilarious.
Over the last several weeks, I have been doing my best to adapt to the daily VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity & Ambiguity) that I face when living in a new country. Speaking another language is a momentous change.
Learning a new language can be an exciting and rewarding experience, but it can also be quite challenging, especially if the language you’re learning is Portuguese. In this blog post, we’ll explore four reasons.
1) Pronunciation is one of the most challenging aspects. Portuguese has many different sounds that don’t exist in English which makes it difficult to master. The pronunciation for various letters is completely different, for example, the “r” sounds like an “h” and there are several nasal vowels that are unique to Portuguese. I never thought I would need to learn how to speak out of my nose! Word pronunciation also varies significantly by region in Brazil. If you learned Spanish, like I did when I was young, you will find words that overlap in the two languages, but they are not pronounced the same way.
2) Grammar is another challenging characteristic of this language. Portuguese has a complex set of rules for verb conjugation which can take years to learn. It also has many irregular verbs that do not follow the standard rules and the use of prepositions can be quite confusing. Portuguese also has a complex system of gender and noun agreement, which can be difficult for English speakers to understand. Generally, the nouns ending in “o” are masculine and the words ending in “a” are feminine and words ending in “e” can be either. To make it even more confusing, there are exceptions like “poema”, “dia” and “sofa” that end in “a” but are masculine.
3) Vocabulary can be overwhelming for learners because Portuguese words can have different meanings depending on the context in which they are used. Also, there are many words and phrases that are unique to Portuguese that don’t make much sense when translated to English. One example of a Brazilian saying that may sound odd when translated to English is "Não enche meu saco" which literally translates to "Don't fill my bag." In Brazilian Portuguese, this phrase is a slang expression that means "Don't bother me" or "Stop annoying me." The phrase can be used when someone is being persistent or irritating, and you want them to leave you alone. While the literal translation may sound strange and funny to English speakers, it's a common expression in Brazil.
4) Regional Variations of Portuguese differ in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. This can make it challenging for learners to understand and communicate with Portuguese speakers from different regions or countries. When Roberto and I traveled around Portugal, we discovered how different the languages are. Here’s a funny example. If you ask for a pen in Brazilian Portuguese, you will say, "Você tem uma pila?” In Portugal, “pila” is slang for “penis” so the question would be interpreted as “Do you have a penis?” which could be considered very funny or very inappropriate, depending on the setting.
So far, it has been a bit of a challenge to learn Portuguese, but I know I will get better. Right now, I am best at pronouncing phrases involving bad words and insults, which I learned from my soccer-obsessed husband over the last 20 years. Our Brazilian friends think it is hilarious that I can say these perfectly. Eventually, I will be able to assemble sentences that make sense and have real conversations.