The Brazuca Blog

Talking about obligations

noreply@blogger.com (Paulo H. Ferreira) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 11:17:00 +0000

Feliz 2011 para vocês! Today's post focuses on how to talk about things you have to/need to/must do in Portuguese. There are quite a few verbs or verb phrases we use and they form a scale of...

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Brazilian Communication Videos

noreply@blogger.com (Paulo H. Ferreira) — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 16:58:00 +0000

Tudo bem? This is just a quick post to recommend a great collection of Portuguese language videos available for free on the internet. Orlando R. Kelm and the team at University of Texas at Austin...

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Brazil has arrived

noreply@blogger.com (Paulo H. Ferreira) — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 19:57:00 +0000

Respected US TV programme 60 minutes has put together a 15-minute special on the rise of Brazil. It is great to see my country portrayed as a mature nation, worthy of respect and admiration, although...

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Blue-sky Thinking

noreply@blogger.com (Paulo H. Ferreira) — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 15:19:00 +0000

This is another column I wrote for Brazilian News., which was published about two weeks ago: Abraço. Blue-sky thinking Em linguística, existe um debate a respeito da influência da língua que...

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It's the National Anthem, but not as you know it

noreply@blogger.com (Paulo H. Ferreira) — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 15:32:00 +0000

Olá, tudo bem? I have recently discovered this video, featuring the Brazilian National Anthem orchestrated as a samba by the great Martinho da Vila. If you are studying Portuguese and would like to...

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Será que é mais difícil para uma pessoa inteligente falar uma língua estrangeira?

noreply@blogger.com (Paulo H. Ferreira) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:33:00 +0000

As always, I would love to hear your take on this subject. Enjoy. Será que é mais difícil para uma pessoa inteligente falar uma língua estrangeira? Esta e uma questão sobre a qual venho...

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Brazilian News (II)

noreply@blogger.com (Paulo H. Ferreira) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 00:30:00 +0000

This is one of my other collaborations with the Brazilian News paper. Hope you enjoy reading it. Shortcuts Tem duas coisas que as pessoas na Inglaterra adoram perguntar: 'O que você faz?' e...

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Brazilian News (I)

noreply@blogger.com (Paulo H. Ferreira) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:53:00 +0000

It is about time I updated this blog, which has been gathering dust while I work on my final year dissertation and other projects. One of these is my new role of contributor to the Brazilian News...

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Helping out at Jungle Drums

noreply@blogger.com (Paulo H. Ferreira) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 01:10:00 +0000

I have just come back from the Jungle Drums office in central London. They are finishing the bumper Christmas issue, and I was there to help them with some translations (into Portuguese) and some...

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My top 5 blogs in Portuguese

noreply@blogger.com (Paulo H. Ferreira) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:21:00 +0000

Ok, this is another quick post just to list my top five blogs written in Portuguese. Each one is highly recommended for students of Portuguese as a second language, though the texts might sometimes...

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Museu da Língua Portuguesa

noreply@blogger.com (Paulo H. Ferreira) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:59:00 +0000

Located at the Luz Station building, the Museum of Portuguese Language hosts an impressive permanent exhibition about the origins of the Portuguese language and the the influences which helped form...

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Livraria Cultura

noreply@blogger.com (Paulo H. Ferreira) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 15:18:00 +0000

Apologies for not updating the blog for such a long time. I have just come back from a two-week visit to Brazil and wanted to share some thoughts about the country and some of the things I saw...

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Regrets, I've had a few...

noreply@blogger.com (Paulo H. Ferreira) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 17:59:00 +0000

Today I want to talk a little bit about the verb dever (should/must): In the present tense, dever is used to give instructions or advice: Você deve ter muita disciplina para praticar a...

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August Day Song

noreply@blogger.com (Paulo H. Ferreira) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 20:18:00 +0000

So it's been a really longo tempo since I last updated this blog. We're already in August and this gives me a good excuse to post here the link to great song by Bebel Gilberto. Sung part in English,...

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Real and False Conditions

noreply@blogger.com (Paulo H. Ferreira) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 09:54:00 +0000

I have mentioned before in this blog that the boundaries between tenses in the Subjuntivo are less rigid than those in the Indicativo. Here's an example of how the Futuro do Presente do Subjuntivo...

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Four Useful Words (IV)

noreply@blogger.com (Paulo H. Ferreira) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:57:00 +0000

Here's part four at long last... acabo (acabar) de... + verb in the infinitive This is a handy little structure to express things like "have just done something". Eu acabo de fazer comida. (I've just...

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Valentine's - Brazuca Style

noreply@blogger.com (Paulo H. Ferreira) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 00:23:00 +0000

I've already talked here about that fact that we don't celebrate Valentine's Day in Brazil. We celebrate the day before St. Anthony's day (13 de junho), which we call Dia dos Namorados. This post...

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Four Useful Words (III)

noreply@blogger.com (Paulo H. Ferreira) — Sun, 31 May 2009 21:41:00 +0000

Nunca - this one is a bit more straightforward. In statements, it always means never. Eu nunca vi nada igual. (I've never seen anything like this - notice the double negative nunca/nada which is...

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Four Useful Words (II)

noreply@blogger.com (Paulo H. Ferreira) — Wed, 27 May 2009 08:59:00 +0000

Ainda - used in negative questions, meaning 'still' - there is an even higher expectation here (compared to já) that the action mentioned should have been done by now. Você ainda não votou? (Have...

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Four Useful Words (I)

noreply@blogger.com (Paulo H. Ferreira) — Thu, 21 May 2009 22:20:00 +0000

In another post, I talked about the lack of a Present Perfect tense in Portuguese. So how do we say things like 'Ive made coffee', 'Have you been to Rome?', or 'I've never driven a car'? We...

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Subjuntivo (IV)

noreply@blogger.com (Paulo H. Ferreira) — Fri, 08 May 2009 07:16:00 +0000

It's been a while since I posted here about grammar. So here's another little post about one of our favourite topics: the subjunctive.So, just to recap, the subjunctive expresses ideas which are...

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Bad day at work?

noreply@blogger.com (Paulo H. Ferreira) — Sat, 02 May 2009 19:24:00 +0000

Recently, I had a bad day at this part-time job I do apart from teaching Portuguese. Nothing terrible happened, but it was just one of those days that makes me feel like anyone could have been there...

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The Age of Stupid

noreply@blogger.com (Paulo H. Ferreira) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 21:21:00 +0000

This segunda-feira (Monday) I went to a studio in West London to check the legendas (subtitles) on a new independent film called The Age of Stupid - A Era da Estupidez. The film deals with mudanças...

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Tropical Multiculturalism

noreply@blogger.com (Paulo H. Ferreira) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:26:00 +0000

This is just a really quick post about a book I am currently reading for my University course: Robert Stam's Tropical Multiculturalism: A Comparative History of Race in Brazilian Cinema and...

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Cartola

noreply@blogger.com (Paulo H. Ferreira) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 23:21:00 +0000

In my last post I mentioned that by taking a subscription for the Jungle Drums magazine I was sent a free CD called The Rough Guide to Samba. I put it on my iPod and have been listening to this CD...

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