How I understood Portuguese - Peter Varholak
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How I understood Portuguese
Speaker > Entertaining speaker
Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen to this highly interactive program on Brazilian Portuguese language and customs.
My name is Peter and I am expert in languages and I have more than 30 years experience studiyng habits of different people and cultures. I will be guiding you throughout the program. We will go through 3 basic situations you can encounter when you visit Brazil especially Rio de Janeiro. First is travelling by bus or metro, second is shopping and third is restaurant.
Imagine: you are there. Temperature is 40 degrees celsius. 7 times higher then in London and your exploration can begin. You have already learned 3 basic words that you can use and others will follow. No problem. You know Sim as Yes, No as No, and Obrigado as thank you. You know possibly also little bit of Spanish and people say that Spanish and Portuguese is similar. And somebody will certainly know English. Somebody yes but I heard stories that this person definitelly lives in different city. You listen to the people. If you have been in China you felt probably the same. You finally understand! Congratulations, first word in 5 minutes, better then last time.
This is most important of all so pay attention! As a first thing you want to understand how to get from one place to another. Bus is the safest bet. You observe buses. It seems so random. First stops on bus stop. Second stops somewhere between bus stops when somebody wave on it. Third doesn´t stop at the bus stop even if you wave at it. You have same numbers of buses, same original stop but different routes? One bus seems to stop nowhere, other everywhere. I was more then confused but after 3 days I finally get it. This is Brazilian way. You come into bus. You wave with 4 reals. If they start to tell you something, you just hide your banknotes and give them exact change. If they tell something more you take all your change and exchange them for some banknote. Beware! It doesn´t work all the time. Sometimes they could just ask you if you will give the change to them!
We will continue after short commercial break. How are you. I never seen you here before.Let´s go for the coffee. What is your number?
Welcome back after break. We will continue with shopping.
You come to shop. They are asking you something. You as born Brazilian either wave money or card. They want to pack your goods into bag. You just do this and pack it into your rucksack. I can show this from different angles to have an idea how it looks like. Then when you pay you say obrigado. Please don´t interupt my presentation. You! You know who I am talking about. Don´t look around to pretend that it is not you...
You come into restaurant. Many restaurants in Brazil are self service restaurants. You enter. You pick your future bill and start to fill it. Meat, rice, vegetables, fruits, cakes. You bring it and somebody will weight it and you can eat. Then somebody else will come and asks you something. You just do this (turning head) or as I previously showed you (no with palm of the hand) or point on your bill where is suco and they will bring you fresh juice. Call security. This guy is looking at me strangely. He is definitelly Brazilian! They found me!
Ladies and gentlemen see you on another program about Japaneese customs. I have to run now! Where is the exit? Quickly!