Learning a Language

[burbuja0512]

As I said, my mother is fluent in Portuguese, and she has being teaching my brother and I, but we don't seem to pick up languages very well. My mother, on the other hand, is good with languages. In addition to knowing Portuguese and English fluently, my mother can communicate in Spanish and French, and she used to know Afrikaans (a version of Dutch spoken in South Africa) although she can't remember much because she hasn't used Afrikaans in many years. I believe she also used to be able to communicate in Dutch and she was able to communicate when she was in Germany... somehow!

How cool that you have someone there to teach you and how impressive that she knows several languages! Don't think that you don't pick up languages very well! You may just need more practice or perhaps a slightly different method. In addition to speaking with your mother, maybe you could find some Portuguese music that you like or even a television show? Of course if you have satellite tv like Dish or DirectTv, you could pay money to add foreign channels, or you could just search on Youtube and find something for free. You could also regularly read the news in Portuguese. Here is a list of Brazilian news sites: Brazilian Newspapers : Brasileiro Jornais : Jornais do Brasil : Newspapers from Brazil : Brazilian News, though you may want to google the same thing for Portugal if that's what interests you more. I don't know where you live, but if the city is big enough, you might also be able to find a Portuguese Language club through Meetup or through a local University to have someone else to practice with other than your mom ...just some thoughts. I'm sure you'll pick it up!


@Lindagerr - that is good to hear and very reassuring! Your comment made me remember that there have been a few occasions when I've been watching tv in Mexico (years ago - haven't lived there since 2002), where a Brazilian soccer player was on an interview and they don't provide a translator. I remember the first time I saw that, I wondered why I was having such a hard time understanding their Spanish... then I realized it wasn't Spanish. However, I did get the gist of what was being said, so hopefully this is a good sign. Ok - now I'm getting excited for my RS to arrive!