They're awake again but fed. Thank God. At least I don't have to put up with their incessant barking! It goes through me sometimes. I have a new leash for both of them now so their a little easier to restrain, especially, around strangers or people they take an instant dislike to. So what have we been doing since last we talked? I’ll tell you a little…
All three of us have been learning a little of the Brazilian argot so that when we get down there we won’t look like complete gimps. So far this self-paced pursuit of linguistic nirvana has taken the following routes:
[1] Purchase of a dictionary, very important.
[2] Setting of Sao Paulo’s national’s paper’s sport section as my new homepage (Folha); I’m officially now a Corinthians supporter. Their not as good as Pegasus but their getting there!
[3] The reading of filth: First time I left Brazil one of the boys gave me a Brazilian Playboy. As you can imagine I hummed and hawed and toyed with the idea of chucking it straight away into a bin but after a few moments reflection and a little glance inside I decided the boys back home would probably like to see some Brazilian culture :) so luckily I brought it home. I’ve learned a man definitely tries to learn more about a language if he takes a grá to a beautiful boninta.
[4] Spending the odd hour in the Ilac centre with their Brazilian Portuguese teaching tapes. Helps with the ear-which I’m finding the most difficult part. The nasal sounds in particular are difficult to tame; bit like the two muts I have hear on the leads.
Here’s a few tid bits:
Bom Dia: Good Morning, Hello
Por Favour: Please
Náo: no, not
Sim: yes
Obrigado/a: Thank you, and last but no least
Bom, a próima vez eu pago. Obrigada. Foi um jantar delicioso. Mas já é tarde. Sáo nove e meia, e amanhá parto para o nordeste........yeah right.....
And here’s a little lesson. Down boy…sorry about this but one of the dogs has just jumped on top of me and covered me in saliva. I think he thinks the words: lesson, experience or knowledge means he can become a Pavlov hound and as such, as if by magic, is automatically entitled to chump his incisors on a nice tender fillet stake without working for it. Down boy. Not this lifetime. Not while i'm your master. Sorry Brutos but that simpy isn't the case! You got to work for your experiences. Anyway, I was trying to teach you a lesson. For all you skilled language experts, polymaths, erudites or simply want-to-bes out there here we go:
Vagabond Lesson Number 2:‘In Portugese, everything you see around you is divided into 2 groups: masculine and feminine. This is because Portugese is a language with its roots in Latin, and the Romans used a language system based on words linking together, usually in a logical way. So, for example, table happens to be a feminine word, and floor is a masculine one. In most cases you can tell which group a word belongs to by its ending: an –o for masculine words, and an –a for feminine ones, although this is not always the case. The simple way I remember this is I have two Brazilian mates: Feno is the bloke, and Fena or Fernanda is the woman.’
