The other day our neighbor came over to borrow something from our shed. Because she has been around North Americans so long she has picked up a few English words. She knew that my Portuguese is in progress so she thought it would be helpful to ask her question by throwing in the one English word she knew. Which was “key”. She wanted to know where to put the keys when she was done. I got the Portuguese just fine, however it was the new word “keehs” that threw me off. I realized it would have been much easier for me had she just spoken completely in Portuguese than try to decipher her strongly accented English word. And then, oops, I realized I do that same thing all the time in my English class. I sometimes will be explaining a topic or grammar rule and will switch back and forth between the two languages. And I seriously doubt that after only 10 months here my accent is any more pleasing than my neighbors. O well.
My last English class was somewhat stressful because I had to teach a verb tense I had not yet learned in Portuguese. I think they got it. I often assume that and then their tests prove me otherwise. Tomorrow I will be using a substitute because Josh and I are hosting Cleide’s 15th birthday party. Here in Brazil, the 15th birthday is kind of like a coming-of-age event. It’s a pretty big deal to Brazilians so we have some grand plans.
1 comment:
The language barrier thing is so interesting to me. It is great the God kind of tapped you on the shoulder as to how it may be confusing to the Brazilians when you hop between the languages. Your ability to transition between English and Portuguese is very great. Be encouraged. You helped Geralde and me carry on a conversation quite effectively.
Tell Cleide "Happy Birthday" from us. I hope she likes the CD's we left.
-Nick
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