Unusual study tips

Sim, hoje em dia, a nossa vida é muito facilitada pela tecnologia :slight_smile:

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Muito obrigada, Joel!

Although I’m old enough to remember what life was like before the internet (yes, pocket dictionaries were widely used), I would find it extremely hard to go back to not having the world at my fingertips. If you want to avoid major baking failures, it will often not be enough to identify the ingredients in a recipe. For example, you must also know that “farinha com fermento” is not necessarily the same thing as self-raising/self-rising flour in your country, but fortunately there are reliable recipes for making your own. How many grams are in “1 chávena de manteiga”? How many millilitres are in “1 colher de sobremesa”, approximately? How much is “1 iogurte”? What does a “travessa” look like? The answers are all there, if you are motivated to search for them. :yum:

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Hi, @Anna! Probably the most enjoyable way to learn one’s new language is to read, in that language, about all the things you like to do, whether it’s cooking, hobbies, etc. As someone who also likes to cook, I agree very much with your suggestion. Speaking of tools, I always find it interesting when recipes, in Brazilian or European Portuguese, use measuring units such as a “soup spoon” or a “tea [literally] spoon.” Are these actually standardized as to volume or weight? Don’t people have varying sizes of “soup spoons”? Having always used standardized measuring spoons, the idea of using these others makes me slightly nervous! :slightly_smiling_face:

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Hi, @David2019! Don’t be nervous! If you google “tabela de conversao de alimentos” (sorry, I haven’t figured out how to write the tilde), you will find all the information you need. Obviously, even the Portuguese themselves are sometimes at a loss here. :smile:

Hi @Anna. I agree with @David2019, it’s all about motivation and the subject. The thing is with recipes and cooking books in Portuguese is that we use a tense called “Imperativo” which we use to give an order, a suggestion, and a piece of advice.
You’ll find some verbs like “Ponha” (from pôr, to put) or “Mexa” (from mexer, to stir) that are in that tense.

As long as you get the idea of how to do it, don’t let the verbs stop you :slight_smile:

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@Molly - changing the language settings on my iPhone to European Portuguese has forced me (in a productive way, of course) to familiarize myself with a great deal of words, phrases, etc. that I need to function and survive digitally (telling time, texting, using apps, checking email, interpreting instructions, etc.) If you’re on your phone as habitually as some folks (myself, admittedly, included), it’s a great way to have the language in front of you as much as possible. I use my GPS when I travel, and even listen to a woman deliver directions in Portuguese. :slight_smile:

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Changing your phone’s settings is a great idea, Timothy. And so can be the GPS… Unless you dangerously misinterpret her directions :sweat_smile:

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Hi, @Anna! Sorry, I actually hadn’t seen this post of yours when I responded about the “soup spoon” issue. I just read this post today and this was exactly the question I had! You expressed it quite nicely!
Thanks for your advice!

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I’m glad you appreciated it, @David2019! :smile:

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Eu vi tanto ideias boas aqui. Mas eu tenho mais uma. Eu assisto artistas e jogadores na uma streaming website chamado Twitch. Não é normalmente usado para aprender as idiomas, mas tem muito muito actividades aí. I only just started taking my Portuguese study seriously. So if that was too bad to understand, I was adding my favorite way to practice to the suggestion. It’s a streaming website where you can watch people play games, make art, or even just have conversations with the community. It helps a lot with slang as well as making it seem less like a chore. There’s also a subreddit called language_exchange that’s been really helpful to me as well. You can meet native speakers willing to chat and help you as well as practice their own English. Desculpe pelo livro. Espero isto vai ajudar!

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Obrigado pela ajuda, @Brianzinho, e espero que aceites a minha ajuda também, com as correções ao teu texto! Mas deu para perceber tudo o que disseste, parabéns.

A propósito, nós normalmente usamos o verbo assistir para falar de espetáculos, programas de TV, filmes, etc. Quando falamos diretamente sobre as pessoas, o verbo ver fica melhor. Por exemplo: Eu vi os Backstreet Boys. || Eu assisti ao concerto dos Backstreet Boys.

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Aceito! E muito obrigado pelas lições. Eu amo disso novo recurso pelos discussões! É muito fixe.

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I have recently found a newspaper published in english and Portuguese allowing me to read the
Portuguese and english


O Jornal
Www.ojornal.com.

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This is very interesting, @Ramboia. I wonder if they have to cut down on the number of articles due to all the space taken by the translation.

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Welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing! Where is this printed version of the newspaper distributed?

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Hi,
It has an office in: Fall River, Ma USA.

I appreciate your web site very much. It makes very convenient in my attempt to improve my portuguese.

Have you considered live meetings where one could practice by conversing? Skype ,Go to meeting, etc.

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That area of New England (USA) has a large ;population of Portuguese. They have a radio station that broadcasts in Portuguese. It is also home of ;publishers who released two books entitled BOM DIA which are excellent Portuguese primers for High School Students. Thanks for the lead on the paper. It helps to SEE the translation. I like Correio de Manha in Lisboa, but no ingles translations there!

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It’s definitely an area we’ve considered exploring, although it is a challenging to do it in a scalable way for all of our members that would also be of high enough quality… it’ll be on our radar though :wink:

Here’s a study tip I’ve been trying - write a story.

I started with simple 1st person dialogue, but realized that where I have problems is in the use of (in)direct pronouns. So, I’m rewriting in 3rd person - forcing the use of lhe & it’s ilk. It forces the understanding of vocab & grammar. And yes, it’s pretty bad - but better than when I started!

As I say to friends, I’m now writing the Great American Novel - in Portuguese :slight_smile:

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@stephencanthony, very nice idea! If you ever feel like sharing one of those stories you wrote… :grin:

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