Lang-8, a language-learning social network

Hey, everyone!

I've just found out about a site that might be interesting to you. It's Lang-8, a sort of social network designed to help you learn languages. You can correct other people's posts in your language and get your own messages corrected by natives as well.

Should you decide to create an account, you can add me as a friend by visiting my profile, so that I can check and correct your messages in Portuguese! ;)

I think it's a great tool, because it's easy, fast and the users are most obliging, not to mention it encourages you to produce your own texts, do your research and make mistakes (an incredibly important part of learning).

Do you know other language-learning social networks? Would you recommend any? :)

(I know some myself, but I'll only talk about them in future posts!)

See you!

I guess I could use some monolingual dictionaries now

Hello, everyone!

In my last post, I've talked a bit about bilingual dictionaries. They can be very useful for beginners, especially those that bring a lot of real-life examples. However, as you learn more about the language, bilingual dictionaries tend to be less and less useful. See, you're not supposed to use them forever, anyway - they work as a bridge to take you from “I don't know anything, really” to “I think I can handle a monolingual dictionary now”.

Think of it - a bilingual dictionary has to “shrink” the words in order to fit them in your reality. I'll give a very simple example: the verbs “ser” and “estar” (what a cliché, honestly). If you look for those words in Portuguese-English dictionaries, they'll give you the same definition for both verbs: to be. That'd be correct; however, they do not mean the same thing. “Ser” refers to inherent or permanent qualities, while “estar” has to do with changeable characteristics. (It's much more complex than that, actually, but that'll do for this brief explanation.)

That's just one example of how small differences can be lost in translations.

So, if you feel ready to use monolingual dictionaries like a native, or at least want to give them a try, here are some options for you:

Aulete is very complete and easy to use. There's etymological info about the words and the definitions are colorful, with many examples and idioms.

I like that little entries-list; you can jump from word to word randomly (for hours even, if that's your thing ;D). There's even a sort of “search history”!

Priberam, which I've mentioned before, is a Portuguese dictionary. At first, it was European Portuguese-only, but now there's more Brazilian content and you can choose between the different orthographies (keep in mind, though, that some idioms and definitions are not used in Brazil).

Something nice about it is the possibility to double-click the words and check their definition.

Dicio.com.br is not as visual as Aulete, but it provides a lot of info about the word, including real-life and literature examples, rhymes, conjugation of verbs, anagrams and other things.

Nossa Língua Portuguesa is a good option as well, but not nearly as complete as the ones above (literally; some idioms are listed but not explained). But the word definitions are very didactic.

Dicionário do Aurélio is quite famous in Brazil, specially in schools. Some people actually use the word “Aurélio” meaning “dictionary”, even when it's not an “Aurélio”. :)

I don't like the web version very much, because it's a mess. When you have such organized dictionaries as Aulete, using something as messy as Aurélio seems a waste of time...

Léxico, on the other hand, is much more organized. It's very didactic: each definition is followed by examples. There are real-life and literature examples as well.

TheFreeDictionary - yes, there's a Portuguese dictionary in this site as well! You can double-click the words to see their definition, as in Priberam. There aren't examples there, though...

Michaelis has been mentioned before as well. I'll just quote myself here:

“I've seen some (minor) errors there, not only in the bilingual dictionaries, but also in the Portuguese one. Also, they seem to be aimed at secondary students, so there are many less-usual words you won't find there.”

Infopédia is very neat. Unfortunately, there aren't many examples, so most entries only have definitions.

Something I find interesting about it is that “Outros Dicionários” list on the right -- you can instantaneously check your word in other languages.

Maybe I shouldn't recommend Wikcionário, but some entries look decent, so here it is. Most of time, though, it's... a mess.

BONUS!

I've talked a lot about synonyms, but what about antonyms?

Behold Antônimos, an antonym dictionary. You can click the words to find out their definition - no, wait, the opposite of that... I mean... aghhh... :D

Dicionário inFormal is kind of our “Urban Dictionary”. I truly love it! You can find many “informal” words there, such as idioms, slang, profanities and many less common words that normally aren't included in dictionaries because they are exclusive to some regions. As someone who's interested in dialectal peculiarities, I find it deliciously entertaining.

I hope you have enjoyed these dictionaries! See you! :)

Let's have some bilingual dictionaries

I've talked about sites that help you conjugate verbs, but what about dictionaries? Shall we take a look at them?

First, let me show you some bilingual dictionaries.

WordReference is very complete and provides a lot of examples, which is essential, I believe!

This dictionary gives you a lot of information about the word: there are explanations about the meanings AND synonyms - come on, now, that's amazing. Not to mention there are examples with each meaning (some of them translated), examples of idioms and a little Thesaurus.

Bab.la is really cool as well. Each meaning gets its own translation and a sentence in which the word is used with that specific meaning (also translated). There is a small list of similar words and a LOT of real-life sentences and their translations.

The only reason why I prefer WordReference to Bab.la is that the latter won't really "explain" what the word means, as you can find in normal dictionaries - it'll give you a plain translation instead, just like a synonym-dictionary would.

Michaelis dictionaries are quite famous in Brazil. They are widely used in schools, specially the Portuguese, Spanish and English ones.

I gotta say I don't like them very much. I've seen some (minor) errors there, not only in the bilingual dictionaries, but also in the Portuguese one. Also, they seem to be aimed at secondary students, so there are many less-usual words you won't find there.

Nonetheless, I think it's helpful and offers some useful idioms.

Reverso is a good bilingual dictionary as well. What I love about it are the idioms - there are so many of them! It's really organized and presents many different meanings of each word.

Downside: many really common words aren't registered there.

Linguee is interesting because it gathers real-life examples (each sentence comes with its source, by the way) and shows you the most common definitions in little pie charts. It's also helpful if you only have the conjugated form of a verb, since it can find the infinitive for you.

And there are, of course, the on-line translators. I wouldn't recommend using any of them, because they are only, well, translators - that is, they simply give you synonyms. No explanations, no examples...

Sometimes, however, all we need is a quick translation, right?

(I feel kinda stupid recommending these, since they're so famous, but anyway...)

Google Translator

Babylon

Bing Translator

BabelFish

That's about it. I'll make another post about monolingual dictionaries soon...

Hope you find this post useful!

See you! ;)

Conjugating, aka nightmare (or maybe not)

Hello, everyone!

Those of you who have had some contact with Portuguese verbs, even if minor, certainly know how hard it can be to conjugate them correctly. Hey, I'm not even talking about the monstrously irregular verbs here - such as "ir" (to go) and "ser" (to be); even the most regular ones, such as "andar" (to walk) and "comer" (to eat) have got over 50 different forms! Crazy, huh? Of course, it's not that hard once you learn the regular person/number desinences, but some verbs can still be tricky (take "caber" and "querer" as examples - oh, are these boys evil).

Here are some sites you can use whenever you feel insecure trying to write in Portuguese.

Conjuga-me is pretty neat and easy to use. You just need to insert an infinitive and see the magic happen!

Priberam's dictionary is really good as well. This Portuguese dictionary also provides entries in Brazilian Portuguese and words from other regions.

Now, what does it have to do with conjugating? Well, if you search a verb, a "Conjugar" link will appear before the definition. Click it and you'll see the whole conjugation of your verb.

I'd never used Conjugação before, but after some tests I can say it's really helpful and complete, not to mention it's quite organized. It provides information on morphology and semantics of the verb, also.

Conjugador helps you visualize the parts of the verb with different colors. It also warns you when it's irregular!

Conjugue is not as visual as the other ones and looks a bit disorganized. What I found good about it is that it gives you a "verbal paradigm", which is an important thing - most verbs are regular, so if you memorize the conjugation of 4 verbs (one of each group: verbs whose infinitives end in -ar, -er, -ir and -or), you'll be able to conjugate a lot of other ones.

There must be many others, but... I think that's enough for now.

Hope it's useful!

Dirty house

Hey, guys!

Would you like another tongue twister?

I think they're really good as pronunciation exercises... and you don't even have to feel bad about not being able to say the words correctly, because even native speakers get completely confused with the sounds!

This one looks very simple: only 4 words! But it's much, much harder than it seems. It plays with the sounds of /s/, /z/, /ʒ/ (like the "g" sound in "massage" or "garage") and /ʃ/ ("sh").

Here it is:

Casa suja, chão sujo.

[ˈkazɐ ˈsuʒɐ ʃɐ̃ʊ̃ ˈsuʒʊ]

(Dirty house, dirty floor.)

You can try it the other way around:

Chão sujo, casa suja.

[ʃɐ̃ʊ̃ ˈsuʒʊ ˈkazɐ ˈsuʒɐ]

(Dirty floor, dirty house.)

So, can you say it correctly? :)

Sad tigers

Hi, guys!

In this post I'll show you one of the most famous Brazilian tongue twisters. It plays with the sounds of /t/, /g/, /tɾ/ and /gɾ/.

I have a southeastern accent, which means I pronounce /di/ as /dʒi/ and /ti/ as /tʃi/, so it's a bit easier for me than it is for Brazilians from other regions... but it's still very difficult! I can't get it right unless I say each word slowly (and your aim, of course, is to say it the faster you can).

Here it is:

Três pratos de trigo para três tristes tigres.
[tɾes ˈpɾatʊs dɪ ˈtɾigʊ ˈpaɾɐ tɾes ˈtɾistɪs ˈtigɾɪs]
(Three plates of wheat for three sad tigers.)

You can try it the other way around:

Três tristes tigres para três pratos de trigo.
[tɾes ˈtɾistɪs ˈtigɾɪs ˈpaɾɐ tɾes ˈpɾatʊs dɪ ˈtɾigʊ]
(Three sad tigers for three plates of wheat.)

Can you say it? ;)

Report broken links

Have you found broken links on this blog? Please, report it here!

Step 1. Copy the permalink of the post in which there's a broken link (right-click the title of the publication and "copy the link");

Step 2. Paste it on the comment box of this post;

Step 3. Tell me what link is broken inside that post.

Examples:

"The third link of this post is broken: http..."

"Please, fix the link for Dictionary XXX here: http..."

"The link for the movie YYY is not working: http..."

"Can you fix the link for the book ZZZ? http..."

Thank you for your help! ;)

Contact

Suggestions, doubts, questions, complaints, opinions, reports, tips, advice, solicitations?

Leave a comment or send me an e-mail!

Requests

Here you'll find translations and transcriptions. You can request any of these by commenting on this post or sending me an e-mail.

Song transcriptions

(Basically, the lyrics)

Song translations

(Mostly Eng-Port and Port-Eng)

Text translations

(Mostly Eng-Port and Port-Eng)

Video transcriptions

(Such as dialogues, interviews, news, funny videos)

Video translations

(Mostly Eng-Port and Port-Eng)

Before you request anything, check if it hasn't already been transcribed/translated here. ;)

-------------------------------

Do you want transcriptions?

I'm extremely lazy, so please don't make it too hard for me: bring me info about the video you want (such as the name of the song, artist, etc.) so that I can find it. If you happen to have a YouTube link, it should be enough.

If you want just a part of a video, please specify it (like "I want this video, from 1:50 to 2:25"). 

Do you want translations?

Same as above, with an addition: in case you already have the transcription/lyrics, send it to me -- it'll make everything easier (and faster!). 

What about texts?

If you want me to translate a text, you can just paste it on your comment, but remember you must have permission to do so! Also, don't forget to give credits to the person/website you took the text from!

Will it take too long?

It all depends on how hard the song/video/text is. Also, remember I have other obligations in my life as well, so it might take a while. But don't worry, I won't forget or ignore your request.

Accessibility problems

If you have found accessibility problems that aren't listed on the poll (at right --->), please let me know by adding a comment to this post!

Welcome!

As most of you may know, this blog was created after I had to delete my videos on YouTube, due to copyright issues that resulted in two "strikes". This video explains it better.

Here, I'd like to clarify some things about this new project.

Blog's philosophy (?)

- This isn't a job.

I do not intend to get any money from this blog, ever, for pretty obvious reasons:

1. COPYRIGHT. COPYRIGHT. COPYRIGHT.
2. Writing is supposed to be a pleasure, not an obligation. I don't like the idea of having to make posts. What if I get bored, tired, busy or interested in other things? I'll have to write anyway? Gee, no, thanks!

- No advertising!

That being said, I'd like to assure you that if you, by any chance, have an ad blocker or something similar, you won't be taking any money from me. That's perfectly fine; I use one myself, to be honest. ;D

... OK, I guess this counts as a 3rd reason, huh? :)

I don't even know if there are ads on this blog - I wouldn't be surprised if there were, though, since Blogger belongs to Google. In any case, DON'T CLICK THEM.

- Really, no advertising at all!

Even if you're my friend, I won't promote anything just because I like you, I'm sorry. Please, don't even bother asking. Let's keep this honest!

Content

- I may be wrong.

Don't take my word for everything. I'll try my best not to give you wrong information, but you shouldn't trust me entirely.

- We aren't all the same.

Brazil is HUGE, guys - and very culturally diverse. Although I will try hard not to be too biased and make my own life experiences sound like "that's how the entire country works", I hope I can count on you to be understanding if I make mistakes. :)

- I don't bite!

Feel free to disagree with me and criticize anything you don't like, from the blog layout/template to the subjects I write about; from my long-windedness to my laziness; from my writing style to... well, you get the idea.

- Suggestions are always welcome.

There are so many things I'd like to talk about that I get lost sometimes. If you have suggestions, feel free to send them to me, it'd be extremely helpful!

- Join me, maybe?

Are you interested in writing guest posts or maybe being interviewed? Don't be shy, contact me! ;)

I also consider "sharing" this blog (I mean, having co-authors here) in the future. We'll see...

Comments

- You may comment anonymously.

Sometimes our questions seem dumb and we're too embarrassed to ask them, right? Well, what you may not realize is that, in many cases, these questions are actually pretty good and might help other people.

If you'd like to share your doubts and opinions, no matter how laughable you think they are, feel free to do it - with whatever nickname you feel like using. Even if I recognize you, I'll preserve your privacy and call you by the nickname you used, so there's really no reason to worry.

Privacy and freedom are very important to me!

- E-mails are fine too.

If you are not comfortable with commenting here, you may just send me an e-mail with your questions, suggestions, requests, complaints...

- No word verification.

Ugh, don't you just hate CAPTCHA codes? They're so annoying!

I don't think they'd be necessary here, anyway; I know you aren't robots... r-right, guys? :P

(Actually, sometimes those images are so ridiculously hard that we'd have to be robots to get them correctly... :/)

- No moderation... yet?

Unless I start getting a lot of spam, of course... Thankfully, I don't think that's going to happen.

Future projects

If you have ideas on how to improve this blog, please let me know!

Right now, besides regular posts that fit in the current categories, I'm considering posting:

• Exercises (you might post your answers on the comments);
• Comparisons between different dialects and accents of the Portuguese language (inside and outside Brazil);
• Thematic vocabulary and useful sentences;
• Posts about the relationship between Brazil and different countries (this one would be considerably harder to do, but it might be fun).

If I remember anything else, I'll edit this post. :)

Thank you for your visit!

Hello!

Olá!

I've decided to create this blog as a tool for those who want to learn more about Brazil, its language and culture.

Each post will focus on some of these aspects. I intend to discuss pretty much everything, from music to politics, from art to video games, from idioms to swearwords! :)

I'd also like to post song translations and make bilingual posts.

Wish me luck! ;)

Até logo!