Portuguese Linguistics Lessoninho

Here's a short list of stuff that I've found interesting/challenging/weird about Brazilian Portuguese:

1. Made Up Words
   
   I found this really confusing at first about Portuguese. In truth, you don't really make up words a lot in Portuguese, but you do modify their endings. Certain suffixes (-inho, -inha, and -ão) get tacked on the ends of nouns to slightly alter their meaning. The first two suffixes (-inho and -inha) make whatever noun they're modifying smaller or cuter, while the -ão makes the noun it's modifying bigger. For instance, I live with a guy named Pedro, but everyone calls him "Pedrão" (big Pedro) because he's tall. Here's some more examples:
   
   
   • Bonitinho = Bonito ("beautiful") + -inho = Cute
   • Cafezinho = Café ("coffee") + -inho = Small cup of coffee
   • Gordão = Gordo ("fat") + -ão = Really big fat person
   • Doidão = Doido ("crazy") + -ão = Totally nuts
   • Rapidinho = Rapido ("fast") + -inho = Fast (informal)
   • Rapidão = Rapido ("fast") + -ão = Fast (informal)
   
   These suffixes can be used to permute any word and makes for a really fun, interesting part of the language. Sometimes it's actually about the size of the thing ("gordão"), sometimes it's about degree ("doidão"), and sometimes it just makes the word cuter or more informal (ex. "rapidinho" and "rapidão," both having more or less the same meaning). At the same time, this confused the hell out of me in the beginning since most words exist in several different versions and you have to be comfortable moving between all of them fluidly to be able to converse. To me, it seemed like there were endless words to learn, but once I got used to the construction things got much easier.
   
   
   
2. Don't Reply With "Yes" or "No"
   
   This feature of the language was also really tough to get used to. In colloquial Portuguese, when someone asks you a yes or no question, you generally don't respond with yes or no. Examples:
   
   
   • Q). Pode abrir a janela? ("Can you open the window?")
   • A). Posso. (lit. "I can.") = Yes, I can (and will).
     
     
   • Q). Você vai para a festa hoje à noite? ("Are you going to the party tonight?")
   • A). Vou. (lit. "I go.") = Yeah, I'm going.
     
     
   • Q). Você quer bolo? ("Do you want cake?")
   • A). Não quero. (lit. "I don't want.") = No, I don't want any.
     
     
   • Q). Então, na verdade não tem como fazer assim? ("So, it's not actually possible to do it that way?")
   • A). Isso. (lit. "That.") = Yes, that's right.
     
   
   Responding with "sim" or "não" (the equivalents of "yes" and "no") is considered too formal and is weird for everyday language. My first month or so in Brazil, I was still very much in "yes" or "no" mode, and training myself to respond to "Can you?" with "I can" and not "yes" definitely required an adjustment.
   
   
   
3. No, no, and no!
   
   In Portuguese, when you want to be emphatic about being against something you can keep adding no's:
   
   
   • Não quero. = I don't want that.
     
   • Não quero não. = I really don't want that.
     
   • Não, não quero não! = I really really don't want that!
     
     
     
4. Contractions
   
   Portuguese is similar to Spanish in how succinct of a language it is as you may have noticed. This is due largely to optional subject pronouns as well as unnecessary object pronouns (i.e. "I don't want it" = "Don't want" in Portuguese). However, Portuguese takes it to the next level with its contractions. Portuguese is nuts about contractions. While in English we like to do this with subjects and verbs (ex. I would => I'd, You will => You'll) Portuguese speakers do it with prepositions and, instead of sticking an apostrophe between the two contracted words, create a new world altogether. Examples:
   
   
   • in the (m.) = em + o = no
   • in the (f.) = em + a = na
   • in the (m. pl.) = em + os = nos
   • in the (f. pl.) = em + as = nas
     
     
   • to the (m.) = a + o = ao
   • to the (f.) = a + a = à
   • to the (m. pl.) = a + os = aos
   • to the (f. pl.) = a + as = às
     
     
   • of the (m.) = de + o = do
   • of the (f.) = de + a = da
   • of the (m. pl.) = de + os = dos
   • of the (f. pl.) = de + as = das
     
     
   • by the (m.) = por + o = pelo
   • by the (f.) = por + a = pela
   • by the (m. pl.) = por + os = pelos
   • by the (f. pl.) = por + as = pelas
     
     
   • his/its = of him/it = de ele = dele
   • hers/its = of her/it = de ela = dela
     
     
   • from here = de aqui = daqui
   • from there = de aí = dai
   • from there = de ali = dali
   
   This is a very short list. If you count each gender and plurality, there are 78 prepositional contractions by my count. If you're interested, here's the full list (in Portuguese):

I hope I didn't get too linguistic on your asses. Take 'er easy.

Work Vid

Here's a video introduction to my coworkers at Ci&T Campinas. I worked with these fine folk on a Johnson & Johnson project called ELMO (yes, like the Sesame Street character) building a new J&J business-to-business web portal. These days I'm doing support for J&J and working with about half the same people. Without further ado, the ELMO team:



As you can see, the work environment is set up like a lot of other IT companies: project team members sharing the same cubicle area in order to foster collaboration. However the "vibe" at Ci&T is different than that of a American or French company -- it's even more egalitarian (as in almost no management or developer hierarchy) and more laid back. People talk to their project leader, the person who is effectively their boss, like an old friend. Language is extremely informal and nobody is above a good ribbing. It's nice.

P.S.- In the video Roander, the guy with the black curly sheep hair, is yelling about how Thiago looks like Roger Federer. And you have to admit, he kinda does:

Trip to São Jose dos Campos

So back a few weeks ago, I finally did some traveling. I went to a city a few hours away from here called São Jose dos Campos with two other gringos: Ben, another Drexel student also working at Ci&T (surprising I haven't mentioned him here already), and Sphinx, a marketing student from Taiwan. Another young, scrappy, Indian journalist named Tushar who is normally part of our gringo entourage was going to come but couldn't make it (he claimed to be sick but I'm pretty sure he was nursing a mean hangover).

We set out by bus early Saturday morning, June 21. We ended up missing our connecting bus so we actually left Campina for São Jose around midday only to arrive in the early afternoon.

Ben and I on the bus. That's Sphinx in the background making a heart. She also doctored up the photo with what can only be described as "gay shit." What can I say, she's Asian!

We were to stay with another AIESECer (AIESEC is a student exchange organization that we gringos all know each other through) from Panama named Johnathon Gray, about the least Hispanic sounding name imaginable. However when he picked us he certainly looked the part, his skin a dark roasted coffee mocha, and he spoke Spanish like the dickens.

John looking solemn and Sphinx looking... a half second too late for this picture .

So John picked us up at the bus station along with the family he was living with. The family turned out to be extremely nice, warm people. I don't actually remember everyone's name, but I liked them a lot. The dad was away on business somewhere I believe, so it was just the mom, the daughter, Ludmila, 18, and the young son whose name I cannot remember. The kid was cool; he had no interest in speaking any other language except Portuguese and he had a speech impediment which made it sort of hard to understand what he was saying. He was really into games, so I taught him bear ninja cowboy which he absolutely loved. We also had a good time playing old school Playstation video games like Crash Bandicoot. The mom spoke no English which was nice. I practiced my Portuguese a bunch with her and she liked the fact that I wanted to learn. As always, everyone was extremely nice. They put us up in their place, fed us, and made us feel right at home.

Our first night there we went out to a bar with some kids from ITA, a technical military school and apparently one of the best and most difficult in the country. As expected they were kind of, you know, nerdy, but we had a good time getting back very late that night. We had some transportation issues coming back.

We fit 8 into this ridiculous little French two door. It was around 5:30 am. Perfect photo op.

Sunday was the better of the two days. We went to Campos do Jordão, a very scenic, beautiful place. Think of a Swiss village stuck on top of a lush, semi-tropical rain forest mountain and you've got Campos do Jordão:

It's difficult to even describe the climate there. On the way up in the bus winding around the mountain side it seemed very tropical like we were still in Brazil. But by the time we were at the top the change in altitude made the difference; there were evergreens and... European style architecture. It was cool.

Boys in town in front of a church.

Me, Sphinx, and Ben. Notice the stuff written in French.

Group shot in front of some shops.

The only problem with this trip is that it was very rushed. Since we had to take buses everywhere we were slaves to the bus schedule and getting around was slow. We only ended up spending about an hour in the little town itself, a combination of poor planning, getting a late start, and there not just being enough hours in the day. The place was very cool though and I would love to go back with a whole weekend to spend there.