Do I speak Portuguese? Once upon a time when I was a little girl, I loved repeating phrases my mother tried to teach me in Portuguese. When I listen now to my childlike voice on those early cassette recordings I wish my parents had continued to teach me--all of us--the language of our "roots". Unfortunately, my mother was focused on learning the language of her new home in the United States and without family here to converse with, her native tongue was all but silenced in our home. Having taken Spanish classes in school, the rare times Mom did speak Portuguese with Dad or friends, I was able to pick up on some of the subtle similarities to the Spanish language. It was much easier to understand the words than to speak them myself. So in preparation for our big upcoming trip to the Azores I made a purchase online this afternoon; a small, compact book of practical phrases with pronunciation transcriptions and a bilingual glossary. I'm hoping that with my knowledge of Spanish and the pronunciation key contained in this travel book, I'll be able to study up and converse when we are shopping, dining out, or meeting new people. I'm excited for the book to arrive next week so I can begin to try out my rusty linguistic skills. Four weeks and counting....yikes! Maybe with a little practice I'll be able to say, "falo um pouquinho," I speak a little Portuguese!
Adeus,
Dorothy
No comments:
Post a Comment