Não Seja Batata
When You Mean Não Seja Pateta
We were joking with friends and a server at a restaurant this weekend. Denise was intending to say “Don’t be silly” (Não seja pateta). Instead, she said, “Não seja batata”…Don’t be a potato. None of the Americans at the table picked up on the mistake…but our server thought it was hysterical. This is a perfect example of our experience in learning Portuguese.
Differing Approaches
Denise is using apps to learn Portuguese. She started with 3 free apps in August (Practice Portuguese, Memrise, and Drops). She upgraded all of them to the premium (paid) version when they offered 50% off. Denise is far more disciplined than me…she spends at least 30 minutes every single day studying Portuguese. I played around with free apps and YouTube videos until December. Then I had an “Oh S$&T” moment and purchased a series of online lessons from Talk the Streets.
I wanted a course that would focus on real-life situations. I also wanted the ability to talk with someone when I really needed help. Liz, the creator of Talk the Streets, has weekly Zoom sessions where her students can check in, ask questions, etc. She leverages technology solutions such as SoundCloud; allowing us to record ourselves speaking Portuguese, and she can review and offer corrections. She has also always been available when I needed encouragement or help.
Frankly, it is a great course…I am a horrible student. I am halfway through the course and have stalled. Actually, I was powering along until March when I realized I really didn’t know what I thought I did. So I went back to the beginning and reviewed everything again. Drilling the lessons over and over until I actually knew the material in my sleep. I did one more thing, I found a language partner.
Talking vs. Vocabulary
After completing Module 3 we were encouraged to get a language partner…ideally a native European Portuguese speaker that wanted to improve their English skills. Each week you spend one-hour video conferencing (half the time speaking English and half speaking Portuguese). I found Ettore, a young Brazilian man living and working in Porto since 2017 who wanted to improve his English. Frankly, his English was (and is) 100 times better than my Portuguese. But he is kind, supportive, patient, and a genuinely nice guy.
Though Ettore was always encouraging, we got off to a rough start. As mentioned above, I really wasn’t ready. We had also been in lockdown for nearly the entire time and thus were really behind in comprehension and speaking. But enough about the past…where are we today?
Denise has a far larger vocabulary! If I am reading something (e.g. a menu or a public notice posted in our apartment building) and I just can’t figure it out…I ask her. She may not understand every single word…but she can read enough to make sense of almost anything! I, however, am more comfortable speaking than she is. I think this is because of Ettore.
Fluency
Please don’t think less of me…but I have given up sounding like I am fluent in Portuguese. As the photo at the top of the post suggests, there are just too many tenses…and frankly, I didn’t pay attention in my English grammar classes. So I happily, and very consciously, take shortcuts.
I don’t need to learn four future tenses of a verb (I will, I will have, I will be and I will have been)…instead I say, “I am going to the verb”. E.g. “vou limpar” “I am going to clean.” Is it accurate? Perhaps not. Is it understandable? Sim.
There is an informal you and a formal you in Portuguese. There is also a formal you verb and an informal you verb…multiplied by all those silly tenses. I figure you won’t offend someone by showing respect and using the formal tense all the time. So when learning a new verb…I skip the informal (tu) tense and just learn the formal (você) tense. I also utilize the Pareto Principle…learn the 50-75 verbs that are used 80+% of the time.
I focus on useful phrases, e.g.:
Bom dia, boa tarde, boa noite (good morning, afternoon, evening);
Tudo Bem, Tudo (everything good, I’m good);
Não Faz mal (no worries or no problem);
Não me serve (it doesn’t work for me);
Parar aqui, por favor (Please stop here)
The biggest issue with saying these things like a native is that you then get a response you don’t understand. To which we respond. “Pode repetir, por favor. E fala devagar por favor. Estou a aprender português.” (Can you repeat that please? And please speak slowly. I am learning Portuguese.) Often the person then says “English?”
Permit me to share another recent example. I called a doctor’s office to make an appointment. I started with the typical, “Bom dia. Fala inglês?” The person answering the phone hung up. I called back. “Bom dia. Gostaria de fazer uma marcação.” [I then waited for a beat] “Fala inglês?” (Good morning. I would like to make an appointment…Do you speak English?” This reception responded. “Yes, I speak English. What type of appointment would you like?”I excitedly exclaimed, “Oh you understood me!” And she responded, “Yes, I also speak Portuguese. I am Portuguese.” It then took me two minutes to apologize for inadvertently offending her. Of course, she spoke Portuguese. I was just shocked she had understood my Portuguese.
Native English Speaker
We now fully realize how fortunate we were to be raised speaking English. As mentioned before, our golfing group includes ladies from at least six countries…they all speak English. If you are living in a major city in Portugal, you really do need to look for opportunities to practice your Portuguese with a native speaker. If a restaurant isn’t busy, we will ask the server to allow us to converse with them in Portuguese. There is a lady’s clothing shop down the street. The owner allows us to practice with her. Our realtor and cleaning lady are also helpful coaches. And today there are so many online tools to assist us. PTtranslator, DeepL, Linguee, Conjugator, and many, many more.
All and all, Denise and I make a pretty good team. We’ve never really been stuck in a situation where we can’t figure it out or communicate what we need. My hope is that with time, our study will be enhanced by hearing more Portuguese in real-world situations. That somehow, like a baby, we will learn how to communicate by osmosis. “Só o tempo vai dizer.” (Only time is going to tell.)
Apologies: You may have received a draft version of this last week. Sorry, to clog up your inbox with my mistake. I hit “Publish” rather than “Schedule”.
If I had the choice between having my wisdom teeth removed, and speaking Portuguese on the phone, I really have no idea which one I'd choose ;)
Thanks for a great post!
Don’t worry. Portuguese is such a difficult language…as you say you never got in real trouble, so I guess you already know enough!