By allilopez
Living in a foreign country is never easy and challenges always arise; Brazil is no exception. For me the biggest challenge has undoubtedly been the language barrier. Granted I am a native Spanish speaker and Portuguese and Spanish are very close to each other, but that does not mean that everything in Spanish translates perfectly into Portuguese. There are some verb tenses that exist in Portuguese that DO NOT exist in Spanish, like the dreaded future of the subjunctive which I can never seem to use properly.
Then there are those multipurpose verbs that Brazilians love to use for a variety things, but which if you translate to Spanish or English do not make sense. There are two verbs in particular which I have heard A LOT since I got to Brazil and they are used for a variety of actions; these verbs are pegar (to catch/to get) and tirar (to get). For example: pegar o ônibus (to catch the bus) or pegar a caneca (to bring/to get the mug). Then there is the verb tirar: tirar para o lado da família materna (to lean towards/to prefer one’s maternal family) or tirar uma boa nota (to get a good grade). Ironically enough you would never say tirar a caneca or pegar uma boa nota. It is quite strange actually.
Making myself understood has been a real challenge here in Brazil. The first few days were especially rough because I was ”fresh off the boat” and because I got the flu after being here a mere week. I desperately needed a box of Kleenex since I only had a small travel pack from the US and it was already running out, so I decided to go to the local supermarket. After looking around the store for over an hour and not finding any I asked one of the employees in my broken Portuguese where I could find some tissues. The only problem was that I did not know what the Portuguese word for ‘tissues’ was. I resorted to using three different words in three different languages -pañuelos (Spanish), Kleenex (English), and tissus (French)- none of which elicited a positive response from the salesperson.
After struggling for ten minutes I finally remembered that I had the pack of Kleenex in my purse. I quickly whipped it out and desperately pointed to it. “Ahhh! Você precisa lenções de papel, ‘ta. Eles estão no corridor 9. (Ohhh! You are looking for tissues, right? They are in aisle 9.)” I did an inner face palm because I should have looked up the Portuguese word for “tissues” before leaving the house. This language barrier, however, has had a bright side: out of pure necessity I have learned words that are not usually taught in Portuguese language classes. On top of that, the funny anecdotes regarding particular situations have made it easier to remember these newly-learned words. In the end, my Portuñol (the mixture of Spanish and Portuguese) is slowly but surely evolving into Portuguese.
Tchau gente! Até a próxima! (Bye everyone! Until next time!)