Re: New to group

["Robert L Bass" <robertbass1@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Just a quick pass through Rio. I have Brazilian
> clients, a couple of friends (long time neighbors)
> and have had Brazilian employees. You pick
> up some of the normal conversational lingo over
> time. I have a travel agency, as well, so you
> can imagine we get alot of information from the
> travel bureaus. They are in English, naturally,
> but the destinations and local attractions have
> the native language. I've picked up little bits of
> different languages over the years, but far from
> fluent in any of them.

I'm nowhere near fluent in Portugues but I can understan most conversations and can make myself understood well enough to deal with
government beauracrats, shop, dine and travel unimpeded.  When we go there we usually stay for several months so my language skills
get better each time.  At home we speak about 50/50 Portuguese and English except when my American family are around.  Then we speak
only English.  My sweetheart has learned more English than I have Portuguese, but she's been here much longer than I've spent in
Brazil.

I have a second home in Bahia, which is a state in the Northeast region.  We have family all over Brazil and we get lots of
invitations to visit different places.  I spent a month in Rio de Janeiro state (mostly in the city of Rio) five years ago.  That's
when I began to learn Portuguese.  The Cariocas (people from Rio) have an entirely different accent from the Nordestinos.  There are
a few region specific phrases but the vocabulary is mostly universal.  Brazilian Portuguese is as different from European Portuguese
as American English is from what you hear in the UK.

BTW, I'm hoping to make a boat trip into the Amazon next year.

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

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