Stumbling in Words

Learning a new language can be fun, especially if your goal is to use it in conversation.  It opens an entire new world of words.  There are also people out there like me who love the grammar.  I want to understand the foundation because I want to write and read the language, as well as speak it, fluently.  To me, knowing terms like antecedent, anaphoric, subjunctive, and ligature is as much a part of learning the Portuguese as knowing “eu” is “I” and "livro" is “book”, masculine, by the way.  Thankfully, I have a patient instructor who understands I am as interested in the groundwork as the speaking.  I’m pretty sure sainthood is in my teacher’s future.

All that aside, my pronunciation is horrible!  I’ve taken diction courses for singing, but it’s like everything I remember is gone from my head.  Just gone.  I sit in front of my computer listening to word after word, repeating what I think I hear, and then boom, gone.  Most of the time I’m turning everything and anything into a diphthong, which I’m attributing to living most of my life in the Southern USA.  Nothing against our accents, but what can be a beautiful lyrical quality can also hinder us in learning a new language.  Again, patient listeners in my life,  woo and hoo!

Of all the words with which I’m struggling, amanhã (tomorrow) and homem (man) are two of the most difficult for me to say.  If I sound like I feel, people must wonder if I’m storing marbles in my cheeks.  I keep expecting to bite my tongue at any moment, though family and friends are having a great deal of fun teasing.  I recall learning the guttural “r” in French, and it comes second nature to me now, but applying it to Portuguese has been interesting, especially when that “r” is smack dab next to a nasal “m” or “n”.  It’s probably not uncommon to worry you’re making any native speaker want to beg you to stop talking.  I have visions of causing peoples’ ears to spontaneously begin bleeding.  That being said, I have talked now with a few native speakers online (thank you, Skype), and I am finally getting the hang of the “r” and the “m and “n”, just not when they’re together.  

Along with all the books, notes, friendly people online, instructor, recordings, and basic determination, I use a lot of sources online as well as youtube videos to help me muddle my way through to being understood.

Wikipedia, a handy jumping off point for finding sources and references along with basic information, is especially helpful when trying to understand the diacritics, accent marks.  Learning those accent marks will take any new language learner further in their journey.  Some sites to get started include Portuguese Orthography, Basics to Get Started, and Games and Quizzes.  The last site is geared towards children, but I've found watching cartoons and playing games is a great deal more engaging for me than dry texts, flash cards, and constant grammar lessons.  Most of all, I am having fun learning, especially for the sake of the poetry.

Words like Water

My brain has turned to liquid, you see,
a lapse in things all elementary.

The commas I know are all undone.
Lost in hazes of vocabulary lessons.

Hoje is today and tomorrow I knew,
but eu esqueci is definitely true.

Apparently knowing comes round twice,
saber and conhecer, what about thrice?

Palavras in my head flooded right out,
if words are water let there never be drought!

Tara Saint-Clair