Learning a language with someone has been an unexpected joy. I’ve met some really nice people since I decided to learn Portuguese, and one of them, Kel, lives in Brazil and has spent many hours with me over the past three or four weeks as we learn together. He is a self-motivated learner, and I’ve noticed him taking huge leaps forward in pronunciation as well as grammatical structure. As his English improves, I find I want to drive myself forward to reach new goals. Right now, we learn together using a mix of Portuguese and English, but the plan is to eventually structure our conversations speaking half the time in Portuguese and half in English. It will be really good to get to that conversational point. As my skills get better, I’m taking a lot of Kel’s advice to heart.
One point especially, I need to do a lot more listening. Today I’m devoting my energies to writing, studying, and listening to Portuguese only. Tomorrow I’ll likely be doing the same, but the more words I can pick out at faster speeds, the better my brain works. I find if I skip a day or two of listening, I fall behind quickly. Sadly, some of the streaming services don’t offer much in Portuguese, though I have found some excellent films like Cidade de Deus (City of God) and Abril Despedaçado (Behind the Sun).
Both films are well done with lovely acting, but both films are also incredibly sad. Cidade de Deus takes place during the 1960’s when tenement housing was being restructured. It is based on the true story of photographer Wilson Rodrigues. He grew up in the “City of God”, project housing built in Rio de Janeiro to force the city’s poverty stricken a little further away from the more well-to-do. We see a lot of this in the US, and one of our most famous examples is the now demolished Cabrini Greens of Chicago, Illinois. (Cabrini was featured in the horror movie Candyman if you'd like to see what it looked just before it was demolished.) I genuinely enjoyed Cidade de Deus; it was also very difficult to watch knowing the outcome of the lives of many of the people depicted. The violence was extreme, and as the film continued, it only escalated to a pinnacle. That defining moment was incredibly heartbreaking because I knew, like many problems here in the US, some of the problems featured in the film are ongoing in Brazil. I wondered how many mothers and fathers watched and thought about their own lost children. The movie made me want to hug my son.
The second movie, Abril Despedaçado, is equally sad and deals with a feud between families. Set in the 1940s, it's got a dusty feel about it that lends well to the scenes. Again, this one is hard to watch as a parent. I was reminded of the stories of the Hatfield and McCoy clans here in the Southern United State, and I walked away thinking violence can never ben an answer, but for some people, that is all they choose. The acting was lovely, and there were a couple of scenes I watched thinking of them as “poetry in motion”. This was a much quieter story built on the personal hardships of two families, and the choice one of the children makes. Half a box of tissue later, I was good to go again, but talk about a tearjerker! Of the two, I cried during both, but I can honestly say both films are worth the watch, especially Cidade de Deus. I’m going to sit down and watch it again today because the film is that good, and I want to watch without the captions while listening.
This brings me to my hardest task: finding films and television shows with the Portuguese captions. Since I’m trying to hear the spoken words, I need more written Portuguese and no English. I find there are some things on youtube, subbed and dubbed anime, but it would be nice to expand my repertoire.
Today I’ll be watching Inuyasha, a Japanese anime about a time traveling girl and half-demon. I’ve seen it in both the Japanese and English, but watching it in Portuguese has been interesting. The voice work is so different sounding it’s taking a bit of time to get used to it. Still, I am having a lot of fun.
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