Lesson 1: Pronunciation of /i/, Getting the Check at a Restaurant
There’s only one Lesson #1. We’ll never have a first again. Today we introduce listeners to the team: Orlando, Valdo, Michelle, and José Luis. Pronunciation wise, we’ll look at when Brazilians say words with the sound [i].
Culturally, Michelle and Valdo talk about what it was like to get the bill in restaurants in the United States. Tune in, join our discussion, download the lesson notes, and become part of Brazilpod.
PODCAST LINK: Lesson 01
UT-Austin/Spring ’09/Instructor: Valentino/POR508
Eu gosto de esta lección porque para mim, é dificil a lembrar q pronuncia o “e” nas palavras como “universidade” como “i.”
Comment by Maya — April 29, 2009 @ 11:44 am
Hi guys! I just want to say THANK YOU!!! for this website. I’m from Guadalajara, Jalisco (Mexico) now living in Los Angeles, California (USA). I became interested in learning Portuguese because I play Capoeira. I noticed in class how similar Portuguese and Spanish are and thought that it would be a fairly easy language to learn. I started visiting various sites and listening to different podcast to try to learn the language on my own. But what I found myself doing was translating from Protuguese, to English, to Spanish (I think in Spanish the majority of the time). Plus, I was also having dificulty with the pronunciations because I tend to want to read Portuguese just like I would Spanish. Anyhow, all of us in cap. class started an online group discussion and one of the capoeirstas posted this link. I figured what the heck, it wouldn’t hurt to check it out. And its perfect! I love the fact that you have two people from different parts of Brazil. This really helps to get an idea of the difference in accents from various regions. Once again, THANK YOU! and keep up the good work!
Comment by Laura Romero — May 22, 2009 @ 7:59 pm
Hi Laura,
Thanks for the feedback. Ironically, I’m in Salvador, Bahia this very minute and just got back from my capoeira lesson too! Boa sorte, btw, here’s the URL to my Brazilpod site, that should give you a link to more of our materials: http://tltc.la.utexas.edu/brazilpod/
Comment by orkelm — May 22, 2009 @ 9:02 pm
My name is Frank Strong and I am taking Joao Valentino Alfredo’s Portuguese class to help fulfill language requirements for my Comparative Literature PhD. He recommended this site as an extension of our class, and I have to say I am very pleased and impressed. As a Spanish speaker, I’ve looked at Portuguese texts in a few of my classes, but I’ve had no idea how to pronounce any of the words on the page. I’m looking forward to working through your pronunciation section, and I know that the grammar podcasts will be helpful as well. Thanks for putting this together!
Comment by Franklin Strong — June 8, 2009 @ 10:31 am
Hi Professor Kelm,
I am a student in Valentino’s POR 406 course this summer. As part of our additional exercises for the FLAS fellowship, a few of us will be supplementing our course study with the materials on Ta Falado. Valentino has asked us to post something in response to each of the pronunciation and grammar lessons, so please be aware that I will be in touch via this discussion board.
I just completed the first pronunciation and grammar podcasts — both of which I found very helpful. It is especially helpful to listen to the dialogues while reading along with the written transcripts.
I’ll be in touch soon!
Obrigada,
Mary Slosar
Comment by Mary — June 8, 2009 @ 10:31 am
Professor Kelm,
My name is Carlos Barrera. I was awarded a FLAS scholarship and I am taking POR 406 with the instructor Joao Valentino. I will be doing the Ta Falado pronunciation and grammar lessons for the extra work that the FLAS recipients are required to do. I will be posting comments or questions on each lesson I’ll do.
I must say that I find this material very interesting and helpful. I was looking online for Portuguese lessons for Spanish speakers (I am a native Spanish speaker from Colombia), but this is making it a lot easier. I am very pleased to find this great help within the university.
Thanks,
Carlos Barrera
Comment by Carlos Barrera — June 8, 2009 @ 10:35 am
Franklin, Mary, Carlos, welcome to 406. Always nice to have FLAS students with us (we’re always looking for extra projects and hours for them. I’m here in Salvador right now and we’re giving our FLAS students extra assignments here too.
So, here’s a little “Bahia” homework for you. Do you put acarajé in the vatapá or vatapá in the acarajé?
Orlando
Comment by orkelm — June 8, 2009 @ 5:06 pm
I just found this program and it is fantastic. I am mexican learning portuguese in US so this is indeed very useful. I have found that the most difficult part to learn portuguese is the listening so thank you very much for helping out. I have one question. It seems that the last e in “trouxe” should be pronunced as “i”, but in the audio seems lik “e”. Anyway, maybe I am not use to the sounds yet. Thanks
Comment by Ana — July 5, 2009 @ 9:48 am
Empece a escuchar dos podcast, este y lusofonias, este ya lo termine de escuchar el de pronunciación del otro solo llevo 10. La quimica de los de equipo es muy buena y motiva al estudiar.De inicio no me gustaba la explicación en ingles, pero habla tan claro que le entiendo a la mayoria de lo que dice. El portugues se lee fácil, pero la pronunciación brasileña lo cambia todo, iniciaba la lección desconociendo lo que decia y terminaba comprendiendo la mayoria, incluso a velocidad normal.Esto facilita que comprendamos mejor el portugués hablado. A pesar de practicar la traducción de 2 textos portuguese ahora siento que lo escucho mejor que lo leo, por ello voy a revisar los dialogos con la pronunciación.
Saludos de México
I begin to hear two podcast , this and lusofonias (portuguese and spanish), then i finish to listen 20 and the other only 10. the ambient of the team es very good and motivated to study. I don’t like in the begining the instructions in english, but he speak so clearly what i understood almost everything he said. The portugues read easy for a mexican, but the brazilian pronunciation change all. I start the lesson listening but without known, and finish i understand almost all. I hear too much ,now I go to listen with the notes again. (my traslate)
greetings from México.
Online translation:
Começo a ouvir dois podcast, este e lusofonias (português e espanhol), então termino escutar 20 e o outro só 10. o ambiental do es de equipe muito bom e motivou estudar. Não gosto de no começo as instruções em inglês, mas fala tão claramente o que eu entendi quase tudo que ele disse. O portugues lê fácil para um mexicano, mas a pronunciação brasileira mudança todo. Começo a lição escutando mas sem sabido, e termina entendo quase todo. Ouço demais, agora vou escutar com as notas outra vez.
Os votos de México.
Comment by Salvador — December 22, 2009 @ 12:12 pm
Oi Salvador,
Adoré los comentarios tuyos, muchisimas gracias. Que bueno saber que al final de la lección entendiste más el português hablado que la parte escrita!!! Excelente observación. Ojalá que vuelvas pronto.
Orlando
Comment by orkelm — December 22, 2009 @ 12:59 pm
Wow Very great to hear that. Thank you very much for your sharing site. I will be provide this site to all i know.
Comment by Mr.Letter — December 25, 2009 @ 10:26 am
Aloha, Orlando and Brazilpod Team,
I feel really fortunate to have found this resource, which popped to the top when I googled “Portuguese cognates mp3″.
Unquestionably, Tá Falado is the best language learning podcast I have ever discovered, and probably the most enjoyable language learning audio I have ever heard. And I started using Audio Language Learning back in 1971 with a Linguaphone audio cassette course in Japanese. All of you have great voices, and you, Orlando, have pipes of professional quality.
I’m making a decision right now to dedicate the remainder of the first month of 2010 to mastering* the material in the 46 podcasts that I’ve downloaded. I’m doing this because, living in Japan, I can find plenty of opportunities to speak Portuguese if I look for them and then have the ability to take advantage of advantage of them. I’ll try to keep you posted on my progress.
Mahalo nui loa for the great job.
Your Trusted Friend,
Indy
* Mastering
*”Mastering” is a pretty big word, and I’m not even sure what I mean by it. Is there any kind of test I can take? Or can I connect with any of you guys by Skype at the end of the month of January 2010 to check my progress? (Man, I’m really setting myself up for some embarrassment here.)
Comment by IndyInAsia — January 14, 2010 @ 3:12 am
Oi Indy,
Thanks for the email Indy. As to Japan and practicing Portuguese, I remember getting of a train in Japan one day and seeing “pão de queijo” in the little store at the rail station. I couldn’t believe it and I asked “kore wa nan desu ka?” Imagine my surprise when she answered “pão de queijo desu”!!!!
Looks like you have a great first month of 2010 planned out for you. Boa sorte,
Orlando
BTW, my homepage gives our contact info, including skype address.
Comment by orkelm — January 17, 2010 @ 8:45 pm
Hi, this is a great site, and very well thought out and well written.
Best Regards and Best of Luck
Comment by Social Network Forum — January 20, 2010 @ 8:32 am
Aloha, Orlando,
Thanks for responding, I am having so much fun with this!
Got behind my intended schedule a bit. Took an all day trip to Tokyo with my wife that included a necessary visit to the Genius Bar at the Ginza Apple Store, lunch at a friend’s at a restaurant / art gallery in Nihonbashi, and a Tobanyoku Ceramic Bed Sauna http://www.tonpo358.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/img_0087.jpg That excursion was followed by an all day wake, cremation, and funeral service where I heard a beautiful, chilling rendition of the Heart Sutra by the head priest of our local Shingon Temple http://image.blog.livedoor.jp/photokichi/imgs/2/6/2688da88.jpg. But I am back on it now with nine days left in January!
Comment by IndyInAsia — January 21, 2010 @ 12:20 pm
OMG!
I just RE-discovered Orlando’s “Cultural Interviews (other languages)”, including Chinese and Japanese. http://orlandokelm.wordpress.com/cultural-interviews-other-languages/
I KNEW I had heard Orlando’s name before, years before, but could not shake the cobwebs out of my memory to place it.
Wow. My admiration for Kelm Sensei just shot up even further. I am going to be blissfully busy with OK’s material for a LONG TIME! 🙂
Comment by IndyInAsia — January 21, 2010 @ 1:12 pm
I feel that way often in person and sometimes on blogs — that the conversation is so established I would be interrupting. I know exactly what you mean about that.
Comment by Ramiro Dolby — March 18, 2010 @ 8:54 pm
Me encanto esto!! hace mucho que buscaba algo asi y no lo podia conseguir. como hago para conseguir el resto de las lecciones?
Comment by Mercedes — June 30, 2010 @ 1:10 pm
Wow! First, this is a wonderful idea, Portuguese for Spanish speakers. My son is from Honduras, and I also speak Spanish fluently; I have always been tempted to learn Portuguese since I can generally read it. But when I listen to spoken Portuguese, it’s a totally different story — I am *completely* lost. Your site seems like just the ticket, perfect for Spanish speakers with the spoken and written comparisons.
Second, you guys did a great job on this lesson! It’s entertaining, there’s repetition without dragging on, it’s clear as a bell, it’s a good length, it’s the right amount of content for one lesson, there’s an excellent PDF of the dialog — great work. I like the fact that you use red to highlight the relevant vowels in the dialog.
And it’s way cool that this is done by UT Austin, since we live in the greater Austin area. :^)
Thanks so much and good luck to you!
Comment by Nicholas Sterling — August 14, 2010 @ 5:37 am
I am an Englishman who has just moved from Spain to Brazil, I found the transition from Spanish to Portuguese quite easy and I read, write and comprehend Portuguese quite well. I speak reasonably fluently except that Brazilians do not understand me 🙁
Apart from my bad accent (it is the same in Spanish, I am not a natural mimic) the problem seems to be the Brazilians. Native Spanish and English speakers are used to all sorts of strange foreign accents and have learned how to deal with them. Foreigners speaking Portuguese are comparatively rare and my hypothesis is that Brazilians are just not used to hearing their their words mispronounced and have no idea of what you are saying if there is even a slight variation. An English friend here regularly is served a glass of water when he asks for Guaraná (his accent is even worse than mine)
It would be interesting to hear the experiences of other foreigners here.
This site is aimed at aural comprehension rather than pronunciation but I am sure it will help me, thanks.
Steve
Comment by Steve — October 18, 2010 @ 7:45 am
Welcome to Brazil Steve,
It is true that some people tend to panic when they hear a foreign accent and they totally shut down any attempt to understand. Fortunately, those people tend to be the minority and in general, Brazilians are super open to giving foreigners a chance to try to speak Portuguese.
Now, getting water when you are hoping for guarana is truly sad!!!
Boa sorte,
Orlando
Comment by orkelm — October 18, 2010 @ 12:03 pm
it seems for me interestin since i speak spanglisn(espanol ingles) i could probably learn a lot de esto gracias abrigado i am just a begginer
Comment by carlos — December 30, 2010 @ 10:32 pm
Solo que queria animar a los autores del post para que sigan produciendo articulos de esta calidas, saludos!
Comment by Ana Pons - Psicologia — April 15, 2011 @ 5:20 am
I live in Kenya and just started working in Mozambique. This is a fantastic resource to help us spanish speakers communicate better in Portuguese. Just curious, how different is Portuguese in Brasil from Portuguese in Spanish? THanks again,
Comment by Lainie — May 27, 2011 @ 2:38 pm
Thanks for checking in with us Lainie. Indeed, Portuguese from Brazil and Portugal are quite different, although if you understand one you will be much better at understanding the other. When I speak with friends from Portugal, they have enough experience hearing Brazilian Portuguese that they understand just fine. With a little bit of patience and repeating, Continental Portuguese isn’t that hard to figure out either.
Comment by orkelm — May 29, 2011 @ 3:31 pm
Orlando I am trully in love with your program. It is exactly what I´ve been looking for. I would pay hundreds of dollars for these type of learning with no quiestions ask. I can´t believe this is free. It´s amazing… I know this progam came out in 2007 and now we´re in 2012 but this should be the first program available for ALL portugues learners with a spanish background with an Ipod, Ipad. I know with the modern technology this program could still be huge and bigger than it is now.
I am actually a Native of english and spanish at the same time. I was born in the US but my parents are spanish and I kind of learned them both at the same time simultaneously as I grew up. This is the perfect program for me!! I hope that even though it is 5 years later since the development of this program, you can still be active in your blog and be available to us if we want to say hi or have small questions. Thank you for everything Orlando! you have done more than I could ever ask for, it´s more liks a blessing to me that I found this program out of the blue. Michelle, Valdo, and Jose Luis…you guys are awesome too!!
Comment by Tristan — April 4, 2012 @ 11:08 am
Hi Tristan,
Indeed we still do keep up with the Ta Falado blog. Thanks for your kind comments. Quick update. Jose Luis is now in Philly. Valdo is back in Bahia, and Michelle just returned to Sao Paulo two months ago. I’m still holding down the fort here in Austin. When you get a little progress from Ta Falado, check out our new project, Conversa Brasileira, more for advanced learners, but it’s been a fun project too.
Boa sorte
Orlando
Comment by orkelm — April 4, 2012 @ 11:34 am
Muito obrigado!
In fact, this is my second lesson in brazilian portuguese. It has been nice to hear in 3 idioms. I’m a beginer, spanish tongue. Thanks to all team for teaching in this way!.
Quiero aprovecharlo así porque estoy enseñando español a extranjeros de lengua inglesa y francesa, ahora en portugués brasileño voy aprender, qué emoción!
Comment by Isabel — September 2, 2012 @ 9:42 pm
Thanks so much for this amazing podcast. I´m a native Latin american Spanish speaker, living in Australia for the past 5 years (so I had to adjust my English vocabulary to the Aussie slang too) and getting ready to spend a couple of weeks in Sao Paulo and Rio.
I have to say that the quality of your podcast is outstanding, and agree with others about the group chemistry there is. I feel like listening to a group of friends and even laughed at some of the funny comments you guys made (which must look funny when you´re walking down the streets with your earphones on).
I´ve found that this approach its very helpful for me, as I have the sources from both English and Spanish to support my Portuguese, it amazing how the brain works… By the way, I´ve also noticed an INCREDIBLE similarity with FRENCH (which I also love but have basic knowledge of)!!!!! The word “lá” has the same meaning in both languages, as well as similar pronunciation of R….at least closer than Spanish…. I´m curious about the origins of these similarities? Any lights about this?
Thanks for the good experience,
Marcela.
Comment by Marcela B.D. — September 17, 2012 @ 7:21 am
Olá Marcela,
That will be quite a plane ride, Australia to Latin America! As to “r” sounds, you are right, they can be pretty crazy from one region to another. Basically, Spanish and Italian use the front of their tongue and Portuguese and French use the back of their tongues. Some day I’ll get the French one down, but I find it even more challenging that in Portuguese.
Have a great trip.
Orlando
Comment by orkelm — September 17, 2012 @ 1:04 pm
This is excellent, thank you. I current have the book Pois Nao, but this will be a great companion to that book.
One question, shouldn’t it have been “píde-lo”, instead of “pída-lo” or is that some unique nuance to Venezuelan Spanish?
thanks,
-F
Comment by Fenton — March 11, 2013 @ 11:38 pm
Fenton, Thanks for finding us, and I agree, Tá Falado will be a nice companion study to go along with Pois Nao. As to pide-lo and pida-lo, don’t you just pull you hair out with how much more involved command forms are in Spanish than they are in Portuguese!
Comment by orkelm — March 15, 2013 @ 7:02 am
Hi guys,
I just visited your website for the first time. I love it. I like the way you present the topics. I also like the translations from Portuguese to both English and Spanish. That’s a good way to help Portuguese learners. I’ve already listening to the pronunciation and grammar lessons. I started learning Portuguese three weeks ago. I’m also using other sources from your site like for example the Portuguese Communication Exercises.
My name is Johnny Lobo and I’m following you from the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra here in Bolivia. I’m a Spanish speaker.
Honestly, I find it very easy to learn Portuguese. I think it’s much easier than learning English. I started learning English more than 17 years ago and I’m still learning every day. But with the Portuguese language it’s a little different. In three weeks I’ve learned a lot.
I posted this comment in English but I will in Portuguese next time I place a comment on one of your posts. I hope you can keep posting new lessons.
Until next time and take care.
Johnny Lobo
Comment by Johnny — May 1, 2013 @ 8:57 am
Obrigado Johnny. Eu nunca tive o prazer de conhecer Santa Cruz, nem a Bolivia para falar a verdade. Tomara que algum dia a gente tenha essa oportunidade.
Comment by orkelm — May 1, 2013 @ 11:11 am
This is excellent!!! I’ve been to Curitiba twice and I love the place especially getting the crazy weather. I’ve been studying Portuguese by myself and I can read better than formulating a sentence. Listening to your podcast helped me more to be familiarize with the accent. Simply amazing and it rocks!!
Lastly, thank you to my friend who introduced me this site…(she might be around so she can read it)
Comment by Joel — July 29, 2013 @ 9:15 am
Great website! I’m a native English speaker with pretty good fluency in Spanish, and I’m learning a little Portuguese on Duolingo now. I just discovered Tá falado, and it’s wonderful. I have a question about one word in lesson one: deles. The .pdf indicates that the second ‘e’ should be pronounced /i/. It’s not at the end of the word, so I’m wondering what the rule is here. I appreciate any feedback.
Comment by Dean — December 21, 2013 @ 2:40 pm
Dean,
Thanks for finding us. OK, pronunciation of “deles” If a word ends in an “e”, it does have an “i” sound: livre, vale, dele. If that word is made plural, by adding an “s”, then the “e” is still considered a final “i” sound. In other words, making the word plural, still counts as a final: livres, vales, deles.
Comment by orkelm — December 21, 2013 @ 5:22 pm
I’d like to go back to Comments 81 and 82.
You still haven’t answered whether “pídalo” is wrong or not. I think in Standard Castilian it is. It should indeed be “pídelo”. You are speaking to the person with second person informal.
Or is it just a Venezualan peculiarity?
Thanks a whole lot for the answer.
Your site and podcasts are fabulous!
Comment by Candace Whitman — May 25, 2014 @ 2:05 pm
Hi Candace,
My best guess is that it should have been “pídelo” but as to Venezuelan nuances, I don’t have an natural sense of those myself either.
Comment by orkelm — May 27, 2014 @ 3:23 pm
I looooooved this website. First time here, and the lesson 01 was awesome! I am loving Portuguese more and more. My native language is Spanish and this is another way to practice English, my second language and of course the language I’m learning 🙂
Thank you so much for this great website!!
Greetings from Costa Rica 😉
Comment by Oscar Daniel — December 26, 2014 @ 1:13 am
Thanks Oscar, I really need to make it to Costa Rica some day! Boa sorte com o português,
Orlando
Comment by orkelm — December 27, 2014 @ 1:11 pm
Hello,
Thank you very much for these podcasts. They are very useful. I studied Spanish at secondary school in Barbados. English is the main language spoken here and you don’t really get the chance to utilise other languages you are taught at school. So I am hoping to one day become fluent in Spanish. I try to use Duolingo at least once a week to try and retain the Spanish. It was on that site that I started learning Portuguese. I really like it as I also listen to Brazilian music – Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Djavan, etc. So I am very thankful that I can improve both languages through the use of this podcast.
Jeannette
Comment by Jeannette Murphy — November 30, 2016 @ 5:31 pm
Thanks Jeanette. And if you’d like to see all of our Portuguese language materials, check our Brazilpod homepage: https://coerll.utexas.edu/brazilpod/
Comment by orkelm — November 30, 2016 @ 6:41 pm
I love this! This has exceeded my expectations. It’s clear, useful and nice. As a fluent speaker of Spanish, these comparative pronunciation and grammar podcasts are just what I need. Thank you!
Greetings from the Netherlands
Comment by Simone — March 30, 2019 @ 3:37 pm
Thanks Simone, e boa sorte com o português também!
Comment by orkelm — March 31, 2019 @ 11:26 am