This last week of Portuguese has gone by so fast! It was hard to believe that we had really reached the end of the timeline that we had made in the beginning. I started Portuguese with more or less the same amount of vocabulary and knowledge that I have now, but with much less confidence. The opportunity to practice and review has brought that dormant knowledge to the front of my brain while simultaneously giving me more confidence to speak it.
Previously, I would speak slowly and hesitantly because I did not trust the words were telling me to use for my first instinct because I thought I was just making things up from Spanish and making them sound like Portuguese. I was almost apologetic when I spoke because to me it felt similar to trying to speak Spanish by adding -o/-a to an English word and hoping the interlocutor understands. This experience with the self-directed study program has helped me gain familiarity with which words are actually like this and which are in fact different from Spanish or are false cognates. If I were to rate my progress on a sort of scale, I would say that I progressed from an early beginner to an early intermediate stage.
Wether or not I am selected for or participate in a Fulbright experience in Brazil, I am glad to have learned and improved in my Portuguese abilities. I have encountered Brazilians in many parts of the world, and they are usually such fun, boisterous, easygoing, friendly people that I am happy that I now have a way to connect with them and make friends wherever I am in the world. As a volleyball player, I met several Brazilians through sports and would converse with them in broken Portuguese.
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Hi Sabrina! I definitely feel that when you say you aren't trusting your instincts when you speak Portuguese. Half of the time, when I speak Korean, I'm literally guessing what sounds right in both vocabulary and grammar. However, I think that this is a sign of a good language learner and it will honestly get you really far in spoken conversation!
I completely understand your struggle confidence is so important with language learning! Even with my native language of Spanish, I reached a point where I didn't feel confident and would stumble with my words, luckily I started gaining confidence and lost my stutter. Wishing you the best for your Fullbright, if not I hope you can study abroad in Brazil if you already haven't gone!