Journal Post 1:
Overview: I’m working on studying the Portuguese language specifically Brazilian Portuguese from the São Paulo region. I’m studying vocabulary, practicing listening comprehension, grammar , reading, and conversation. I study vocabulary by making a list of words that come up and devising mnemonics to remember them (I post these mnemonics on Reddit). For listening comprehension, I pick one song each week listening to it until I can hear every word distinctly. For grammar, I use Conjuguemos and old grammar flashcards from Portuguese 390. For reading, I spend an hour each week reading about Brasilia as part of Dixon Abreu’s Building Brasilia CLAC. For conversation, I meet with my language partner for two hours each week.
Previous goals: when I started, I hoped to read Pride and Prejudice in Portuguese. After getting advice from Dr. Bohon about how ideal foreign language reading has 90-95% words you already know, I don’t think reading Pride and Prejudice is realistic. Another goal I'm changing is on tax vocabulary. While I still think that it’s important, I have a good deal of basic vocabulary to learn and want to prioritize that. I also hoped to develop the ability to request gel nails, highlights, and a haircut in Portuguese. I haven’t started talking with my language partner about these but hope to soon.
Reciprocal goals: I'd like to take what I learn in SDLP 105 and directly apply it to my teaching methods at Sacred Heart and to help my language partners improve their English. Helping my language partners comes pretty naturally during our conversations because when learning about something in Portuguese sometimes there's a big difference in English that we can talk about. For example, while working with Pedro, we’ve talked about the English word "decorated." He didn’t know one of its meanings is “accomplished,” and I didn't know that Portuguese has two separate words one for a space that's decorated (decorado) and another for a person who's decorated (condecorado).
Resources: Flashcards, Reddit, Conjuguemos, Spotify, Google translate (for song lyrics), DeepL, Cambridge Dictionary’s similar words feature, ChatGPT (for etymology).
Strategies: The strategies I’ve used have been trying to record all in one place (reddit) my favorite memory devices and using creativity and fun in the process as much as possible. For me that takes place by never learning words through rote memorization and always creating a story or connection.
My memorization strategy is effective although time-intensive. I think learning through song is also effective because once you hear the vocabulary words once, you can always hear them and that means you can get hours of practice with those words as you start to memorize them.
Motivation: My motivation to learn Portuguese has been bolstered by a Brazilian girl I've been seeing. I’m nervous for how I'd feel about Portuguese if the relationship doesn't work, but speaking with her in her native language has been rewarding. With that in mind, I still feel frustrated with how many words there are to learn and how stubborn my Spanish is when I want to speak in Portuguese. Also, I do not think in Portuguese yet but think in English and translate. I’m trying not to, but it is difficult.
Cultural Connections: Connections between the language and culture are evident with my current academic and extracurricular setup. Academically, I believe all my professors speak Portuguese and the current subject of both classes is Latin America and Brazil.
New Ideas: I don’t have radical ideas for learning the language other than trying out complete immersion. Now that we’ve been out a few times, I want to try and only speak with this girl in Portuguese. That would be difficult but also rewarding in that it might force me to strengthen my mind's connection to Portuguese. Another experiment could be writing a letter to her or a friend in Portuguese. That would be a memorable writing experience and I think I would develop a strong relationship with any words I had to look up and deeply consider their use, before handwriting them in a letter. Emotionally, I’m in a bit of a quandary as I don’t want to emotionally overcommit to the relationship, yet I am excited by the prospect of having an intimate language partner. Hence, I have ideas for how to learn Portuguese with her, but at this stage prefer not to think too deeply about them until the relationship has progressed.
Conclusion: Overall, I think things are going well. I’m still getting into the groove of my weekly workflows and finding the time to be as studious as I'd like can be challenging. I feel a tension between being able to study Portuguese to the degree I’d like to and meeting my other academic, professional, and personal obligations. Nonetheless, I’m motivated to study the language and feel like I’m progressing. Taking this SDLP has been a huge help in keeping me motivated.
Overview: I’m working on studying the Portuguese language specifically Brazilian Portuguese from the São Paulo region. I’m studying vocabulary, practicing listening comprehension, grammar , reading, and conversation. I study vocabulary by making a list of words that come up and devising mnemonics to remember them (I post these mnemonics on Reddit). For listening comprehension, I pick one song each week listening to it until I can hear every word distinctly. For grammar, I use Conjuguemos and old grammar flashcards from Portuguese 390. For reading, I spend an hour each week reading about Brasilia as part of Dixon Abreu’s Building Brasilia CLAC. For conversation, I meet with my language partner for two hours each week.
Previous goals: when I started, I hoped to read Pride and Prejudice in Portuguese. After getting advice from Dr. Bohon about how ideal foreign language reading has 90-95% words you already know, I don’t think reading Pride and Prejudice is realistic. Another goal I'm changing is on tax vocabulary. While I still think that it’s important, I have a good deal of basic vocabulary to learn and want to prioritize that. I also hoped to develop the ability to request gel nails, highlights, and a haircut in Portuguese. I haven’t started talking with my language partner about these but hope to soon.
Reciprocal goals: I'd like to take what I learn in SDLP 105 and directly apply it to my teaching methods at Sacred Heart and to help my language partners improve their English. Helping my language partners comes pretty naturally during our conversations because when learning about something in Portuguese sometimes there's a big difference in English that we can talk about. For example, while working with Pedro, we’ve talked about the English word "decorated." He didn’t know one of its meanings is “accomplished,” and I didn't know that Portuguese has two separate words one for a space that's decorated (decorado) and another for a person who's decorated (condecorado).
Resources: Flashcards, Reddit, Conjuguemos, Spotify, Google translate (for song lyrics), DeepL, Cambridge Dictionary’s similar words feature, ChatGPT (for etymology).
Strategies: The strategies I’ve used have been trying to record all in one place (reddit) my favorite memory devices and using creativity and fun in the process as much as possible. For me that takes place by never learning words through rote memorization and always creating a story or connection.
My memorization strategy is effective although time-intensive. I think learning through song is also effective because once you hear the vocabulary words once, you can always hear them and that means you can get hours of practice with those words as you start to memorize them.
Motivation: My motivation to learn Portuguese has been bolstered by a Brazilian girl I've been seeing. I’m nervous for how I'd feel about Portuguese if the relationship doesn't work, but speaking with her in her native language has been rewarding. With that in mind, I still feel frustrated with how many words there are to learn and how stubborn my Spanish is when I want to speak in Portuguese. Also, I do not think in Portuguese yet but think in English and translate. I’m trying not to, but it is difficult.
Cultural Connections: Connections between the language and culture are evident with my current academic and extracurricular setup. Academically, I believe all my professors speak Portuguese and the current subject of both classes is Latin America and Brazil.
New Ideas: I don’t have radical ideas for learning the language other than trying out complete immersion. Now that we’ve been out a few times, I want to try and only speak with this girl in Portuguese. That would be difficult but also rewarding in that it might force me to strengthen my mind's connection to Portuguese. Another experiment could be writing a letter to her or a friend in Portuguese. That would be a memorable writing experience and I think I would develop a strong relationship with any words I had to look up and deeply consider their use, before handwriting them in a letter. Emotionally, I’m in a bit of a quandary as I don’t want to emotionally overcommit to the relationship, yet I am excited by the prospect of having an intimate language partner. Hence, I have ideas for how to learn Portuguese with her, but at this stage prefer not to think too deeply about them until the relationship has progressed.
Conclusion: Overall, I think things are going well. I’m still getting into the groove of my weekly workflows and finding the time to be as studious as I'd like can be challenging. I feel a tension between being able to study Portuguese to the degree I’d like to and meeting my other academic, professional, and personal obligations. Nonetheless, I’m motivated to study the language and feel like I’m progressing. Taking this SDLP has been a huge help in keeping me motivated.
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