Grammar Lesson 20: This Just Isn't Spanish, Adapting to Handicapped
Listen now
Description
Oh man, where did this word come from? After a whole series of lessons in pronunciation and grammar ... and now we learn a whole bunch of words where Spanish and Portuguese are totally different. If Tá Falado is supposed to show learners the similarities between these two languages, well, this lesson just won't do that. Today Michelle and Valdo give as words like embora, ainda, rapaz, jeito, cedo, and tomara. It is true that Spanish and Portuguese are similar in many ways. However, today we look at the words that are not similar at all.es pero en el Brasil no hay aire condicionado en los autobuses. Hay que abrir las ventanas para ventilar. Valdo: Por otro lado, existe un calor humano. Las personas pueden hasta descansar unas encima de las otras porque a veces los autobuses anda muy llenos. Lo ves, ¿para qué mejorar? English Michelle: Man, did you see that guy in the wheel chair getting into the bus early this morning? Valdo: I did see him. I think it's interesting the way that Americans take care of people who have special needs, changing the streets and the busses. Michelle: I know, here the seats close up and the doors of the bus can be lowered to accommodate the people. Valdo: Although Brazil doesn't have busses that have such adaptations, nobody complains because the public transportation system is so good. Michelle: Right, but don't go too far with these stories because maybe you have forgotten that the buses in Brazil don't have air conditioning, you've got to open the window to get some air. Valdo: On the other hand, you've got human warmth. People even end up lying on top of one another because the buses en up so full sometimes. You see, what is there to improve?
More Episodes
One of life's great mysteries is if a Brazilian marries someone from Venezuela, how do you figure out what their official name will be? We ought to be politicians because we spend the whole lesson talking about last names, middle names, and given names, but we never actually answer the question!...
Published 12/04/07
So how weird would it be to be a Brazilian in the United States and see for the first time a bicycle attached to the front of a city bus? Sure enough, that would never happen on a bus in Brazil. These are the kinds of observations that North Americans would never make because, well, we think it's...
Published 11/26/07
Spanish speakers who are used to saying tampoco will now have to learn how to say também não in Portuguese. It just sounds cute somehow. Culturally, Michelle and Valdo talk about all the things that are offered online in the United States, much more than in Brazil. In this lesson we also mention...
Published 10/01/07