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Text of the page (random words):
spent about 18 months listening to and attempting to speak portuguese and she too is not yet what i consider fluent yet still is managing to communicate fairly well without any formal classes or training so i would say that children learning the second language is not so much extra work as it is patience and exposure to another language mom fear 2 if she learns portuguese and we live where people only speak portuguese with her she is going to forget her english reality i guess this could be the case if we stopped speaking english with her altogether but we didn t when we are in our home we all speak english for better or for worse occasionally she will say something in portuguese or will request that we speak portuguese with her at home but generally she prefers to use english with mom and dad we expect this to continue even after she starts attending a school program outside of home so stop worrying grandma your granddaughter will still be able to talk to you and understand you just fine now the adult reality maybe it s a result of my age but occasionally i forget certain words or how to say certain things in english now i m pretty sure i haven t forgotten english altogether yet but next time we chat i may say some things in a way that sounds odd i m sure most returned missionaries from foreign countries have had similar experiences but i m gonna go ahead and say that i don t think i will ever completely forget my english as a result of learning portuguese mom fear 3 she will get confused and mix her english and portuguese she won t know which one to use when reality i couldn t have been more wrong i know this is a stupid thing for me to be worried about as i have read all the textbooks saying that this is not an issue but you know how it is again when it s your child well what has happened is elissa has already figured out that when talking to mom and dad she can speak english and she usually does without mixing in portuguese words also if she hears someone else speak to her in english she will talk to them in english as well for example in her swimming class her teacher was afraid that lissie wouldn t understand her in portuguese so she started speaking english to her the teacher s english was pretty limited too so then lissie started to speak english back and they had a hard time understanding eachother i suggested that the teacher use portuguese with her and just speak to her like she would the other kids maybe a little slower and using more gestures to show what she wanted now in her swim class lissie speaks her limited portuguese with the teachers and the other kids she tells them oi meninas quer brincar com elissa hi girls want to play with elissa also when she goes to other people s homes who only speak portuguese she speaks only portuguese when talking to them it s really very impressive to me how quickly she picks up on which words are english and which are portuguese in fact often when we are playing she will randomly tell me mom in english it s ball in portuguese it s bola clever little thing sometimes she just makes up her own translations if she doesn t know the real word in english it s blanket in portuguese it s blanka no it s actually not but nice try to be honest i think i mix languages more often than she does remember that whole bit about language learning becoming harder once you re older yeah i catch myself often inserting english words in the middle of portuguese sentences or vice versa if i can t think of the right word in english what s even more surprising to me is sometimes i can t think of the right word in english or portuguese but for some reason it pops into my head in german go figure mom fear 4 because she is learning both languages at once she will be behind in both languages reality this is probably the most reasonable of my fears actually the truth is if i compare her current english vocabulary and usage to another child of her age who only speaks english she probably would be a little behind and the same is definitely the case with portuguese which she is still in the process of figuring out but what is encouraging to me right now is that this is completely normal with bilingual kids and it is only temporary she should be caught up and doing equally well in both languages within the next couple years and she is definitely progressing in both languages which is also what is supposed to happen also i feel more at ease when i see that she does interact and communicate with other children and she is not afraid to try speaking their language right now it seems the main line of communication for her age group is play and as long as they can have fun together other children are happy to be around her and don t become overly concerned with language differences one other thing that i have observed with both of us being able to understand another language is much easier than being able to speak the language yourself i find that i actually recognize and understand a lot of words in portuguese used by others but it takes much more effort to actually recall those words and put them together again in my mind in proper context so if it s that difficult for me to figure out i can imagine how hard it is for elissa to do the same and that is also why i encourage her teachers and others who interact with her to just speak portuguese with her not to worry about trying to speak english often she can understand their correct portuguese better than their attempts to remember high school english anyway and if not well this is how she will learn so as i am looking at verb conjugation charts and trying to decide if the google translate translation really is the best way to say something in portuguese my little sponge is soaking it all up through her every day play and activities and starting to figure it out all on her own i m thinking i got the short end of this stick 0 comments wednesday june 6 2012 adapting 12 12 pm posted by unknown today feels like a good time to blow the thick layer of dust off of our blog and let everyone know that we are all in fact still alive and well j it s hard to believe that it s already been nearly a year and a half since we moved away from the us yet at the same time i feel as though we have lived in brazil for eons apparently i have still not managed to camouflage well enough to seem brazilian as everywhere i go i am still asked where are you from or more accurately de onde você é i must still have an american accent hanging around yes i m sure that s their only clue when i tell people how long we ve been here they are always anxious to know how we are adapting so far how we are enjoying their country so far they are mostly curious about lissie and i of course as tiago already knows a thing or two about living here j so i do my best to answer in my broken portuguese and tell them at least a bit of the following information i feel more or less adapted to life in our little city now i am proud to say that in most conversations i am able to understand about 80 90 of what is being said and usually i am able to come up with a somewhat coherent response luckily most people are pretty forgiving of incorrect verb conjugation and fill in the blanks when i get stuck trying to think of a certain word i ve also discovered that if i don t know a certain word i can usually find a way to describe it or a different word that has a close enough meaning or when all else fails i play an impromptu round of charades as i attempt to act out the word so hey communication has improved a lot since we arrived here lissie has a blast with the neighbor kids people often ask how lissie is doing with her portuguese as well particularly when they ask her a question and she hides behind my leg instead of answering i m sure it s pretty typical for most kids her age to hide behind mom when asked questions by strangers or less familiar acquaintances so i explain that she understands a lot of what they are saying to her but she is a little shy about responding in any language she s actually quite impressive when playing with other children as she automatically starts spouting the kid portuguese vocabulary and phrases as she runs back and forth across the room laurinha vem ca olha la e o gatinho etc fine here s the translation little laura come here look over there it s a kitty so anyway how is her portuguese i would say she knows a lot more than she let s us hear note to self someday i should write an entry on what i have observed about bilingual babies children another way in which i feel i am more adapted now is i can usually find my way around our city i am getting more comfortable with the layout and how the roads are and i feel less and less terrified about driving into town by myself which is a big deal for me j have i explained in other blog posts about how confusing the road layouts are and how traffic signals are often difficult to see or have been knocked down and also how most of the roads here are cobblestone so that the very vibration of the car as it rolls along adds a whole new element of is this how it s supposed to feel sound and how people often just don t stop at stop signs and pass other cars on single lane roads and how about if i just say that public transportations isn t really that bad of an option here well now when there is an errand to run as long as i have a car i run it need to pick up a pharmacy prescription no problem out of milk not for long i still do not drive in or to other cities but i m beginning to feel more and more like maybe just maaaaybeeee i could if i had to if my life depended on it also i feel like i am becoming a pretty decent amerizilian chef see what i did there i recently received the brazilian equivalent to the better homes and garden red and white checkered cook book and i am really looking forward to using it rice and feijao black beans have become staple foods and appear on the table a minimum of once per week we also eat a lot of shepherd s pies chicken casseroles and bife lombo milanesas i ve really enjoyed learning new to me traditional brazilian recipes and cooking techniques at the same time my very american recipe for brownies has become famous with our fellow church members here and is often requested for any upcoming activity we ve also been known to enjoy an occasional banana bread cupcakes and other miscellaneous recipes i feel like trying that i ve pinned on pinterest by the way cream puff cake awesome giddy up daddy one other area requiring some adaptation the backwards weather i ve gotten used to it now after experiencing all four seasons first hand last year but it definitely throws me for a loop to have to wear sweaters and coats in june and july and break out the short sleeves in time for christmas just think right now you re probably enjoying a nice hot sunny day maybe on the lake or swimming at the town pool we re coooold i have on 3 layers while typing this and am still thinking of grabbing a thick blanket off the couch and wrapping it around me like a cocoon have i mentioned before about the general lack of heating and air conditioning units here sure the bigger stores and most restaurants usually have something installed but on a cold day here the best way to stay warm is to assume there will be no heat wherever you go and dress accordingly i ve seen cashiers at the grocery store sitting in full winter gear hat scarf mittens the whole deal as they slide those items across the counter and don t even get me started on what we wear to church in the winter months but pretty soon you ll be putting your jackets and long sleeves back on and we ll be shedding the extra layers again in case you are worrying we are one of not too many families here who have a heating air conditioning unit in our home now after spending most of last winter shivering and huddling together under thick blankets i d say this was one of our best purchases yet there have been so many different things to learn and experience since we got here and you know the list only seems to get longer so are we adapted well there are new aspects to adapt to every day but as long as everyone can figure out what word i am acting out next i think we re okay j 0 comments monday january 30 2012 soaking up some sun 9 03 am posted by unknown last week we enjoyed a relaxing for the most part family beach trip with tiago s parents in the florianopolis floripa area just for fun i decided that i would describe our experiences there with some err i guess you could say statistics bedrooms in our rental beach house 3 thank goodness lissie had her own room central air unit s in said house 0 but the ceiling fans helped some nights spent in said house 11 number of nights a certain toddler woke up in the middle of the night to throw up and did not go back to sleep for several more hours 3 poor little thing the strange part they were not even 3 consecutive nights mosquito bites i received over the 11 days about 100 why oh why do they love my blood so much delicious meals cooked by my in laws about 20 okay i wasn t really counting how many times they cooked but they really are awesome chefs board games dice games card games played 20 ticket to ride was by far the most played other games included starfarers of catan killer bunnies dominion and greed tiago was the overall game champion winning about 10 of the 20 viewings of the movie lilo stitch at least 1000 requested viewings of lilo stitch about 1 000 000 yeah tiago really likes that movie sandcastles built 2 attempts none completed we were becoming rather skilled at making mounds of sand though minutes lissie spent on her grandparents laps in their arms let s see 60 hour x 24 hrs day time sleeping i ll just go with about 10 000 vendors passing by on the beach a lot some items available for purchase from wandering beach vendors i include this part because i was surprised by the variety of items for sale and how much money was spent while sitting in the sand soaking up sun by the shore popsicles ice cream on sticks grilled cheese not the sandwich just blocks of mozzarella cheese on skewers corn on the cob swimsuit cover ups is that what we call them in english the little dresses or shirts that we wear over our bathing suit to and from the beach here they are saida s da praia or beach exit strapless bikini tops i didn t notice any bottoms but i can t imagine the guy not having some for sale as well sunglasses blankets hammocks probably hand woven agua de coco still inside a chilled green coconut to drink pineapples fruit salad cocktails hats kites innertubes inflatable rafts paddles rubber balls for beach paddle ball game churros chocolate doce de leite filled homemade jewelry beads woven string mainly by the end of the trip i would not have been surprised to see a real estate agent walk by trying to sell property not that we would have been interested or anything we did do our part for the beach economy by keeping the popsicle and agua de coco ...