Attitude

Culture (Cultura)
 É muito comum as empresas multinacionais instaladas no Brasil receberem estrangeiros para exercer as funções de diretor, presidente, para acompanhar mudanças no processo de gestão ou para simples treinamento. Esses executivos, às vezes, chegam aqui falando quase nada em português.
 Nos primeiros dias de trabalho, os esforços do recém-chegado para se comunicar com os funcionários brasileiros chegam a ser cômicos. Quem já vivenciou situação semelhante sabe que não estou exagerando.
 Menos de dois meses depois, o que acontece? Lá está ele, o "gringo atrapalhado", comunicando-se num português até razoável. Nenhum passe de mágica, nem inteligência acima do normal. É que ele foi exposto intensamente a m novo idioma e a uma nova cultura. Não há segredos, inteligência ou aptidões especiais envolvidos na rapidez do aprendizado. Mas existe, com certeza, usa dose elevada de querer, "Attitude".
 Muitas pessoas me perguntam quanto tempo precisarão para aprender inglês: "Seis meses, um, dois, quatro anos? "Respondo sempre: 1.200 horas." Às vezes olha para mim com o ar perplexo e perguntam novamente. "Mas quanto tempo isso leva no total?" Repito: "1.200 horas."
 Se você precisa de 1.200 horas e estuda três por semana, o que é bastante comum, teremos:

1.200

       ____________ = 400

3

 Serão 400 semanas, ou seja, aproximadamente oito anos.

 Agora, tomemos essas mesmas 1.200 horas sob outra circunstâncias. Você vai morar em um país de língua inglesa para melhorar seu inglês. Você dorme oito horas por dia. Ao acordar, liga o rádio ou a TV para se manter informado (notícias em inglês), toma seu café da manhã com seus novos amigos (falando em inglês), compra um jornal, estuda, trabalha, diverte-se. Tudo, e sempre, em inglês.

 Sabe o que acontece? Suas 1.200 horas gora serão divididas por 16 horas (todo o tempo em que estiver acordado).

1.200

  ____________ = 75

16

 Setenta e cinco o quê? Dias, é claro. Dois meses e meio. Compare isso com os oito anos anteriores. A mensagem aqui é bastante simples e objetiva, não é? E com uma vantagem. Nessas circunstâncias, você não estará estudando inglês, e sim VIVENDO inglês. (Eu, Igor Rosendo, procuro viver Inglês, más viver Inglês no Brasil, SUCKS!) KKK.

 Mas o mesmo não acontecerá com um executivo estrangeiro que insistir em falar inglês no brasil (o que pode acontecer no meio empresarial) e evitar o relacionamento social com o brasileiro. Ele jamais entenderá o que se passa no país, não conhecerá sua cultura e os costumes do seu povo.

 Recentemente tive a oportunidade de ler um livreto de uma multinacional direcionado para a orientação de executivos expatriados. Ele dizia: Cultura estrangeira não são melhores nem piores, são apenas diferentes."

 A língua depende muito da cultura. Entender a cultura de m país é um passe enorme para aprender seu idioma. Isso não quer dizer que todos tenham que viajar para começar a falar inglês. Mas ter aulas, apenas, não é suficiente.

Michael A. Jacobs

"Como não aprender Inglês"

 Well, this is also a part of the book "Como não aprender Inglês", I use to post the book on the other page, but I decided to post on that first because it's a subject that everyone use to talk about. Talking about how much time it's necessary to learn english, talking about doing an interchange, end things like that. In my last english class, I was talking with my classmates about it, for example.

 I've been studied english since 2007 at CCAA, I'm studying the "Advanced Book II"(TT2), and I have to study more 3 or 4 books to finish my CCAA course, so it will take more 2 years more or less, and I'll pay so much money.

 So I asked their opinion:

 Each do you think is better, to finish my course at CCAA, or to save the money I'd pay for it, to travel and to study in another  country, guess what they thought is better ? KK

 That's it ! Go ahead folks, study a lot, do it hard, and if you can, be abroad.

Phonetic Alphabet

I'm sorry , I stood a time without "posting"  here, but now I'm here again bringing for you a thing I learned when I studied at FIEC with the teacher Viviane Andrade, it's called "Phonetic Alphabet", you can must see it on a phone call, or in a movie, anyway, it's really useful in US, or in other countries.
I hope you guys like it.
It's useful to spell some word, like we do here in Brazil, for example:



- Meu e-mail é, carmen@hownottolearnenglish.com.br
- Pode soletrar o inicio por favor ?
- C de Casa, A de Amor, R de Rato, M de Macaco, E de Elefante, N de Navio.

But in US, the use a kind of standard language to spell word, like the table below.

Letter	phonetic letter
A	Alpha
B	Bravo
C	Charlie
D	Delta
E	Echo
F	Foxtrot
G	Golf
H	Hotel
I	India
J	Juliet
K	Kilo
L	Lima
M	Mike
N	November
O	Oscar
P	Papa
Q	Quebec
R	Romeo
S	Sierra
T	Tango
U	Uniform
V	Victor
W	Whiskey
X	X-ray
Y	Yankee
Z	Zulu

Now you can do the same dialogue above, using the "Phonetic Alphabet".

- My e-mail adres is, carmen@hownottolearnenglish.com.br

- Can you spell it please ?

- C as in Charlie, A as in Alpha, R as in Romeo, M as in Mike, E as in Echo, N as in November.

Prepositions Sucks !

 Everytime I do mistakes using prepositions, many time it makes me feel furious, but everyone have the same problem so, I go ahead.
 I've took a look on some tips, to post here for you guys, I also found some exercises that I tried to do, and answered wrong lots of questions --' Arghh ... Prepositions Sucks !

The most usefull prepositions are, at/on/in, so here you are some examples:

INMonths: In January	City: In Orlando
Year, Century : in 1995	State: In Arkansas
Season: in winter	Country: in Brazil
Time of the day: in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening	Continent: In Afric

ON

Days of the week: on Sunday	Street, avenue, square: on Portugal Avenue, on May 4th square, on Av. Jason.M
Date:on Christimas day, on April 3rd

AT

Hour: at 7 am	Address: at 785 Washington St.
Holiday: At Christmas	Places: at the club, at the airport, at a party

If the prepositions was only that three it would be great, isn't it ? But, unfortunately there are lots of, such as:

Above: acima de: John’s apartment is above Mara’s. About: sobre, a respeito de: Tell me about your life.

Across: através de, do outro lado: The dog swam across the river.

After: depois de: She always arrives after 9 o’clock.

Against: contra: The motorbike was against the wall.

Among: entre (vários): The pencil was among the books.

Around: em volta de: They travelled all around the world.

Before: antes de: She never arrives before 7 o’clock.

Behind: atrás de: Tim is behind Peter.

Below: abaixo de: Mara lives below John.

Beside: ao lado de: The earphones are beside the monitor.

Besides: além de: Besides English, she can also speak Russian.

Between: entre (dois): He was sitting between the two old ladies.

Beyond: além de: The valley is beyond the mountains.

But: exceto: Everybody went to the party, but Philip.

By: por, junto, ao lado de: Let’s rest by the fireplace. They live by the sea.

Down: abaixo, para baixo. Please, put the volume down. Up: acima, para cima Their house is halfway down/up the hill

During: durante: He was in the army during the war.

For: a favor de: He who’s not for us is against us.

For: por, para, há (tempo) The train for Moscow leaves at noon. Fresh air is good for health. They’ve lived here for ages.

From: de (origem): Where are you from?

In front of: na frente de: Peter is in front of Tim.

Inside/outside: dentro de/fora de: Let the dog sleep inside/outside the house.

Instead of: em vez de: You should be studying instead of playing video-games.

Into: para dentro, em: The cars disappeared into the mist.

Like: como: What’s that like?

Near: perto de: The post office is near the cathedral.

Off: para fora (de uma superfície): Marky fell off his bike.

Out of: para fora de: Take these books out of the box.

Over: sobre, acima de, por cima de: I´m gonna jump over the window. There were over 1.000 people in the concert Throw the stone over the wall

Since: desde: I’ve known her since 1995.

Through: através de: The soldiers walked through the forest.

Till/until: até (tempo): The book won’t arrive till tomorrow.

To: para: People say that Teresa will go to France next week.

Towards: para, em direção a: The nasty boy threw the stone towards the window.

Under: em baixo de: The cat lays under the bed.

With/without: com/sem: Go with us! I can’t live without you.

Within: dentro de : The noise came from within the stable.

 That is all, Lets see if those tips can helped us, take a look on the exercises below, try to answer it, and tell me, how it was, right ?
http://www.better-english.com/grammar/prepositions.htm

Such a Great Saturday

Lets start telling about dreaming, who do not have one?
One of my dreams is, to give english classes, and I would started it, last saturday, but my VIP student were absent. --'
So, I would start yesterday, then... but... it did not happen...why?
I'm gonna talk about yesterday, and you guys will understand...
It was such a funny day, like all saturdays, I went to CCAA, I had one of my fun class, talking and laughing, after it, I went to Microcamp, to give class, I was at the reception when the phone rang, the receptionist answered it, and said:
 - Igor, you would give VIP class for Bruno ? I answered, yes, why ?
HHHMMMM - He won't come today.
OMG !
I thought, again ?
Then, I raised to go home, and the receptionist said:
Why do not you stay here, and watch the teacher Camila's class?
I said, hmmm... can be.
So, I went up the stairs, went to the class, and introduced myself to Camila, she introduced me for the students, but, she said a little lie.
- Hi people, this is Igor, a new student, but not a common one, he doesn't speaks portuguese.
The students looked for me, kinda scared, introduced themselves, and one of those, asked me:

- Where are you from ?
Hmmm, I answer the first country came to my head.
MEXICO ! --' suahsuiahsuiahsuiahs
Till Camila looked for me, and asked, REALLY ? o.O ?
Anyway, to get away, I said, I'm from Mexico, but I was born in US, and ....
" Creo que se yo hablar español, es mejor para usted "
SKAOPKSOAPKSOAPSKA. UFAA .
Camila said: - That is an english class, come on. Without spanish here, right? rsrs
Well, I attended the class, and when it was finishing, Suddenly I started to speak portuguese. KK'
It was kinda funny, everyone looked for me, with a face like, I CAN NOT BELIEVE IT !
Anyway, It was kinda funny, "just kidding", I talked a little bit with them, told about me, about this blog and also some tips... it was great !

Text Messaging/Chat/Acronyms

Hello guys ! I know everyone now a days, uses cellphone to send text messages, uses the internet to talk with someone else, by MSN messenger, by Yahoo, by Orkut, by Facebook, by MySpace, by "wherever", well, of course, me too.

And who don't feel furious when want to write a sentence on Twitter, but can not write all, coz it fits just 140 characters ? Maybe this tip can be a solution. 

I use to talk with peoples from all over the world, from Canada, from Australia, from USA, from England... etc, and they use to send me some Acronyms, that I ask for my self WTF = What the fuck ? Sometimes I ask them, sometimes I search in the internet, and trying, I use to get want it means.

So, one of those days, I was talking with my friend Dan, by Skype, and then he started to send me some english worlds and expressions by Acronyms, such as : OFC, WTH ( If you wanna know the translate of those, so watch the video in the end of the post).

And I thought, well Dan, I'll put some of these worlds and expressions on my blog, and here you are.

BRB = Be right back

TTYL = Talk to you later

PPL = People

GET = I gotta go

Pain in the neck = Nossa que saco ( Expression Translation)

GD = good

OMG = Oh my God

ur = your

TY = Thank you

Kewl = cool

SRI = sorry

IDK = I dont know

F2F = Face to Face

BF = Boyfriend

GF = Girlfriend

Dnt = dont

NM = nothing much or never mind

NP = nope = no

BRB = be right back

lmao = laugh my ass off

Y = why

NVR = neve

rlly = really

lil = little

Np = No problem

gr = grade

H/W = homework

RU ok? = Are oyu ok?

Sorry 4B4 = Sorry for before

CU = See you

CU 2nite = See you tonight

Wan2 talk = Do you want to talk?

L8R = Later

HAND = Have a nice day

xoxox = kisses and hugs

ILUVU = I love you

MYOB = Mind your own business

ATB = All the best

OIC = Oh…I see

T2GO = Time to go

1DRFL = Wonderful

BBFN = Bye bye for now

L8 = Late

4u = For you

10x = Thanks

BTW = By the way

LOL = Laugh out loud

ASAP = As soon as possible

ICQ = I seek you

There are a lil bit more in the video below,I hope u guys liked it, so, enjoy the video and starts to save time using Acronyms:

"Portenglish" Expressions

That's what happens, when we try to translate the expressions "At the foot of the letter".

To beat the boots.

Bater as botas.

With the string around the neck.

Com a corda no pescoço.

Crying about the spilled milk.

Chorar pelo leite derramado.

Kick the tub.

Chutar o balde.

Swallowing the frog.

Engolindo sapo.

Entering in the pipe.

Entrando no cano.

I will wash the mare.

Vou lavar a égua

You travelled on the mayonaise.

Você viajou na maionese.

Watering the cookie.

Molhando o biscoito. 

Bag without handle.

Mala sem alça.

João without arm.

João sem braço.

Hot saw hot see.

Quente viu quente vê.

To release the hen.

Soltar a franga.

To pay the duck.

Pagar o pato.

To step in the ball.

Pisar na bola.

I need to take water out of my knee.

Preciso tirar água do joelho.

Can you please break my branch?

Você pode quebrar meu galho?

I have to peel this pineapple.

Tenho que descascar esse abacaxi.

To burn the "doughnuts".

Queimar a rosca.

To hold candle.

Segurar vela.

A little bit more

Tea with me that I book your face.

Chá comigo que eu livro sua cara.

Wrote, didn't read, the stick ate.

Escreveu, não leu, o pau comeu.

She is full of nine o'clock.

Ela é cheia de nove horas.

I am more I.

Eu sou mais eu.

Do not come that it does not have...

Não vem que não tem...

Between, my well.

Entre, meu bem.

I am completely bald of knowing it.

Tô careca de saber.

To kill the snake and show the stick.

Matar a cobra e mostrar o pau.

The wood is eating.

O pau tá comendo.

Uh! I burned my movie! Oh!

Queimei meu filme!

Who advises friend is.

Quem avisa amigo é.

Do you think this is the house of mother Joanne?

Tá pensando que isso é a casa da mãe Joana?

Go catch little coconuts.

Vai catar coquinho.

You are by out.

Você está por fora.

You are very face of wood!

Você é muito cara de pau!

If you run the beast catches, if you stay the beast eats.

Se correr o bicho pega, se ficar o bicho come.

Ops, gave Zebra.

Ops, deu zebra.

They are trying to cover the sun with the sieve.

Eles estão tentando cobrir o sol com a peneira.

Don't fill my bag.

Não encha meu saco.

It already was!

Já era!

Before afternoon than never.

Antes tarde do que nunca.

Go to dry up ice!

Vai enxugar gelo!

Go comb monkeys!

Vai pentear macaco!

Do you want a good-good?

Você quer um bombom?

The cow went to the swamp.

A vaca foi pro brejo.

We Hate it !

First of all, I wanna make clear that I AM AN ENGLISH STUDENT , and you maybe are one as well, right ?
So, I'm sure that you have already lived in a situations like that, there are someone reading any SHIT, and then that person see a word in english, and ask you:

- O QUE SIGNIFICA " strawberry " EM PORTUGUÊS ? ( For example )


Well, of course you know, then you smile, and say:

- MORANGO (:

But, this person, cotinue reading, until to find another word, look for you with a sarcastic face, and ask:

- O QUE SIGNIFICA !@#$%¨&*¨% EM POTUGUÊS ?

He ask you the FUCK of word that you do not have idea, but why does he ask ? why ? tell me --'

Then, you say :

- EU NÃO SEI.

But, the Son of a !@#$%¨&* not delighted says:

- COMO NÃO SABE ? Você não estuda Inglês ?

In that situation, four verbs comes in your head, to kill, to kick, to choke and to punch, isn't it ?
They do not understand the fact of we are studying english, do not means that we know all words, me, for example, I have a poor vocabulary, a lot of times it happens with me, I have already though about walking armed.