Will I get shot in Brasil? (20)

1 Name: Anonymous : 2008-12-15 00:23 ID:sq9as+BR

Hey, so I am from Soviet Russia, and I like music, especially Tropicalismo but also Samba, and I've been listening to it so much that I understand Portuguese, and I thought of moving to Brasil as this place sucks anyway. To restart my life there, it would be awesome, I thought, as you people seem to be generally more cheerful, maybe in part thanks to weather or genetics.

And then I read on the internet about travel and I watched Cidade de Deus and it's scary! Does that correspond to reality? Are there some areas with less crime? (I'm not rich) Will I be assumed to be United-Statesian and treated especially badly for that?

2 Name: Anonymous : 2008-12-15 01:28 ID:Ti7W/JQV

Soviet Russia? That has stopped existing for two decades now. Were you in a coma or in a time capsule?

Anyways "Cidade de Deus" describes life in the slums. If you avoid slums you'll avoid trouble. As for looking like a foreigner, in Rio de Janeiro the population is very mixed, so nobody looks like a foreigner, even if you come from Japan. Now if you go to Belém or Bahia that might be different. Of course, the moment you open your mouth you'll be perceived as a foreigner, but that's not a liability.

Anyways, as far as I know, Brazilians do not specially hate USians, so no need to worry even if you come from soviet Alaska, or something. Ho yeah, kudos for learning Portuguese, e boa sorte para o seu futuro!

3 Name: Anonymous : 2008-12-15 04:52 ID:sq9as+BR

Thanks :)

Well at least I have black hair, here people think I look "Latin" but I don't think so.

And I don't really even know where to go. Judging from my home country there is a world of difference between different parts... But I have two main requirements: 1. it should not be a mainly tourist place, but where there is a genuine local culture, 2. a place where people pronounce let's say "as coisas" like English "ash coyzash" not "az coyzaz" and especially not "ass coyzass". I hear both three in music....
So could you suggest some place to me which would show me the best of Brasil?

Let me elaborate. Places with lots of tourists like my city too start catering to the visitors, and people after a time 1. assume the stereotypes and 2. start looking down on foreigners because of all the usual silly crap they do on a holiday, like buying trinkets and falling for scams.

As for the slums, we have slums too. But they are not equipped with machineguns mostly!! Although you are probably more likely to be radiation-poisoned by the secret police than anywhere else so I dunno....

>Soviet Russia? That has stopped existing for two decades now. Were you in a coma or in a time capsule?

Kind of... Soviet is no longer in the official name of the country, but not much else changed. The whole place is a time capsule!

4 Name: Anonymous : 2008-12-15 05:20 ID:sq9as+BR

Actually Belém do Para doesn't sound half bad, except if yellow fever or malaria is a risk. But in a city of 2 million I don't think so?

As for learning Portuguese (as much as I did) it was much easier than English. Everything follows rigid logic! And not to mention it sounds smooth!

5 Name: Anonymous : 2008-12-15 08:35 ID:BmRumMCw

WEstern countries are not much different from your soviet russia, only the oppression is more discreet if anything.

6 Name: Anonymous : 2008-12-15 18:14 ID:Ti7W/JQV

>The whole place is a time capsule!

Priceless. Maybe you have a point there.

>So could you suggest some place to me which would show me the best of Brasil?

I have no clue, like you said the country is huge, and very diverse, so it really depends on what you are looking for: If you want an industrious, polluted mega-city, go for São Paulo. If you want lots of ethnic diversity, culture, beautiful coastline and civil warfare in the slums, head on to Rio de Janeiro. If you want to stand out, go to Bahia (mostly black) or Belém (lot's of native american people), depending on the background you want to stand out of. Many places are not affected by excessive tourism, I think if you avoid out of Bahia, Rio and perhaps Recife, you are done.
If you prefer to live in the most developed and peaceful part of the country, then chose the south (Porto Alegre or Florianópolis in Santa Catarina).

7 Name: Anonymous : 2008-12-15 22:41 ID:Heaven

>Everything follows rigid logic!

no

>Belém do Para

case in point. if it followed logic it would be Belém d<b>a</b> Pará. or de. but do?

8 Name: Anonymous : 2008-12-15 23:24 ID:Ti7W/JQV

>case in point. if it followed logic it would be Belém d<b>a</b> Pará. or de. but do?

Why should it be Belém da Pará? One says "o Pará", so it follows that Belém de o Pará contracts into Belém do Pará. This is the general rule: I come from Brazil, eu venho do Brasil, since one says o Brasil, "o" being the masculine form of the article. Wine from California would be "vinho da California", since one speaks of "a California": de + a -> da, de + o -> do.

Your trouble seems to come from the fact that you may think that because Pará ends with an "a", it should be of the feminine gender, which is incorrect. Although Portuguese adds an "a" at the end of nouns to feminize them, it does not mean that a word which from the start ends with an "a" should automatically be feminine.

9 Name: OP : 2008-12-16 00:56 ID:sq9as+BR

OP here. About Belem do Para I just used that because I think there are cities called Belem elsewhere, I know of one in Portugal. My first guess would have been indeed "da Para", but anyway it's still a lot more logical than in English where you have for example "wine from Brazil" but "wine from the Ukraine"... Yes actually grape grows in Crimea. Or in the Crimea?

And >>8 you didn't tell me where do people say S like I describe. Or is it a personal choice and not regional?

Alright so... polluted mega-city is out of the question, warfare too, although Rio de Janeiro has a lot of positive qualities too, excessive tourism is a nono too, so this leaves me with the south. But I suspect that people there sound like Ssspanisss and regrettably that will rob me of enjoying the beauty of the language?

So I'm thinking some smaller city in Rio de Janeiro or Sau Paulo states? For example by simply choosing Niteroi instead of R.J. would I avoid the tourist industry and slums, while still being close to the cultural events etc?

10 Name: Anonymous : 2008-12-16 01:37 ID:TtQReqqh

People in Florianópolis and the surrounding region have this accent you desire, I guess.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECnLMUQqc9Y

11 Name: OP : 2008-12-18 08:35 ID:66Z5C/5t

>>10
No not quite. Gilberto Gil pretty much has the accent I prefer, but he's from Salvador. Aff... Okay, it's not that important.

12 Name: Anonymous : 2008-12-18 15:09 ID:HRfnF1bW

"2. a place where people pronounce let's say "as coisas" like English "ash coyzash" not "az coyzaz" and especially not "->ass coyzass<-"

I'm full-blown Portuguese and I live in Portugal, and the last example shows how I hear Brazillians pronouncing 'as coisas'. We in Portugal say it more like 'aj coizaj'.

13 Name: OP : 2008-12-19 04:07 ID:66Z5C/5t

LOL, I should have anticipated just how impossible it is to explain different pronunciations in text...

>>12
You in Portugal say j like Spanish y, but a Brazilian would say j like French/American English j, and would go WTF at your statement. But yes, there are various pronunciations in Brazil... I don't like either the European Portuguese or the Brazilian with ss...
However I have been investigating this and it seems MOST Brazilians say it the way I prefer!
By English ash coyzash, I meant Portuguese ach coizach or Catalan ax coizax... Can you follow? Castilian (standard) Spanish say lass coyzass but Catalans say it like Brazilians. Tuscan (standard) Italian also dictates word-final S should just be S (ss) but Napolitan (southern) italians say it like Brazilians too.
And British often describe European Portuguese as sounding "oosh-moosh", aka you say O as OO (pt. U) and S as SH (pt. X), but you kind of swallow it most of the time so it can seem to you like a Y (j).

As for Brazil, here is what I gather: People in the NorthEast (pernambuco, etc) speak like European Portuguese, which is ok but not that nice, People in the South ans Sao Paulo speak like Castilian/Latin American Spanish (aka "Ssspaniss"), causes can be Italian/Argentinian/Uruguayian influence. People in the rest of Brazil speak Brazilian :P, in Rio, Minas, Bahia, etc, and also like Catalans, Napolitans, Cypriot Greeks, (and Russians!)... which is what I prefer!

14 Name: OP : 2008-12-19 04:14 ID:66Z5C/5t

Anyway, you know the famous song, "Mas que nada"? That's Brazilian Portuguese by any means and any version I heard has Portuguese mach/max English marsh, etc, not Mass, which is what it would be in spanish. So maybe most Brazilians in Europe come from Rio Grande do Sul? That's my theory

15 Name: Anonymous : 2008-12-19 18:48 ID:8MUZ1r6H

>>14 Man, you seem really keen on accent issues! So why not nailing it down properly? Search for local radio stations that broadcast on the internet. You will very quickly get how people speak in different places.

Also, write down a report for us (with your appreciations and links to the stations), so that we also learn something from this nagging matter ('^_^)

16 Name: Anonymous : 2008-12-20 23:10 ID:OETQbm6f

Brazil is fucking HUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE and the country isn't a favela itself, you have a lot of safe places

my mother went a lot of times to Florianopolis, she says it's safe and people there are nice

17 Name: OP : 2008-12-21 04:31 ID:66Z5C/5t

>>15 I will go there get some job and then travel around in my free time, and will report back! But I think there is a lot of migration within the country... so cities will have people with mixed pronunciation while I may never really explore the countryside properly...

>>16 I heard the same but also that Florianopolis is just too kommerz and touristy.

I guess I overlooked the most important aspect: availability of jobs. Who would employ a foreigner with bad Portuguese? So either I would need to work in business as a Russian-Portuguese interpreter or of not I don't really know! :( In this regard Sao Paulo seems the best option because of IT industry...

18 Name: Anonymous : 2008-12-21 09:01 ID:GhDnOjuA

>>17
Russion-Portuguese translation does not seem a bad idea, but of course you will have to go for big cities for that, unless you work from home via the internet. In that case you could live anywhere. If you are in IT same thing, if you work from home, you could live anywhere, as long as you have an internet connection.

19 Name: Anonymous : 2008-12-24 12:31 ID:66Z5C/5t

Feliz Natal! (feh-lee-zh nah-ta-oo :P)

20 Name: Anonymous : 2008-12-25 21:00 ID:lVZd82O3

OP should not worry. In Soviet Russia, you shoot Brazil!

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