It's finally summer break guys! And this means that there is going to be a lot more posts on my blog, so be prepared. Well, I was thinking this week about what would be the best come back post to write for my blog and then I realized that a TAG would be perfect. Because I love answering questions and it's a very easy post to do.
And this Tag is about being bilingual, as you probably assumed by the title, something that I'm very interested about. I'm thinking of doing another post talking about some pros and cons of being bilingual in the near future too. So here it is...I hope you enjoy this post.
1. What languages do you speak?
Portuguese and English.
2. Would you say you are fluent in both?
Yes I am. Although I don't believe that a person can be 100% fluent in a language, there's a lot to learn and a lot that one doesn't know, so It is actually always a learning process.
3. Did you grow up speaking both languages?
Yes I did. My parents and family are brazilians, so that's how I learnt portugue. But I was born and lived in the U.S for 7 years and did english courses when I came to Brazil, so that's how I learnt and maintained my English.
4. Which language do you prefer and why?
Well, as I know both languages on the same level, I don't think I can choose one. But I really like speaking in english a lot more, probably because I can express myself better. There are words in english that don't have a translation to portuguese and that's a shame. And reading books, watching movies and listening to music in english is so much better too.
5. Which language do you speak in mostly?
Portuguese, because of my family and friends.
6. What's your favorite word in your second language?
I don't consider either portuguese or english as my second language, they were both raised up together so there's no difference. But as this is a english blog I'll tell you guys my favorite word in portuguese. Well, actually there isn't a word that I like totaly love, or any that I can remember right now that I really like, so I'm just going to say/write first one that is on my mind. CACHECOL.
7. What's the translation of that word in your first language?
The word means scarf in portuguese.
8. When do you most often use your second language?
I use portuguese everyday and everywhere as I live in Brazil, for now. And for english, I use it everyday as well, in writing, reading, watching Tv, talking to my parents, and I too participate in an english speaking club that is once a week. I try to practice english as much as possible.
9. Do you prefer watching movies dubbed in your first or second language?
I hate dubbed movies. The original languages are way better, even if I don't understand them. I prefer subtitles for languages that I don't know, but if it's english or portugue I prefer just the plain movie of course.
10. Literally translate your favourite expression/phrase from your second language into your first.
Again, as this is an english blog I'm going to pick a portuguese phrase. "O pessoal do sul fala cantando". This is a phrase that people form the north and other regions, that isn't the south of Brazil, say about the people from the south. And literally translating this is "The people from the south speak singing". That doesn't make sense, because we are literally translating it, but it actually means that the way people from the south speak sounds like they're singing, because they talk very fast. I'm from the south by the way.
11. Do you code-switch? (Switch from one language to another in the middle of or after a sentence)
All the time. My friends actually get really confused by it, but my parents are already pretty used to.
12. Did being bilingual make school harder or easier for you?
Both. In the begining it was hard, because I didn't know portuguese very well, so I had to learn it and I had a very strong american accent, so people thought I was really weird. But as the years passed by my portuguese got better and better, and of course I maintained and improved my english, so it was a lot easier when I was like in middle and high school. Because I always got an A in my foreign language class, that was obviously english. Kind of cheating, but it helped a lot in school.
13. What advice would you give someone who wants to become bilingual?
Practice every day! Reading books, watching movies, writing, listening to music, and communicating with people in the language of your choice. I'm sure if you dedicate a lot of time to it, you will get there.
14. How does being bilingual benefit you nowadays?
Well I'm going to graduate high school next week and I decided to take a gap year next year. And I already got a job. In my opinion having a fluent second language made a total difference in my resume and helped me to get this job. So I would say that it helps in getting better jobs.
15. Do you have more friends that speak your first or second language?
I have more friends that speak portuguese, as I live here in Brazil. But I have some american friends and some that are willing to speak english with me too. So I always have someone to practice with.
16. What language would you take up next?
I have decided that next year I'll finally start french, but I have an interest in italian too.
I hope you all enjoyed this post and that you are having a great week.
Thank you so much,
Ana
