The Bilingual TAG

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

How To Learn a New Language and Improve It | Tips + Apps

                                                   Picture by Kerri Lee Smith | Flickr






 I am not a professional in languages or anything like that, I'm just a teen girl who wants to share her own experiences with foreign languages. I don't remember telling my story in a post before, but if I did I'm just going tell it again. I moved to Brazil when I was just 7 years old, I didn't speak portuguese very well and I had a hard time learning it, actually until this day I get really confused in translating english to portuguese, it's like the words escape from my mind, but it is not a huge problem. I never considered portuguese my second language, I always told myself that both languages were my first language, because I learned them both at the same time and I have the same level of knowledge in both of them. 

 When I was 10 years old, my parents were afraid that I was going to forget english and they enrolld me in a english course, in fact I finished it last year and got my diploma. And this year I decided that I wanted to learn a new language, I thought a lot about which one I should choose and I chose French. I don't think it is a hard language to learn, because of it's similaraty to Portuguese, but of course it is challenging, because I never learned a totally new language before, like without having knowledge of the basics.

I decided today to share some tips on how to start learning a language and improving it, taking as a basis my experience on this topic. These are basic tips that I use and that can become part of your lifestyle and I am sure that it can improve your skills in short time.

1. Practice Everyday

A very simple tip, but very efficient. I study french and english everyday and I can asure you that it makes a big difference. Take a little time to review or learn some new vocab words and grammar everyday and you will master the language in no time. I set myself a goal of 10 vocab words every week, it is the perfect amount to learn, memorize and put it in to use.

2.  Read & Write

I can't tell you enough how reading helped me improve my english and portuguese. I prefer reading books in english by the way. If you are more advanced in your chosen language I say pick up a more complex book, with the classic and formal speaking of the language, that helps a lot on improving vocabulary. 

Writing is very important way to practice your grammar, creating this blog was for me a way to practice my english writing skills and not forgeting it. I really recommend having a journal or just writing essays to exercise your writing and improving it, it really helps.

3. Communicate & Listen

Speaking and listening to other people makes the process of learning a new language so much easier and fun, apart of improving your accent it can make you fluent a lot quicker. Two years ago when I was studying in the U.S, I noticed that my english was a lot better than when I didn't have interaction with others that spoke the language.

Watching movies and listening to music are all fun ways to improve a language. You can learn new words and pay attention to how the language is spoken and much more other benefits. For me what help a lot was youtube videos, I started watching them 4 years ago and it helped me so so much.

4. Travel

 A very efficient way to learn any language, I can asure you. You connect with people, put the language in practice and even learn about the culture of the country you are visiting. Of course if you want to train the language you are studying, you have to go to a language speaking country, like spanish, there is lots of different options like Spain, Honduras, Ecuador, Peru and many others.
There is even the option to study abroad and stay in family houses to learn and experiencie a life in another country.


5. Courses

If you need a little help in learning a language I would  recommend you to enroll in a course. It helps a lot if are not the type of person that likes to teach yourself. Look for a good quality and well known school, look for recommendations and for teachers experiencie, ask if any teachers were born or lived in a country that speaks the language, I think it is very important. A good course is the one which can offer language and culture.


6. Apps

So helpful, especially when there is no time or in a hurry. My favorite app is Duolinguo, it is just so fun to use and you can choose as many language as you want, in my app I have french and italian It is kind of a game, but you are learning with it.

Hope you enjoy this post and that you are having a great Easter Weekend.

Ana