It is the first night here that I really haven't been able to get to sleep. It was bound to happen. It happened every so often at home. I would usually just get up and catch up on the ironing or something useful, but kind of quiet. There are some useful things I could do here tonight like write a talk I have to give Sunday, but I just can't force myself to do it. So I thought I would blog. 
Is blog a even a verb? I never used to think about verbs, past tense, or conjugations. In fact, I don't think I'd ever heard about conjugations until trying to learn this language. I pretty much stink at it so far. When I talk to the North American missionaries I usually ask, "Would you like to speak in English or would you like me to torture you with my Portuguese?" I know there are more difficult languages to learn, but let me just try to explain to you why I sometimes get a little overwhelmed and confused. Let's say that blog is a verb. In Portuguese it would probably be "blogar" which would mean "to blog". The conjugation chart would look something like this:
Eu blogo = I blog
Voce bloga = You blog, he blogs, she blogs
Nos blogamos = We blog
Eles blogao = they blog
Really, why do you need all the different ways to say blog? or run? or eat? or anything?? But since at least 50% of the missionaries here are Brazilian and because I really would like to learn this language, I have to keep working on it.
Here are the top 5 reasons I need to learn Portuguese:
5. So I don't have to have the duuuuhhhh expression on my face for 3 years.
4. So I don't have 4 cars waiting behind me while I am trying to figure out how to get a validation ticket out of a parking lot entrance meter. By the way, why would you need to have a validation for a parking lot at a grocery store and why wouldn't it just come out automatically?
3. So 3 hours at church doesn't seem so very long.
2. So when I'm at a hotel and all the little tubes of toiletries look the same, I don't use lotion for conditioner.
1. So when I ask to see a menu at a restaurant they don't show me where the bathroom is.
Really though, the number 1 reason I need to learn Portuguese is so I can get to know these great Brazilian members and missionaries.
Tchau! for now..
4 comments:
You're doing just fine MOM. You just need to be willing to go into the depths of stupidness, by that I mean allow yourself to sound stupid so that you can learn, and you'll do great.
But make sure too that they hear you speak a little English maybe even sort of fast speaking English just so they realize that you are fluent in at least a language and won't think that you are actually stupid. That's what I do.
Thanks for your suggestion, Becca, but I think I have already made a fool of myself numerous times. I will try the fast English though. That was good thinking.
You deserve an "A+" for just making an honest effort for sure. I'll bet you're better at it than you think.
(p.s. I'll bet church would be a long 3 hours in a foreing language!)
I can't even imagine going back into the "study" mode and trying to learn a new language. My hat is off to you! Just remember, we're all pulling for you here.
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