#if I could read Portuguese I would have paused it to read the articles but I couldn’t | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

the12thnightproject · 1 year ago

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Hi. I love your stories. From what I've read in current Mitsuhide's story, I was wandering if you are a native speaker of Portuguese or at least have a good knwolege of the language.

Hi Anon!

Thank you very much for the love. I very much appreciate it.

The short answer to your question is no - my native language is not Portuguese. I know almost no Portuguese. My native tongue is English.

The longer answer is that I have tried to learn the following languages: Hebrew, French, Spanish, Danish, and Norwegian. The operative word is tried. The technical term is failed. At best, I can somewhat read French, and at one point, I could manage to figure out newspaper articles in Danish with some context and a good dictionary.

Part of this might just be that I am a language dunce, and not capable of learning another language. Part of it might be more that in the United States, in public schools, students do not have the opportunity to take language classes until age 14 (an even then it is an elective and not required), and that's probably too late for most of us.

I wish I were better at language acquisition and greatly admire anyone who is fluent and able to communicate (speaking and writing) in multiple tongues.

As for the fic itself - though my main character Katsu has learned Portuguese, because the story is written in first person, I don't actually have of the dialogue written in Portuguese. Instead, I just note that such and such character (usually Francisco, but there will be a couple of others in later chapters), spoke in Portuguese, but because Katsu understands that language, she's already translated it in her mind, so whatever words the original speaker used, was already translated in Katsu's head.

Examples below the cut of how I work around it:

“Lord Mitsuhide – stop. That’s my partner. Francisco.” I pushed past him and called down to the lower level. “Francisco, up here. Don’t worry. I’m safe.” Then, because Francisco’s apt to forget his Japanese even in the calmest situation, I repeated myself in Portuguese.

Moments later, a puffing Francisco breached the top of the stairs and rushed into the room. His face was red and there were sweat stains visible on the shirt he wore under his jerkin. “Katsu. You are here. When I learned someone bought you, I thought, Akihira will murder me.” He paused and drew in a long panting breath. And then another. “I got lost and went to the wrong ship.”

Of course he did.

Note to self. Next time find a partner who can find their way from one end of the city to the other.

He was still speaking in Portuguese, so clearly his language skills (such as they were) had deserted him completely. I hurried to reassure him. “An acquaintance of Aki’s recognized me and purchased me. If you can repay him… and maybe give him a bit extra for his trouble, then we can be on our way.”

.....

In the next chapter, we get Mitsuhide's POV of the same conversation:

Shouts from below disrupted that thought. He couldn’t make out the words – it sounded like the Nanban tongue. Had her would-be purchaser found them so quickly and returned with more reinforcements? If so, it was a poorly thought-out ambush that would alert the victim to a pending attack.

He grabbed his sword and turned just as Akihira’s daughter yelled, “Lord Mitsuhide – stop. That’s my partner. Francisco.”

She rushed past him and called down to the lower level. “Francisco, up here. Don’t worry. I’m safe.” She then added something in Portuguese. Presumably to calm the man down but given that Mitsuhide did not speak the language he could not be certain of it. She could have given this ‘Francisco’ the opposite instructions in Portuguese and Mitsuhide would never know.

She understands Portuguese.

A useful skill.

Too useful to ignore.

He kept his hand on his sword, just in case as a short, stocky Westerner rushed into the room, his words tumbling over one another. Mitsuhide caught the words “Katsu” and “Akihira,” and none of the rest.

The daughter followed the gush of words without any problem and replied to the man in the same language. Not just familiar with the language. Fluent. Which turned her from an annoying impediment to a potential tool. Unfortunately, an aggravating tool.

-------------------

Granted, the fic would be much more realistic if I put the dialogue into the language it is being spoken in... but to do that I'd have to rely on google translate, and there's too much possibility of error that way.

This is more or less how it's handed when writing film and television scripts too. If the intention is that a character is speaking in another language, in the script that's signaled as "(speaking in Spanish)" but you write the dialogue in English. With spec scripts there is no guarantee that the whoever is reading your script (be it a producer or a contest judge) speaks that other language, so writing it in that language would cause them to miss potentially important information.

The intention is that if the script is ever filmed, they would either hire an actor fluent in that language and/or hire a translator, so those lines likely would be filmed in Spanish (or whatever language), and then subtitled.

Again, thank you for asking!

#asks answered

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rainwolfheart · 4 years ago

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PSA for folks with ADHD, dyslexia, and other learning disabilities

Do you find it easier to absorb information by hearing it, but not enough that you’ve looked into getting screen reader software for personal use? Have you wanted a screen reader but can’t afford a good one, or don’t want to invest in one without knowing you’ll like it?

Do you need to read things aloud to proofread them, but would prefer not to? Maybe it gets on the nerves of people you live with, or you write about stuff you aren’t comfortable reading aloud?

Have you tried using screen readers and gotten stressed because they’re built for visually impaired people, rather than people who just need help to read documents?

Are you frustrated by the robotic voices built into some programs, such as the default Windows screen reader?

Can’t find an audiobook or podcast that talks about the topic you want to learn about, despite there being lots of articles about it?

Are you learning a language and wish you could get a native speaker to read stuff to you instead of guessing at pronunciation?

I have good news! There’s a hidden read aloud feature built into Windows computers, completely free, that sounds so natural you could mistake it for a real person sometimes. It’s great at pronouncing names (even foreign ones) and following the flow of sentences.

Microsoft Edge (yes, the hip new version of Internet Explorer that you immediately deleted from your desktop as soon as you installed your browser of choice) has a built-in read aloud feature that sounds amazing. You can choose from a ton of “Natural” voices to read web pages and PDFs, straight to your speakers or headphones. It’s available in many languages, with adjustable speed. They all have feminine voices, but American English and mainland Chinese also have masculine options if you prefer.

Languages and dialects supported: Chinese (Hong Kong), Chinese (mainland), Chinese (Taiwan), Dutch, English (Australia), English (Canada), English (India), English (UK), English (USA), French (Canada), French (France), German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish (Mexico), Spanish (Spain), and Turkish.

You can really easily switch between voices without interrupting the text, so you can try all the options for your language of choice to see which one you like best. I’m a fan of Mia (British English) and Sylvie (Canadian French), myself.

I can confirm that this works well for reading text-heavy webpages and most PDFs, if you choose to open them with Edge. I’ve used it to read AO3 fanfic while doing housework like I would an audiobook or podcast, read academic articles, and proofread stuff I’ve written. You can easily jump ahead and tell it what part you want it to read, so you don’t have to listen to it read you every menu and image alt text.

A few caveats:

Only works on Edge desktop; I haven’t found an app or program that has the same voices.

If a page has citations, like a good Wikipedia page, it might be a little funky. It’ll say “dot two” and not really pause between sentences at a citation, for example. Same thing happens while reading an academic paper. Still worth trying, but could get annoying depending on how dense with citations it is.

It does not work with Google Docs. It’ll read you the menus but not the actual document. A workaround is to export the document as a PDF and reopen it in Edge.

Similarly, the built-in reader in Microsoft Office is the robotic version. I don’t know if there’s a way to hack the system and get these natural voices to work with it, but for now, you can once again export a document as a PDF.

I haven’t tested it with a PDF that’s been through OCR or with a Google Books scan, but I suspect that might be a bit janky, since they tend to get punctuation wrong.

It doesn’t work with Google Play Books in your browser. It’ll read them, but something about the way the books are formatted makes the pronunciation all messed up—I tried it both in a book bought directly from Google Play and in a book I got from Project Gutenberg. You could try to convert the ePub to a PDF and see if that fixes it, or try a different web-based ePub reader. With Gutenberg at least, they also have HTML versions that should read fine.

It won’t automatically switch languages if the document has more than one.

It doesn’t have as robust options as a traditional screen reader for visually impaired people might, such as whether to say punctuation. I think it’s really good at conveying tone and pacing if a sentence is well-written in the first place, though!

It’s been a great discovery for this grad student with ADHD and maybe it’ll help you, too!

tl;dr: Microsoft Edge has a built-in read aloud feature that’s really really good at reading web pages and PDFs (better than the default Windows screen reader), and you should try it if you think it might be helpful for you!

#adhd #dyslexia #adhd resources #accessibility #dyslexia resources #long post

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ellie-mnop · 6 years ago

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Hi everyone! I just finished the 100 Days Of Languages challenge and I wanted to do something new afterwards, so I came up with a challenge of my own! I’m calling this the Checkerboard Challenge because it’s an 8x8 grid. Along the top there are eight language-related skills, and on the side there are eight modes of learning, so each box contains a way to study a particular skill using a particular mode. I wanted to do that because exposing yourself to the same information in different contexts is so helpful for learning and I wanted to apply that to how I study Portuguese. The result is a list of 64 different ways to study languages, 71 if you include the alternate options listed below, each one versatile enough to be repeated as often as you want using different topics or resources and hopefully interesting and useful for your learning.

Ways To Use This Challenge

Complete all of the challenges on the table, in whatever order you want.

Choose a particular skill you’d like to work on. Complete all of the challenges in that column.

Choose a particular method of learning that works well for you. Complete all of the challenges in that row.

Use dice or a random number generator to pick a challenge to do every day, and see how long it takes you to get bingo or connect four or something.

Choose whichever of the challenges sound useful to you and incorporate them into your regular studying routine.

There’s no obligation to post anything you make; even when I say to record yourself doing something, that can just be for your own future reference. (It’s recommended for the collaborative tasks that focus on creating resources that would be useful to other learners or interacting on social media, but even then you can just write the posts/comments and not post them if you prefer) However, I would love to see anything you do want to share, or any updates on your progress, so you can post anything like that with the tag “checkerboard challenge” which is also where I will be posting the tasks I complete.

The tasks are listed below, with more detail than what would fit in the boxes.

Reading

(Visual) Read a comic book, comic strip, or webcomic in your target language. Depending on your skill level and the amount of time you have, you can choose anything from a single strip of a newspaper comic to a full-length graphic novel

(Auditory) Read along with a chapter of an audiobook, or another piece of writing with accompanying audio. Some language learning websites have articles with recordings of native speakers reading them. If you want, or if you can’t find anything else, you could even use a song and its lyrics.

(Hands-On) Option 1: Play a video game in your target language. This can be a computer or console game, or an app on your phone or even a little browser game. Check the language options on games you already have to see if your target language is available, or if not, many free games have lots of language options. / Option 2: Read and follow a recipe or another set of instructions, such as an art/craft tutorial, the rules to a board or card game, a DIY project or a magic trick.

(Logical) Solve riddles or logic puzzles in your target language. (Alternate: Read a short mystery story such as a minute mystery (or something longer if you prefer) and see if you can solve it before the characters do.)

(Collaborative) Talk by text chat with someone else learning your target language, or a native speaker learning your language.

(Read/Write) Read an article or a chapter of a book (or the whole thing) in your target language. It can be about any topic, and can be a children’s or adult’s book depending on your skill level and preference.

(Personal) Find and read a translation of a piece of writing that’s important to you, such as your favorite book as a kid that you feel nostalgic for, or a poem that resonates with you.

(Creative) Read story in your target language and illustrate what happens. The quality of the drawing isn’t important unless you want it to be; the important thing is to help you process what you’re reading.

Writing

(Visual) Choose a photo, either at random from a generator or by choice on a website like Unsplash, and describe it in as much detail as you can. Your description can focus just on describing visible details in the image, or you can make up contexts for and stories around the things you see, whichever you prefer. (Alternate: Do this with a physical object nearby instead of a photo.)

(Auditory) Try writing simple poems, focusing on the auditory features of what you’re writing such as rhyme and rhythm. You can use a rhyme dictionary to expand your vocabulary in an interesting way while you’re working on this. It’s not necessary to worry too much about the artistic quality of the poems unless you want to.

(Hands-On) Write instructions for how to do something you know how to do, such as recipe, a life skill, a game or sport, an art of craft project, or even your method of language learning.

(Logical) Create a persuasive piece of writing that logically argues a point. It doesn’t have to be about a serious or controversial topic. For example, you can defend your prediction for the next season of your favorite show, or what would happen if some fantasy or sci-fi concept were real (maybe a good way to practice the conditional tense if you’re studying a language that has one), or why your best friend is awesome.

(Collaborative) Use a language learning social media app like HelloTalk. Comment on posts and make your own.

(Read/Write) Write a summary of something you’ve read in your target language. You can either read in your native language and summarize in your target language, or do both parts in your target language.

(Personal) Write a journal entry in your target language, talking about how your day or week has been or what you are thinking and feeling. (Alternate: Write about one of your memories.)

(Creative) Write a small story in your target language. It can be about whatever you want, and it doesn’t have to be very long or detailed. You can (option 1) write it as prose, which could be better to practice description and narration or to focus on a particular verb tense, or in (option 2) a script style which could be better to practice conversational language.

Listening

(Visual) Watch a video with narration that describes it, such as a nature documentary, an instructional video such as a cooking video, or a video reviewing something.

(Auditory) Find an online stream of a radio station. Pay attention to both the music and what the announcers say.

(Hands-On) Watch a video demonstrating a craft project, recipe or other task and follow the instructions.

(Logical) Watch or listen to a mystery story and try to solve it before the characters do. This can be a whole movie or novel-length audiobook if you want, but it doesn’t have to be; even an episode of something like Scooby Doo should work.

(Collaborative) Exchange audio with someone else learning your target language, or a native speaker learning your language.

(Read/Write) Watch a video or listen to a piece of audio and take notes on what you learn.

(Personal) Watch a dub of a piece of media you are familiar with, such as your favorite childhood movie.

(Creative) Option 1: Listen to a story or other piece of audio and illustrate it. / Option 2: Listen to a song and make up a new verse.

Speaking

(Visual) Make a video of yourself showing something and talking about it, for example a tour of your home or neighborhood, a review of something, or a video about your pet.

(Auditory) Listen to a piece of audio and try to repeat what you hear. You don’t have to pause after every word and repeat it, it’s probably better to go at least sentence by sentence or with parts even longer so you can keep things in context.

(Hands-On) Explain to someone, or record yourself explaining, how to do something, possibly while demonstrating.

(Logical) Record yourself explaining, and possibly demonstrating, how something works, such as a science concept.

(Collaborative) Record yourself explaining a concept you’re learning, like a grammar topic or how to use a particular word.

(Read/Write) Read out loud and record yourself.

(Personal) Make a recording of yourself talking about something that’s important to you or a memory or anecdote you have. (Alternate: Make a vlog entry (even if you don’t have a vlog to put it on) talking about your day.)

(Creative) Record yourself telling a story, or tell one in person to someone.

Vocabulary (Most of these, with the exception of the first two, can be done with any vocabulary list you want.)

(Visual) Choose a page from a visual dictionary to study. One way you can do this is by studying the words and then covering the labels with sticky notes or whiting them out on a copy and trying to fill in the blanks.

(Auditory) Choose a song in your target language, and look up and study any unfamiliar words in it.

(Hands-On) Option 1: Use your vocabulary list as a scavenger hunt list. This works well if you have a lot of nouns and adjectives on the list. For everyday household items, you can look for the literal items on the list, while if they’re more obscure you can look for pictures or other representations of them. / Option 2: Act out the words on your list. This works well for verbs and adverbs, as well as more abstract nouns or adjectives like emotions. You can record video of yourself doing this and later look back at the video to try to guess the words.

(Logical) Option 1: Make a crossword puzzle using your vocab list. If you write the words and clues, there are tools online that will build the puzzle itself for you, or you can do that by hand on graph paper if you prefer. You can either wait a while and then solve your own puzzle to see how much you remember, or give it to another language learner to solve an ask them to make one for you to solve. / Option 2: Look into the etymological history of the words to find out why they mean what they mean and whether they have any connections to words in your own language.

(Collaborative) Create a vocab list post around a theme, including words you are studying as well as any related words you already know. Include any resources that you think would be useful to someone using the list, such as sample sentences, pictures, or whatever else you want.

(Read/Write) Try to write a small story or other piece of writing using as many of your vocab words as you can.

(Personal) Write a sentence about what you think of each thing on your vocabulary list.

(Creative) Try to write an interesting sentence using each word on your vocabulary list. (Alternate: Illustrate each word on your vocabulary list. You can do this on index cards if you want, to make illustrated flash cards.)

Grammar

(Visual) Create a color or shape coded system to classify a concept like verb tenses or noun gender. For example, you can read through a piece of text and highlight all of the verbs using a different color for each tense, or you can make flash cards with your vocabulary words and mark them with different symbols depending on the gender.

(Auditory) Grammar is a common topic for educational songs. Find a one intended for kids who speak your target language.

(Hands-On) Using words on sticky notes or index cards, build sentences that demonstrate grammatical concepts. If you have access to some of those little word magnets in your target language, those would probably work great for this, but if not (and I know I don’t) you can write various words, affixes, etc. on index cards or sticky notes, or use your existing flashcards if you have them.

(Logical) Create a table, chart, or diagram of a grammatical concept you’re studying.

(Collaborative) Write a post explaining a grammar topic you are learning.

(Read/Write) Read through a text, to find (and maybe highlight, circle, etc.) examples of a grammatical concept, then write more examples.

(Personal) Write about a part of your life that corresponds to the grammar topic you are studying. For example, for the future tense, you can write about your plans or hopes.

(Creative) Write a small story relying on the grammatical concept you’re studying.

Pronunciation

(Visual) Look up diagrams of how to pronounce sounds you struggle with. These can be found as images or in an animated form in YouTube videos, and usually show what your tongue, teeth, etc. are supposed to be doing when you pronounce the sound.

(Auditory) Find a recording of a native speaker, record yourself saying the same thing, and listen for differences.

(Hands-On) Try to pronounce some tongue twisters or other pronunciation-based challenges.

(Logical) Try learning the linguistic names of sounds you work with, and look into how they compare to other sounds. Wikipedia has articles about the different sounds that can exist in languages and tables showing how they are used in various languages.

(Collaborative) Record yourself reading something that contains sounds you struggle with and post it for feedback, possibly on an app like HelloTalk.

(Read/Write) Look at the written IPA pronunciations (these can be found on Wiktionary) of words you learn and look up what the symbols mean.

(Personal) Sing along to songs you like in the language, especially (for the personal category) nostalgic ones or ones meaningful to you.

(Creative) Write a tongue twister using words that are difficult for you to pronounce and practice saying it.

Cultural Context

(Visual) Explore a museum website in your target language. The museum should be located somewhere where your target language is spoken, but it up to you whether you want to look at an art museum, a science or history museum, or something else. Look at the exhibits and read the descriptions.

(Auditory) Create a playlist with traditional, classic and modern songs in various genres that either were invented in or popular in a place where your target language is spoken. Ideally using resources in your target language, learn about the songs and genres.

(Hands-On) Using resources in your target language, learn how to do or make something from a culture that speaks it. For example, you can look up a recipe, a tutorial for a dance style, the rules to a game, or how to make an art or craft project. (Make sure the thing you pick is being openly shared by members of the culture it came from.)

(Logical) In your target language, learn about a scientist / inventor / etc. from somewhere the language is spoken. Learn about their work, with explanations of what they invented or discovered, and if you want, find out other information about their life too.

(Collaborative) Comment on or otherwise interact with the blog/YouTube channel/etc. of a native speaker, after you read or watch it, of course. (You don’t need to receive a reply to check off this box, because that part is not under your control.)

(Read/Write) Try reading a significant work of (children’s or adult) literature in your target language.

(Personal) Learn about something relevant to your job/hobby from where your target language is spoken, using resources in the language.

(Creative) Read about artistic or literary themes, movements or eras where the language is spoken, and create something (it can be something simple) using those concepts.

[Image: The title “Language Learning Checkerboard Challenge” above a purple 8x8 table. The information contained in the table is repeated above.]

#langblr #studyblr #language learning #language challenge #learning languages #checkerboard challenge

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lia-jones · 4 years ago

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Growing Pains - Chapter Twelve - You’re a Tree

ATTENTION: REFERENCE TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE - I tried to keep it soft as much as I could, but some people may be triggered.

Despite Victor’s insistent protests, I didn’t go to the hospital, compromising with letting him drive me home. Victor followed me to my apartment, his hand steady on my back. He didn’t wait for me to invite him in, getting in the moment I opened the door and going straight to my kitchen.

“You have an upset stomach. You should have some tea and a light meal to comfort it.” He stated, rummaging my cabinets.

“I’m going to need something stronger than tea, I’m afraid.” I said, going for the cabinet where I kept my liquor. I took a bottle of tequila. “Bring me two glasses from the cabinet, please.”

“It’s not even noon”.” Victor scolded me. I rolled my eyes at him.

“Like they say, it’s five o’clock somewhere.” I bitterly joked.

Victor gave me a steely look and sighed to show his frustration. With a dictatorial attitude, he walked to me and tried to take the bottle from my hand. I quickly moved my arm behind my back, my eyes daring him to try again.

“Look, I said I’m fine already. I’m an adult and I can take care of myself, and I think I know better than you what I need, and I definitely do not need a babysitter. So either you sit and drink, or you leave. I’m fine with either of them.” I said, defiantly placing the tequila bottle on the table with a thump.

Reading his expression, I could swear he was going to leave, which was exactly what I intended. To my dismay, he sat down and poured both of us a drink. He slumped on his chair as he took a sip of tequila.

“I'm worried about you.” He confessed softly.

“You don’t need to be, I’m fine.” I retorted.

“Right. Because pouring alcohol on an empty stomach shows me exactly how fine you are.”

“Why exactly do you care so much, Victor?” I knew he meant well, but I was in a bad mood, and he was getting on my nerves. I took another sip of my drink, feeling the burn in my chest numb me just a little.

“I told you I called your previous employees to inquiry about your performance, do you remember?” He started softly.

“Right, the “golden child” speech. How could I forget?” I answered bitterly.

“I also asked Goldman to pull your criminal and medicals files.” He paused. “It’s a legal requirement for immigrant employees.”

I felt the floor moving under me. He knew about the abuse.

“I’m such an idiot…” I said, holding my head with my hands. “Of course you’d do a background check.” I couldn’t even look at him, I was mortified. “How much do you know?” My voice wasn’t much louder than a whisper.

“Just that you filed a domestic violence complaint and were hospitalized for about a month.” His voice was deep and low, almost like he was sorry for knowing.

“My case was all over the Portuguese media. Did you see that too?”

“A newspaper article saying you had dropped the charges.”

I sighed, trying to keep my tears at bay. I felt vulnerable, naked, exposed. Worse than that, the person I had feelings for knew how helpless I was, and that rose the worst feeling of them all: pity.

“Is that why you’ve been helping me? Because you feel sorry for me?”

“No.” Victor said, looking me in the eyes. “What happened to you doesn’t make me think any less of you.”

“Bullshit.” I said, not believing him one bit. “There’s a stigma. When something like this happens to you, people look at you differently. That’s why I left Portugal in the first place. They wonder, Victor, they wonder a lot. Their fairytale illusion shatters on the ground and they take offense. They feel they have the right to ask. How can a girl like you end up in such a situation? You could have any other guy! or, How come didn’t you look for help right away, if he was so bad to you?, or, my absolute favorite of all time, How come an educated girl like you, with such loving parents that raised you so well, ends up so helpless in the first place? And you know, I wouldn’t hold it against you if you thought I was an idiot. I think I’m an idiot.”

I filled my empty glass with more tequila, and swallowed most of it in one go.

“It’s not like he had it written on his forehead, you know. I wish he had some kind of sign saying I’m going to put you in a coma one of these days. That would’ve been helpful. Truth is, he was a gentleman. He was kind, and loving, and caring, and sweet. Damn, he was the love of my life. He was the man I thought I was going to love my whole life, no one after him, no one before him. He was my eternity. When he said, date me, I did it without thinking. When he said, move in with me, I jumped in without hesitation. I did all that he wanted, started working for his family, started building a life with him, lost in my own fairytale illusion, not really realizing that he was fencing me in. When he had me right where he wanted me, away from my family and friends, totally under his dominion, the violence started. First, it was because I came home late, and there would be an ugly argument. Then because he didn’t think my blouse was appropriate, another argument. The first time he slapped me was because I went to the supermarket and didn’t tell him. He thought I was cheating.”

I emptied my second glass and filled it again, filling Victor’s too. I drank in silence, not really caring to look at Victor, feeling ashamed, humiliated, infuriated.

“From that moment on, every single argument we had would pretty much end with me bleeding on the floor.” I paused and laughed bitterly, the whole scene playing inside my head. “Then he would come to take care of me, icepack and painkillers in his hand. He would care for my cuts and bruises, tears rolling down his face, apologizing over and over. He used whatever circumstances he was in to justify his actions: his job was taxing and his father was always breathing down his neck, his mom was smothering him and trying to interfere with every decision he made, my family didn’t like him and he felt unwanted in my life. He would say he couldn’t take it anymore. He would say he felt beneath me, that I made him feel like he wasn’t enough, so he was afraid I would leave him, and that was why he was so possessive.”

“Sick bastard.” Victor gritted through his teeth, shaking his head in anger. His grip on his glass was so strong I expected it to break.

“Do you want to hear something even sicker?” I said, looking Victor in the eyes. “I fell for it all. Believed every word. Forgave every punch. The piece of scum was treating me like his punching bag, breaking every little piece of self-esteem I had in me, and I loved him more than my own life. I actually felt guilty for not making things easier for him, for being unable to understand him like he deserved. I thought that, if I could change myself enough, I could change his behavior. Maybe if I could be a little more patient, he would see the light. To this day I can’t understand how I could be that stupid.”

“You thought your love was so strong that it could change it all.” Victor almost whispered, like he knew where I was coming from. “What made you leave?”

“I thought I was pregnant. I wasn’t, it was a false positive. But at the time I was convinced I was going to have a child, so I called my mom. She told me to just pack and run home, and I did. I couldn’t possibly have a child with him, in such an environment. But he came home before I got the chance to leave. Saw my bags on the floor and went insane. Next thing I know, I’m waking up from a coma two weeks later, my mom by my side, her eyes so swollen from crying she could barely open them.”

I felt a tear roll down my face. I took a deep breath, trying not to cry harder. That tear was the only one I would allow myself.

“He told me that I would never have a child, his or anybody else’s. He kept his promise. I had a massive uterine bleeding, and they had to perform a hysterectomy. I’m infertile.”

And there it was. My story, out in the world, for display. I was stupid enough to think I was overcoming it. I wasn't, not even by a long shot. It was still there, very painful and very real.

“Why did you drop the charges?” I heard Victor again.

“When my brother heard of what happened, he went insane. He found Daniel and gave him a massive beating. Of course, his parents went straight to the police, and my brother was facing charges that would put him in prison for at least two years.” I let out a ragged breath. “Josh had gotten engaged, I couldn’t let that happen to him. He was going to be punished for my mistake. I dropped the charges on Daniel on the condition they would drop the charges on Josh. I told the police I didn’t recognize who attacked me, but it wasn’t Daniel.”

“Your mistake? How could that be your mistake?” Victor’s anger was starting to show, his voice a little louder than usual. “The guy tortured you, beat you, almost killed you, and you willingly take the blame?!?”

“It is my mistake!” My throat tightened as I spoke. “I allowed that turd into my life, I welcomed him! And I was stupid enough to love him, and even more stupid to hope I could change him! I was an imbecile to believe I had a chance of happiness with him! I turned my back on my family, I hurt the ones that were actually trying to help me, the ones that actually loved me. I brought them nothing but pain, I almost put my own brother in jail, all because I was deluded with this romanticized dream that was never going to happen!”

And with that, the tears I was trying so hard to keep at bay came in full force. I held on to the table, trying to steady myself as I sobbed hard, looking down, unable to face the world. Strong hands held my shoulders.

“You don’t need to do this.” I felt like begging him to stop. “You don’t need to comfort me, or be here for me, or feel sorry for me. This is my story, this is who I am. And no matter how much it hurts, I have to somehow make peace with that.”

Victor turned my body to face him.

“Just so you know, I don’t pity you.” He said, matter-of-factly. “I admire you. I did before, and now I do even more. You went through so much, been hurt in so many ways, and I can still hear your laughter in the coffee room. You moved to a different country, started working in a very demanding company, faced every setback, and when a guy pointed a gun at your head, you broke his nose. That’s not weakness, Andrea.”

“No, it’s stupidity.” I half-joked, trying to stop all my crying. Victor took my face in his hands, forcing me to look him in the eyes.

“It’s strength. You are not a puny flower that someone stomped on, you are not flat on the ground, trying to grow back again. You’re a tree.”

“Victor, stop it.” I said, looking down. Victor lifted my face so I could meet his eyes again.

“You are a tree.” Victor spoke almost in a whisper. “Autumn may take your leaves away and leave you barren, Winter snow may freeze your branches and your roots, but you’ll still be a tree, standing tall through it all. And when Spring comes, you will have leaves and beautiful flowers again, and someone will enjoy your shade, and admire how bravely you stood up to the elements."

He took me in his arms again, steady and strong. He wasn’t mine, but his embrace made me feel like he was, his warmth available and consistent, letting me wash my sorrows away. My solace. Maybe Victor’s picture should be in that restaurant too.

And I wasn’t crying from sadness anymore. I had never heard anything so beautiful. The ogre was a prince, trapped in a spell I didn’t quite know how to break yet, but once in a blue moon I could see the beauty within. The beautiful light inside him, that had me drawn to him like a moth to a flame.

#Growing Pains - Series #growingpains #mlqc victor #victor x oc #mlqc li zeyan #mlqc fanfic #love and producer #mister love queens choice

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rusocialpod · 3 years ago

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The Michel Thomas Method is a popular approach in language learning, with a range of language courses available for beginners. British newspaper The Times has called the Michel Thomas Method “The nearest thing to painless learning.” So, we decided to do our own Michel Thomas review. Michel Thomas courses are all in audio, and you learn by pausing the audio and translating the teacher’s spoken phrases into the target language. Over time, you’re encouraged to use the phrases you’ve learned as building blocks to create longer sentences. There are plenty of good reviews on Amazon (the Spanish course scores an average of 4.3 stars). But does it work in practice? I took on the challenge of completing the full Michel Thomas Total Portuguese course to see what happened. I started as an absolute beginner…and I’ll share exactly how it worked for me. Here are my thoughts - plus later on I’ll share a video of myself speaking Portuguese after completing the course. Michel Thomas Review: Getting Started Michel Thomas courses are designed for absolute beginners. They purposely avoid great depth, and instead focus on helping you have a variety of simple conversations, for example, while on holiday. I found the course incredibly easy to understand and get started. In particular, I really enjoyed that the course is 100% audio. No videos, no flashcards. No reading or writing. I could sit there with my eyes closed and not worry about writing stuff down or watching for visual and audio clues at the same time. In the audio, you join two other students in a virtual “classroom”. You listen in on the students’ lesson, and complete simple language challenges with them. When the other students are asked to translate a phrase, you’re meant to pause the playback, and translate it yourself first. I liked this method of learning. Michel Thomas Review: What Did I Learn? I found that the Michel Thomas course was relevant to the real world. In taking the course, I learned words and phrases that every student should learn early on. There are no useless sentences like “The business meeting has been moved to the yacht”, which only a certain type of traveler would want to learn. Instead, you learn phrases like: “Why don’t you want to go there today?” “Where did you eat yesterday?” “I don’t need this, but I want it.” The Michel Thomas course avoids teaching a lot of specific vocabulary, which saves you from memorising. How does this work? Rather than teaching a big list of nouns, it teaches “this”, “that” and “it”, so you can at least point to an object and talk about it without knowing its name. I commend the course creators for trying to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. I can now talk about a variety of topics without needing to know a whole lot of specific vocabulary. I can point to an object and say, “How much does that cost?”, or point to a museum and say, “Let’s go there tomorrow.” Phrases like this would certainly come in handy on a short trip to a Portuguese-speaking country. However, while I found this an effective way to learn the basics of Portuguese, it’s not all that helpful during video conversations, as you’ll see from my video at the end of this article! When it’s just you and the other speaker, there’s nothing to point at; you need to know the actual words for the items you’re talking about. In addition, the course manages to cover all of the major verb tenses, which is unusual in a course for absolute beginners (I studied French for five years in school before I learned the future tenses!). All that said, I did have some issues with the Michel Thomas approach. I noticed that the course skipped over virtually all pleasantries that you would expect to exchange with any new person you meet in your target language. No “What’s your name?”, “How are you?” or “Where are you from?” I had my first Portuguese lesson online after completing the course, and I couldn’t even say, “My name is Holly”! I would have really liked to learn some more “greeting”-type vocabulary, so that I can walk up to a vendor, for example, and say “Hi, how are you? Nice day today” instead of launching right into, “How much is that?” The title of the course is “Total Portuguese”, but I feel like this is a bit of an overstatement. It does teach useful material, but it only teaches the basics. No more, no less. As an additional aside, the course focuses only on the most formal way to address people in Portuguese until very late in the course. I found this frustrating. When I started using Portuguese on italki, my teachers used the informal “tu” form of verbs, and expected me to do the same. But the Michel Thomas method encourages near-exclusive use of the formal forms “o senhor”/”a senhora” and “você”, meaning I was very inexperienced with the “tu” form, which is conjugated quite differently. Overall, I’d say I learned a lot of useful phrases - but not enough to be a well-rounded Portuguese speaker, even at beginner level. Michel Thomas Review: Did I Actually Remember What I Learned? A big part of learning another language is motivation. Being accountable to another person (or a teacher) and tracking your progress can be a huge help with staying motivated. How does the Michel Thomas method fare here? Michel Thomas is a static course, so there’s no teacher to keep you accountable. But because the course is so easy to follow (“No homework! No memorizing!”), there’s really nothing for you to shy away from. The course is completely in audio - available in CD or audiobook format. I went with the CD option, and it was easy and pleasant enough for me to listen to a CD every day. I never looked for any excuses not to sit down and listen to the course. I was really pleased with the amount of repetition in the course. The material wasn’t particularly diverse, but the teaching method made darn sure that I wouldn’t forget the words and phrases that I learned. The teacher accomplishes this by incrementally introducing new material, and then instantly quizzing the students (and me, the listener) on that and previous material. The material was just challenging enough to hold my attention. But it can easily become boring if you don’t use it the way it’s intended. You need to make a genuine attempt at answering the teacher’s questions before moving on, or else the material will just wash over you and you’ll forget it. I would try to guess the correct answer to all of the teacher’s questions (out loud!) before the students in the studio could. It wasn’t so easy that I always guessed correctly, and I appreciated the challenge of this. It really helped to listen to two other students learn at the same time as me. They usually asked the same questions that I would have if I had been having a live lesson. This almost made me feel like I was taking an interactive lesson, which helped my motivation even more. Other than working your way through the classes, there’s no real way to track your progress. That said, I don’t think that the course intends to help you track your progress. It certainly makes sure you do progress, by quizzing you constantly on both old and new material. But it falls short of actually measuring it. However, after the audio course is complete, the last CD includes a series of tests to check your knowledge. You’re then provided with a score. This is the one place in the course where you can get a concrete measurement of your total progress. One more thing: All of the repetition and the teacher’s corrections were fabulous for my pronunciation. I surprised my Skype teacher in my first lesson with how good my Portuguese pronunciation was. But she was also surprised at how limited my vocabulary was! The course really does teach absolute basics for getting by; not having a detailed conversation in the language. Michel Thomas Method: The Verdict Would I use the Michel Thomas Method again? That is to say - was it worth the time and effort? Quick answer: I would use it again, but with some caveats. The Michel Thomas course claims that you’ll “go from absolute beginner to confident speaker” in Portuguese. And technically, I did! The words and phrases that the course teaches (however limited) I learned very well and could use confidently. When I use Michel Thomas in the future, I’ll definitely use it as a supplement to my other studies in the target language, rather than as a standalone resource. For Portuguese, however, I didn’t want to use any other study methods, or else I wouldn’t have an accurate idea of exactly what the Michel Thomas course can and can’t do for absolute beginners. After using only Michel Thomas as my first exposure to Portuguese, I can conclude that while it’s helpful, it doesn’t go the full distance on its own. For my next language mission (whatever that might be!), if a Michel Thomas course exists for that language, I would use it. It’s a low-stress way to get over that initial hump, from being able to say nothing in the language to being able to say a variety of phrases. The course brought me from knowing absolutely zero Portuguese - not even “yes” or “no” - to being able to confidently have quite a few short, very simple exchanges. You can pick up Michel Thomas Total Portuguese on Amazon. My Video Speaking Portuguese After Competing Michel Thomas Once I’d completed Michel Thomas Total Portuguese I made a video of myself chatting with a native speaker. To prepare for this video, I had three lessons on italki after I’d finished the Michel Thomas course. Here’s the video (which actually became the start of a Portuguese in 3 Months mission): httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxAm-KTlonM I enjoyed learning Portuguese so much that I decided to take on a Portuguese in 3 Months Mission after finishing the Michel Thomas course. You can read more about my mission here. The post Review: The Michel Thomas Method for Language Learning appeared first on Fluent in 3 months - Language Hacking and Travel Tips.

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duaneodavila · 6 years ago

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Lessons For Success From A Former Biglaw Associate [Sponsored]

Abby Gordon

Ed. note: This is the latest installment in a series of posts on lateral associate and partner moves from Lateral Link’s team of expert contributors. Abby Gordon is a Senior Director with Lateral Link’s New York office. Abby works with attorney candidates on law firm and in-house searches, primarily in New York, Boston, and Europe. Prior to joining Lateral Link, Abby spent seven years as a corporate associate with Cleary Gottlieb, focusing on capital markets transactions for Latin American clients in New York and for the last five years for European clients in Paris. A native of Boston, Abby holds a J.D., cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A. in government and romance languages, magna cum laude, from Dartmouth College. Abby also worked with the International Rescue Committee as a Fulbright Scholar in Madrid, Spain. She is a member of the New York Bar and is fluent in French and Spanish (and dabbles in Portuguese and Italian).

In my 7+ years in Biglaw and now 6+ years as a legal recruiter, assisting others with career planning, I have learned certain lessons I wish we’d all internalize early in our careers:

Ask questions at the start. Ask questions to clarify the substance of your assignments and questions relating to logistical and practical matters. One question that is always appropriate is, “When do you need this by?” Trust me, you’ll wish you’d asked.

Notwithstanding Lesson #1, ask yourself every question first. An essential quality of a great associate is developing the judgment to know when this is something you can figure out on your own and when this requires input from someone more senior. Be respectful of senior lawyers’ time (which is also clients’ money). Learning to problem-solve and to be resourceful is a crucial skill as a lawyer. Even the most mundane tasks are learning experiences in disguise.

Be responsive and efficient but pause before you respond. Take an extra minute to breath, think, polish, and proofread your response.

Appreciate that no job is too menial. Do you feel that many of your assignments are beneath you? That a well-trained monkey could complete them? Well, there’s a method to the madness. You need to live in the weeds — often for a long time — before you can design the perfect garden.

Ask yourself what is the bigger picture. Your day-to-day tasks might be tedious and you may be overworked and exhausted but you must always make time to ask how your task relates to the big picture. This is how you develop as a lawyer: by doing the grunt work carefully and meticulously while studying and conceptualizing the work of your whole team.

Pay attention to detail. Re-read, re-read, re-read backwards. You are being paid the big bucks to complete menial tasks because the partners and the clients trust that you will do them right. You must catch the typos, even at 2:00 a.m. The simpler the task, the more important it is to avoid cutting corners and avoid mistakes.

Recognize that organization, meeting deadlines, and a positive attitude count for at least 50 percent. Even if you’re not the best lawyer out there, attention to detail plus meeting deadlines — all with a smile on your face — will go a long, long way to keeping you employed.

Treat junior lawyers and administrative staff — and everyone else for that matter — with just as much respect as you treat the partners. The positive attitude in Lesson #7 should not be reserved solely for your superiors. Be kind to everyone, as it will smooth the road for you going forward. And moreover, because it’s the right thing to do.

Don’t trust blindly and assume the firm will “do the right thing.” You may feel as though you’re a valued member of a big, happy family, but ultimately law firms are businesses. Be smart and protect yourself. It’s not appropriate to email me (a recruiter) via work email regarding your job search. And a lesson I learned the hard way: do not give notice of your departure before your year-end bonus hits your account.

Appreciate constructive feedback. Don’t get defensive. Your seniors get annoyed, and worse, they will stop giving you feedback. Then how will you grow? How can you properly assess your prospects for advancement?

Develop authentic relationships with partners. Seek out mentors. You need someone who’ll go to bat for you. Failure to seek out and nurture a relationship with an influential partner sponsor is one of the most common mistakes that stop otherwise qualified associates from making partner.

Develop a business plan. See my 2017 article on why lawyers need business plans, whether you’re looking to move firms or not. And maintain an always-ready, updated resume and representative matters sheet.

Accept that you and only you are in charge of your professional development. Don’t assume law schools or law firm partners are looking out for your career development. Your interests may not always be aligned with the firm’s interests. Partners are busy. Be proactive and ask for specific guidance. Write down your career goals and how you plan to achieve them. This career plan is for your eyes only; it should be the result of honest and thoughtful introspection and self-assessment. Schedule weekly check-ins with yourself to take stock of your professional development needs and goals.

Keep your options open. Work towards your goals but be open to changing them or the path to reaching them. Be open to considering new opportunities. Constantly assess and reassess your options. If you never change jobs, make it an affirmative decision to stay put. If your career goals stay constant, affirmatively choose them again and again.

Practice authentic networking. Keep your LinkedIn profile up-to-date and connect systematically and in a timely manner with people you meet. Network to learn from others and to open your horizons. Don’t save building a network for when you’re desperate for a new job.

Recognize that career planning is a continuous and thoughtful process and not a one-and-done crisis management tool. Don’t be complacent. Be proactive. Maintain an ongoing dialogue with a recruiter you trust. Remember that Career Services is for alums and not just current students. Calendar regular appointments with yourself to check in and ask if you’re doing everything you can do to 1) be the best lawyer you can be, and 2) be the happiest lawyer you can be.

Believe in yourself. Develop and continuously re-evaluate your own definition of success and metrics for measuring it, in line with your personal goals and values. Appreciate constructive feedback but do not let how others view your legal skills define your worth as a human being.

I’d love to hear about your career turning points and insights from your years of practice. Please email me at [email protected] and share with me what would be on your list of lessons learned!

You can read my other career planning posts for Above the Law here.

Lateral Link is one of the top-rated international legal recruiting firms. With over 14 offices world-wide, Lateral Link specializes in placing attorneys at the most prestigious law firms and companies in the world. Managed by former practicing attorneys from top law schools, Lateral Link has a tradition of hiring lawyers to execute the lateral leaps of practicing attorneys. Click ::here:: to find out more about us.

Lessons For Success From A Former Biglaw Associate [Sponsored] republished via Above the Law

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absofrutely · 5 years ago

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Injustice

I’m always meticulous while crossing Market Street on my bike. I had read an article about the most dangerous intersections in San Francisco, and Market and 9th was ranked #4 with two “serious” injuries but no fatalities in the last two years.

It was just a routine Tuesday evening commute, and I had done everything right. Even though the sun was still out at 7pm, I turned on both my bicycle lights and wore a yellow safety vest. Stopped in the right-most lane waiting at the stoplight, I made eye contact with the driver who had his blinker signaling a right turn and inched my way forward, communicating my intention to go straight.

When the light turned green, the driver politely yielded to me, and I started pedaling. The right hook came out of nowhere, as a car from two lanes to the left decided to cut off the yielding car, blindly colliding with my left thigh and my bike’s rear wheel. As I was struck by the car, my backpack exploded with free LaCroix I had taken from work.

Among the pedestrians, there were panicked yells, asking me if I was alright. As I stirred, sealed packs of single-serving Oberto’s beef jerky fell out of my Patagonia company-issued backpack into the carbonated mess. I could hear the murmuring around me transition from concern to puzzlement, to judgment, and eventually, ridicule. I staggered into the crosswalk, clearly dazed, on my hands and knees, stuffing as much beef jerky into my pockets as I could before I passed out from the pain.

As the paramedics cut away my shredded blood-soaked company hoodie, they also had to cut away the four company t-shirts I was wearing, from the XL “overcoat” down to the skin-tight XS “undershirt”. I started wailing with despair. I begged them to be careful. I couldn’t risk the contamination of the 20 pound ream of 8.5” x 11” printer paper that I had stowed away in my bike basket.

I fought off the medical assistance as I remembered that I hadn’t yet hit my $5000 deductible on my high-deductible health care plan. Earlier this year, I had made the fatal mistake of going in for a routine colonoscopy, but since they had found polyps the year prior, the procedure was no longer considered preventative, but rather diagnostic, so it didn’t fall under the Affordable Care Act which meant I was on the hook for a hefty copayment.

Dabbing my cuts with a wad of napkins I had taken from my daily McDonald’s dollar menu lunch, I pulled out my iPhone 4S to respond to a Facebook Marketplace inquiry for my ream of printer paper. It looked like someone else had responded to my listing of wrought-iron chairs that I had found in my apartment’s recycling room too. What luck! The guy said he could stop by in 30 minutes for a pickup.

Thankfully, there was a bike rack nearby. I could ditch the bike for now and pick it up tomorrow. Reluctantly, and only because I had a shattered femur, I called an UberPool, opted for the cheaper walking option, and although my apartment was only 0.9 miles away, the app told me that optimistically, I’d be able to get home in 27 minutes.

My Uber pulled up in front of my apartment at the same time I got a ping from Facebook Messenger. The buyer said he was less than a block away. It took me around two minutes fumbling around with my blood-smeared phone screen locating the non-standard “medium-dark skin tone” thumbs-up emoji 👍🏾 from Emojipedia.org but I considered it time well spent since I was advancing diversity and equality. My 23andMe results had come back, and it said that I was 0.5% “Spanish & Portuguese,” which meant I could now use any skin tone emoji I wanted with impunity even though my parents were ninth generation immigrants from England and Ireland.

Someone tapped me on the back. Looking up from my screen, I didn’t recognize that it was Luis, my buyer, but how could I, given that his 12 Facebook photos were of the Virgin Mary, the Byzantine Cross, and portraits of Jesus, his face impassive as usual, on the crucifix.

“Leighton? Leighton Whitaker-Connelly?” Luis asked.

Luis stared at me blankly.

“The paper - you’re selling it right?”

I didn’t respond.

“The 20 pound ream of paper? I have $10 in cash,” he continued, taking out two $5 bills.

I stayed silent.

“Hello? The paper? Er, the ‘papel?’”

“Oh, the ‘PAPEL!’ Why didn’t you just say so!” I roared, clapping him on the back.

“Well, because your listing was in English, and in all of our messages, we were using English, and…”

He noticed me staring at his Allbird shoes.

“...and, um, I… nevermind…” he trailed off, taking a step back after seeing my blood-splattered clothing.

He babbled on, clearly confused, but my thoughts wandered elsewhere. Sure, I could lure this man into my apartment, chain him up in my dungeon, surgically install a uterus in his belly, wear out his body and run an “Uber, but for People Looking for Surrogate Mothers” type of operation that would be one of the hottest Silicon Valley start-ups, setting records for the fastest $1 billion valuation, but in the end, what was it worth? A couple of trips around the moon on Virgin Galactic before I bankrupted myself for the third time? It’d be exhausting being in the public eye, paparazzi scrutinizing my every move.

It seemed formulaic. Contrived. Even downright predictable. People have seen this Hollywood movie multiple times by now.

Lost in my thoughts, I thought back to the 8th grade, when Mrs. Stole, my chemistry teacher, gave a long-winded speech about the importance of behaving for substitute teachers. Since she was pregnant with her third child, we could expect her last day on campus to be in two weeks, and she was counting on us to finish the semester strong. In mid-sentence, she stopped speaking, and said, “No, Leighton? You don’t agree?”

Caught unaware, and never having gotten in trouble for anything before, I stammered, “No, I - I didn’t say anything at all.”

“Oh, because I saw you shake your head, like you didn’t agree with me at all.” I shook my head no. She paused for a couple more moments, rolled her eyes and gave me a dismissive look, as if she knew I was lying, and then continued her lecture on good behavior. My stomach lurched from the injustice and my forehead went numb as my classmates turned around to stare at me.

But I didn’t do anything! I screamed silently. I glanced up and saw Luis Moreno shake his head at me, whisper something to his friends around him, and throw his head back and laugh, mocking my stutter. He started clucking like a chicken, looked over at me again, and his corner of the classroom erupted into giggles. Luis Moreno. Luis. I’d recognize those hazel eyes for the rest of my life.

Reality melted back to present day when my shattered left knee buckled under my own weight. Those same hazel eyes stared back at me, but this time with a twinge of concern instead of mockery. He helped me back up to my feet, and offered his arm as support while I hobbled through my apartment lobby.

It was 17 years ago and we both grew up, took different paths in life, and matured into two respectful and intelligent young men. On Luis’ backpack, I saw a sewed-on patch that signified that he was a four year mentor for Minds Matter and from his LinkedIn profile, he worked full time for a non-profit focused on providing clean drinking water to Sub-Saharan African countries. As for myself, after law school, I became an in-house counsel for a start-up that optimized health outcomes for underserved communities. Last year, I had set the California state record for over 1500 hours of pro bono service.

But at the end of the day, people don’t change.

I invited him up to my apartment, where he spent the rest of his days giving birth for money.

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learnspanishfans · 8 years ago

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Review: The Michel Thomas Method for Language Learning

Michel Thomas Review: Getting Started

Michel Thomas courses are designed for absolute beginners. They purposely avoid great depth, and instead focus on helping you have a variety of simple conversations, for example, while on holiday. I found the course incredibly easy to understand and get started. In particular, I really enjoyed that the course is 100% audio. No videos, no flashcards. No reading or writing. I could sit there with my eyes closed and not worry about writing stuff down or watching for visual and audio clues at the same time. In the audio, you join two other students in a virtual “classroom”. You listen in on the students’ lesson, and complete simple language challenges with them. When the other students are asked to translate a phrase, you’re meant to pause the playback, and translate it yourself first. I liked this method of learning.

Michel Thomas Review: What Did I Learn?

I found that the Michel Thomas course was relevant to the real world. In taking the course, I learned words and phrases that every student should learn early on. There are no useless sentences like “The business meeting has been moved to the yacht”, which only a certain type of traveler would want to learn. Instead, you learn phrases like:

“Why don’t you want to go there today?”

“Where did you eat yesterday?”

“I don’t need this, but I want it.”

The Michel Thomas course avoids teaching a lot of specific vocabulary, which saves you from memorising. How does this work? Rather than teaching a big list of nouns, it teaches “this”, “that” and “it”, so you can at least point to an object and talk about it without knowing its name. I commend the course creators for trying to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. I can now talk about a variety of topics without needing to know a whole lot of specific vocabulary. I can point to an object and say, “How much does that cost?”, or point to a museum and say, “Let’s go there tomorrow.” Phrases like this would certainly come in handy on a short trip to a Portuguese-speaking country. However, while I found this an effective way to learn the basics of Portuguese, it’s not all that helpful during video conversations, as you’ll see from my video at the end of this article! When it’s just you and the other speaker, there’s nothing to point at; you need to know the actual words for the items you’re talking about. In addition, the course manages to cover all of the major verb tenses, which is unusual in a course for absolute beginners (I studied French for five years in school before I learned the future tenses!). All that said, I did have some issues with the Michel Thomas approach. I noticed that the course skipped over virtually all pleasantries that you would expect to exchange with any new person you meet in your target language. No “What’s your name?”, “How are you?” or “Where are you from?” I had my first Portuguese lesson online after completing the course, and I couldn’t even say, “My name is Holly”! I would have really liked to learn some more “greeting”-type vocabulary, so that I can walk up to a vendor, for example, and say “Hi, how are you? Nice day today” instead of launching right into, “How much is that?” The title of the course is “Total Portuguese”, but I feel like this is a bit of an overstatement. It does teach useful material, but it only teaches the basics. No more, no less. As an additional aside, the course focuses only on the most formal way to address people in Portuguese until very late in the course. I found this frustrating. When I started using Portuguese on italki, my teachers used the informal “tu” form of verbs, and expected me to do the same. But the Michel Thomas method encourages near-exclusive use of the formal forms “o senhor”/”a senhora” and “você”, meaning I was very inexperienced with the “tu” form, which is conjugated quite differently. Overall, I’d say I learned a lot of useful phrases - but not enough to be a well-rounded Portuguese speaker, even at beginner level.

Michel Thomas Review: Did I Actually Remember What I Learned?

A big part of learning another language is motivation. Being accountable to another person (or a teacher) and tracking your progress can be a huge help with staying motivated. How does the Michel Thomas method fare here? Michel Thomas is a static course, so there’s no teacher to keep you accountable. But because the course is so easy to follow (“No homework! No memorizing!”), there’s really nothing for you to shy away from. The course is completely in audio - available in CD or audiobook format. I went with the CD option, and it was easy and pleasant enough for me to listen to a CD every day. I never looked for any excuses not to sit down and listen to the course. I was really pleased with the amount of repetition in the course. The material wasn’t particularly diverse, but the teaching method made darn sure that I wouldn’t forget the words and phrases that I learned. The teacher accomplishes this by incrementally introducing new material, and then instantly quizzing the students (and me, the listener) on that and previous material. The material was just challenging enough to hold my attention. But it can easily become boring if you don’t use it the way it’s intended. You need to make a genuine attempt at answering the teacher’s questions before moving on, or else the material will just wash over you and you’ll forget it. I would try to guess the correct answer to all of the teacher’s questions (out loud!) before the students in the studio could. It wasn’t so easy that I always guessed correctly, and I appreciated the challenge of this. It really helped to listen to two other students learn at the same time as me. They usually asked the same questions that I would have if I had been having a live lesson. This almost made me feel like I was taking an interactive lesson, which helped my motivation even more. Other than working your way through the classes, there’s no real way to track your progress. That said, I don’t think that the course intends to help you track your progress. It certainly makes sure you do progress, by quizzing you constantly on both old and new material. But it falls short of actually measuring it. However, after the audio course is complete, the last CD includes a series of tests to check your knowledge. You’re then provided with a score. This is the one place in the course where you can get a concrete measurement of your total progress. One more thing: All of the repetition and the teacher’s corrections were fabulous for my pronunciation. I surprised my Skype teacher in my first lesson with how good my Portuguese pronunciation was. But she was also surprised at how limited my vocabulary was! The course really does teach absolute basics for getting by; not having a detailed conversation in the language.

Michel Thomas Method: The Verdict

Would I use the Michel Thomas Method again? That is to say - was it worth the time and effort? Quick answer: I would use it again, but with some caveats. The Michel Thomas course claims that you’ll “go from absolute beginner to confident speaker” in Portuguese. And technically, I did! The words and phrases that the course teaches (however limited) I learned very well and could use confidently. When I use Michel Thomas in the future, I’ll definitely use it as a supplement to my other studies in the target language, rather than as a standalone resource. For Portuguese, however, I didn’t want to use any other study methods, or else I wouldn’t have an accurate idea of exactly what the Michel Thomas course can and can’t do for absolute beginners. After using only Michel Thomas as my first exposure to Portuguese, I can conclude that while it’s helpful, it doesn’t go the full distance on its own. For my next language mission (whatever that might be!), if a Michel Thomas course exists for that language, I would use it. It’s a low-stress way to get over that initial hump, from being able to say nothing in the language to being able to say a variety of phrases. The course brought me from knowing absolutely zero Portuguese - not even “yes” or “no” - to being able to confidently have quite a few short, very simple exchanges. You can pick up Michel Thomas Total Portuguese on Amazon.

My Video Speaking Portuguese After Competing Michel Thomas

Once I’d completed Michel Thomas Total Portuguese I made a video of myself chatting with a native speaker. To prepare for this video, I had three lessons on italki after I’d finished the Michel Thomas course. Here’s the video (which actually became the start of a Portuguese in 3 Months mission): httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxAm-KTlonM I enjoyed learning Portuguese so much that I decided to take on a Portuguese in 3 Months Mission after finishing the Michel Thomas course. You can read more about my mission here.

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lia-jones · 4 years ago

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Growing Pains - Chapter Twenty Five - The Ghosts of the Past

“You should move in with me.” Victor stated casually, while sipping his morning coffee.

I almost choked on my toast.

“W-what?” I stuttered. Where was this coming from, all of a sudden?

“Haven’t had enough coffee yet?” He teased, smiling, peeking inside my mug. “It’s only reasonable, you barely sleep at your apartment anyway, you spend all your time here, you might as well save the rent money and just come live here.”

“Well, if it’s the fiscally responsible thing to do.” I said, ironically. “Besides, the reason I sleep here all the time is because you keep insisting that I do. I wouldn’t mind spending a few nights at my apartment.” I argued back. “You probably could use the break.”

“I didn’t say I want you to spend more nights at your apartment, I was saying I want you to spend all nights here.” Victor sounded frustrated. “Do you really stay the night just because I insist?”

“I did not say that.” I answered softly while taking the dirty breakfast dishes away. I wanted to avoid that conversation so bad.

And Victor apparently caught up on that, seemingly dropping the subject altogether, his eyes trained on his phone. However, I could see his eyebrows slightly furrowed, and that usually meant he was churning some thought in that thick head of his. I sighed.

“Look, this is all very new and it’s a bit weird.” I tried to make him see my perspective. “There’s so much we haven’t even discussed yet… I mean, for now, it’s casual, if we get tired of each other we can go spend some time on our own. If I start living here, you’ll have me in your hair all the time. Besides, we don’t even really know that much about each other, never discussed how we will split the bills…”

“What bills?” He looked confused. “You mean utilities? We’re not roommates, and I don’t need you to pay for those.”

“Well, I want to contribute too. You shouldn’t be supporting me just because you’re rich. See, we really should be discussing these things before acting rashly.”

“Where do you see yourself two years from now?” Victor asked out of the blue, in all seriousness. I blinked at him.

“What, is this a job interview?” I joked. He didn’t laugh.

“Where do you see yourself two years from now?”

I couldn’t see why he was asking, but I was sure it was important. I tried my best to answer.

“I don’t know, honestly.” I said, softly, hoping I could calm some of the inner turmoil I could feel in him. “If someone told me two years ago that I would have gone through all of this… The abuse, the coma, coming to Loveland, my new job, my doctorate, you… I wouldn’t believe it.”

Victor watched me carefully, poker face in place. And for the first time in a long time, I couldn’t read his eyes.

“Alright.” He said, getting up and walking to the door. “Do you need a ride to the University?”

“Thanks, I’m taking my car, I need to-” And with that, I heard the door close behind him, leaving me talking to myself. And I wondered if we had actually been fighting. I simply couldn’t tell.

My routine at the university was a very simple one. During most mornings I would teach, and the afternoons were reserved for the research and occasional meetings with partners. I was thankful for the quiet morning, because I couldn’t focus at all, remembering every single sentence of our discussion, trying to see where things could have gone sour. Eventually, not able to find an answer, I stopped altogether.

After lunch, I went to my office to make a few phone calls regarding the new partnerships we were having at the moment. Unexpectedly, there was a knock on my door. It was Olive Carson, the Dean.

“Andrea, may we have a word?” She said, peeking from the door.

“Of course, come in, sit down.” I said, putting my phone down. “How can I help?”

“We have to discuss this new media exposure you’ve been having, regarding your relationship with Victor Lee.” She started, choosing her words carefully.

“Media exposure?” I frowned.

“Look, I know this is a very sensitive issue, and evidently you are not to blame for what happened to you, but no matter how unfair that exposure is, it is still exposure. And since your name is connected to the University’s now, it is our duty to make sure your exposure doesn’t reflect badly on us. As you understand, sooner or later we’ll have to make our professional relationship official and look for patrons to invest in your research, and any bad publicity will be prejudicial.”

“I’m sorry, Olive, I really don’t follow. What exactly are you talking about?” By that time, I was more than confused, I was starting to get scared.

“You haven’t seen it yet?” Olive asked. “That gossip magazine, Loveland’s Juiciest, published a whole article about you and your boyfriend. Apparently, you caught their attention at that fashion show. I personally choose to steer clear from that kind of literature, but when one of my researchers is involved… I have to pay attention.”

“Wait, Loveland’s…” My mind was reeling. “Ok, yes, me and Victor are in a relationship. Why would the patrons care for that?”

“Well, Mr. Lee spoke on your behalf when you defended your thesis. Some people may think his opinion was… biased.”

“And the results may be discredited.” I concluded, rubbing my forehead in distress. This was not happening. It simply couldn’t be happening.

“And affect our funding exponentially.” She added. “The abuse story is not helping either. I know your boyfriend is a very influential person, and he’s known to be extremely protective of his privacy… Maybe you can talk to him, see if you can make this matter go away, or at least contain it.”

I froze at her words. Did she say abuse? Did that magazine do a background check on me, and shared my abuse with the world? I got up in a hurry, preparing to leave.

“I’ll see what I can do.” I said, quickly gathering my things. “Do you mind if we finish this conversation later? I need to leave urgently. Please close the door behind you.”

Not waiting for her reply, I bolted to the closest magazine stand and bought a copy of the damn magazine. I held it with shaky hands, in my car, too scared to find out what was written.

I should have realized that the moment the paparazzi saw me with Victor, I would be a person of interest. After all, he was known to be the most desirable bachelor in Loveland that never gave any woman a second look. Obviously, they would be all over us. I was bound to end up under the limelight.

The article was titled Ice King or King of Hearts, and it spoke of how honorable and romantic Victor was, choosing to give his heart to true love, disregarding social status or background. And, to make it even more compelling and thorough, there was an entire page dedicated to me, with incredibly accurate facts. The author knew everything about me, my parents, my hobbies, and wrote a tear-jerking story about my abuse, including a picture of Daniel and the exposure it all had in the media back in Portugal, since he was the son of one of the most notorious bankers in Portugal.

My trauma, my darkest part of my life was right in front of me, printed in an elegant font, with pretty pictures to illustrate it. All that I had run from when I left Portugal had followed me to Loveland.

Unsure of what to do, I decided to go to my apartment to try and calm myself down before I did anything else. I couldn’t stay in that parking lot, making a scene. But I still had to fix this mess, and only one person could help me. But before I even considered talking to him, I needed to ground myself.

Victor seemed to have sensed my trouble, because as I drove home, he called me. At the time I was still a bit shaken, so I silenced my phone and dropped it on the passenger seat, deciding I would talk to him when I got home.

By the time I left the car, although a bit shaky, I had a plan. I would calm myself down, try and talk to my mother, and then call Victor and see what could be done. I had achieved so much already, I just needed to face this. Maybe now the world wouldn’t see me as just a victim. I just needed to be strong. I just needed a plan.

But no plan in the world could prepare me for what was coming next.

As I got to my floor, I saw a very familiar silhouette leaning on my door. And when that voice spoke to me in Portuguese, I knew my nightmare was far from being over.

“Hello, doll. Long time no see.” It was Daniel.

I went to my purse to get my phone. Shit! I had left it in the passenger seat. In my car. Downstairs.

Ok, Andrea. Calm down. Be smart.

“What are you doing here?” I asked in English, hoping someone would overhear me. “I don’t want you here.”

“Yet you speak English, our love language.” He answered in English. Daniel always insisted that I spoke English with him when we dated, it gave him a sense of… status. I hated that. “I told you, love, I had to see you. I missed you.”

“I have no interest in seeing you.” I tried to assert, although my heart was tight with fear. “Go away, Daniel.”

“Why? Why deny something so beautiful? Our love is cosmical, karmical, Andrea! No one can get in between us. Not even that boyfriend of yours.”

“So that’s how you found me?” I asked, my voice hoarse. “Some reporter told you where I was?” I paused, taking a deep breath. Still, I couldn’t help but grit my teeth hard in anger. “Our cosmic love, as you say, ended the moment you beat me to a pulp and left me in a coma.”

“No, no.” He laughed, shaking his head. “You’re not being fair, my love.” His sweet voice, his Let me patch you up after I beat you voice made me sick to my stomach. “You were trying to end it long before that, and you know it. I know I made a mistake, and no day goes by that I don’t think about it. But I couldn’t bear to lose you.”

I remained silent, trying to calculate my next move. I couldn’t go to my apartment, risking Daniel coming inside and hurting me in the secrecy of closed doors. I couldn’t run away either. No. Running away was not an option.

“My love for you is so big, can’t you see that?” He continued. “I sacrificed myself, I set you free. I gave you what you wanted, a chance to see how life would be without me. But I always knew you’d come back. When that reporter came to talk to me about our past, I knew that was your way of coming closer, you still want me. Why else would you send for me like that?” Daniel took a step closer. I reacted, taking a step back. “Come on, love, you know you missed me.”

“Are you high on something?” I laughed bitterly, not believing what I was hearing. This was another taste of crazy. “Listen to me carefully, Daniel, I don’t want you here. In fact, if you were living in another galaxy, you’d still be too close to me for my liking. Get out of here, before I call the police.”

Daniel’s sweet expression dissolved into an angry one. That was the real Daniel I knew, the one he only showed to the people he wanted to subdue. He gave me a snarly smile.

“Go ahead. It isn’t a crime to visit a friend. You’ll just make me want to come back for more.” Suddenly he was a lot closer, grabbing my arm. “You’re mine, Andrea.” He had a threatening look. “You belong to me. Don’t think you can run away from me just like that.” He whispered in my ear. “Wherever you go, I will always find you.”

“Do not touch me!” I yanked my arm from Daniel’s grip, but he was faster. Before I had any time to react, he grabbed me by the throat and slammed me against my door hard. I lost my breath for a moment.

“Now, why don’t we go inside? Be a good pussy and serve me some coffee, maybe with some ass on the side.” He whispered in my ear, his disgusting breath and maniacal voice making something break inside me.

“I said.” I threatened, calmly. “Let. Go. Of. Me.”

“And what if I don’t? What’s a weak pussy like you going to do to stop me?”

Back in the day, his words would make me shrink, and act in repulse or disgust. But I was flooded with a sudden clarity I had never felt before. Not wasting any time, I punched him hard on the jaw, slamming my foot hard on his chest afterward, making him fly back and slam against the floor hard. He instinctively assumed a fetal position on the floor, trying hard to catch a breath. My kick must’ve cracked a couple of ribs, at least.

Suddenly, my vision was blocked by someone else’s body. Strong steady hands held my shoulders. And suddenly I realized that, when I was smacking Daniel, I had heard someone call my name.

“Did he hurt you?” Familiar grey eyes met mine. What was Victor doing here?

“I’m fine.” I said, releasing myself from his protection. “Daniel was just leaving, weren’t you sweetheart?” I asked, my voice dripping sarcasm.

“Just remember, doll.” Daniel threatened again, as he wiped some blood from his lip. “I broke you once. I can do that again.”

Victor turned to face him, his expression one I had never seen before. He looked like he was about to commit murder, his eyes fiery with anger. I grabbed his arm, squeezing it gently. He looked at me, and seeing me calm, he relaxed a little as well.

“You know, I thought you did break me. And I hated you for that.” I paused, and noticed the smirk Daniel gave me, pleased to have had such an effect on me. “But it turns out, I was wrong. You didn’t break me. I started over again.” I came a little closer, feeling Victor’s watchful eyes on me. “And I overcame all that you did to me. I created a bigger and better life for myself, and discovered I am stronger than I think and wiser than I look. But most important of all, I realized you can’t break me, not really. The only power you have over me is the one that I give you.”

Daniel’s expression was both of surprise and anger. He wanted to see me scared and helpless. He would find none of that in me. Thanks to my friends, my family, and Victor, I was strong again. More than I ever was. I felt unbreakable.

“I used to be terrified of you. You used to haunt my dreams, make me wake up in a cold sweat. And now that I can see you, the real you… You’re not scary anymore. You are pathetic. Trying to make people love you by using torture, because you don’t feel worthy of love. Trying to break them because you feel inferior, because, deep down, you know how pitiful you are.”

Daniel was a pathetic mess on the floor, blood mixing with tears of rage. I walked to my door, getting the key from my purse to open it. “Go back to Portugal. We’re done here.”

“I decide that! I decide when it’s over!” I heard his voice coming towards me. I turned back to defend myself if necessary, but saw nothing but Victor’s back, who had come between us.

“Listen to me carefully.” Victor warned. Daniel and Victor were about the same height, and still Victor towered over him dangerously. His eyes were menacing and full of rage, his expression feral, his tone clearly indicating he was not one to mess with. “You should be very careful. You may think your deeds will go unpunished, but I am watching you. I have been watching you for a while. And I know exactly what kind of scum you are.”

Victor paused, watching Daniel’s reaction. Daniel immediately shrunk another two inches under his hostile stare.

“If you come near her, if you even dare to be in the same city as her, I will make sure that your existence is pure torture, to say the least. I will find out about all your crimes, and I will make sure you pay dearly for them, bringing you agony ten times worse than what you caused. I will be your judge and executioner. I will make sure that, after I’m done to you, you are simply too weak, too helpless to hurt anyone else. That is my promise to you. And I always keep my promises.”

Daniel’s face was bright red, tears rolling down his face, his fists clenched in anger. But Daniel was a coward, so he would not dare face someone that would actually fight back. He slowly backed away, mumbling some empty threats, leaving us alone.

Without a second look back, I opened the door to my apartment and went in, Victor following me. As soon as I heard the click of the door closing, I found myself caught in a tight and warm embrace.

“He didn’t hurt me.” I whispered. “I’m fine.”

“I will be the judge of that.” I heard Victor’s hoarse voice close to my ear.

“Thanks for being here.” I released myself from his embrace, my hand running through his tie. “What are you doing here?”

“You didn’t answer any of my calls. I went to the university looking for you. Something happened.” Victor hesitated.

“The article about us. I already know. That’s why I came home.”

“I will take care of this.” Victor’s hands held my shoulders tight, as if to steady me. “This reporter… She’s out of a job, I guarantee.” The fury in his eyes almost made me feel sorry for those who would meet it. I almost feared for that reporter.

“The Dean says that this may hurt my research. The exposure… The fact that you and I are dating… may discredit my work.” I said, my voice hoarse.

“It won’t happen.” He looked me in the eyes, silently making the promise. “They are going to collect all the unsold magazines tonight. And we’ll take legal action against the publisher. We have a meeting with the lawyers tomorrow.” He looked at me, taking me in his arms again. “This won’t hurt you any more than it already has, I promise you. You can tell the Dean it has been taken care of. I’ll call her if you want to.”

“No…” I said, rubbing my forehead in distress. “I’ll talk to her. Thank you.”

Victor grabbed my hand and put it down, leaning his forehead against mine instead.

“We’ll get through this. Don’t worry.” He looked at me with soft eyes. “I’m here.”

I ran my hand over his cheek lovingly. Yes, he was here. I just couldn’t muster the happiness for it at that moment. I felt tired and numb. Victor looked at me with worried eyes.

“Let’s go home.” He said, holding me closer. “You need to rest. This was a stressful day.”

“I…” I sighed. “I prefer sleeping here today, if you don’t mind.”

Victor looked at me with a pained and confused expression.

“I’m not rejecting you.” I said, placing my hands on his chest, like I could somehow placate him. “I need this time to myself. I need to gather my thoughts. I am so thankful for your help, and I love you, but I need to be alone. I can think better when I’m alone.”

Victor seemed to relax slightly, although he didn’t look exactly pleased. He clearly didn’t understand it, but he was trying. He took my face in his hands and kissed me gently.

“Just remember, you don’t need to do things alone. I’m right here. I will always be here.”

#Growing Pains - Series #growingpains #victor x oc #mlqc victor #mlqc li zeyan #mlqc fanfic #love and producer #mister love queens choice

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learnspanishfans · 8 years ago

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Portuguese in 3 Months Mission: Day 0 Video

This an update to Holly’s Portuguese in 3 Months mission. In my last article, I introduced my three-month Portuguese mission. In this article, I’ll share the “Day Zero” video I made to kick off this project, as well as the first few days of my mission.

What Did I Do Before my “Day Zero” Video?

My “Day Zero” video was recorded for my review of Michel Thomas Total Portuguese, which is a seven-hour audio course (we’ll be publishing the review soon). It demonstrates the level of European Portuguese that one could reasonably expect to achieve after completing the seven hour course, plus two to three lessons with a teacher on Skype, to practise a bit with a real person. I deliberately didn’t do much preparation for the “Day Zero” video. I wanted it to provide a realistic view of what the Michel Thomas course can help you achieve. All I did between completing the course and recording the video was take three Portuguese lessons on italki, and I filmed the video at the end of my third lesson. How did I feel about making the video? Terrified! Speaking a language badly is nerve-wracking enough... recording yourself doing so is even more of a challenge! I felt especially nervous as I have never deliberately recorded myself on video before, outside of school projects. This was all new territory for me! What’s more, I deliberately didn’t do any language-based preparation. I didn’t know what the subject of our conversation would be until our lesson began. I knew I would sound slow and stupid, and miss the majority of what my teacher said. The only preparation I did was to watch Lauren’s Russian mission videos for an idea of what to do during the video, and to help calm my nerves. So, let’s take a look!

Here’s the “Ground Zero” Video of Me Speaking Portuguese.

Warning: this is quite slow and painful to watch - as should be expected. Be sure to activate the English subtitles if you need them. httpvh://youtu.be/YxAm-KTlonM If you got all the way through it, congrats :) . As slow and painful as it looks on video, it was probably three times worse in real life. I did a lot of editing so it wouldn’t be thirty minutes long. But I still left in some of the awkward pauses and my struggles to understand and be understood, to give a realistic view of my Portuguese level.

What Happened After the Video?

After I made the video, I wrote up my thoughts for my Michel Thomas product review, and I stopped learning Portuguese. About three weeks later, I realised that I missed my daily Portuguese practice, and my lessons with Tatiana. I went back and rewatched my video, and was proud of how well I had done with so little experience, and of how I never switched to English even when it got tough. I surprised myself at how much vocabulary I had used in the video - vocabulary that I had forgotten by the time I watched the video a second time. With new languages (even those you’ve only been learning for a few hours), it really is use it or lose it! I didn’t want to forget what I’d learned. But I was forgetting! I needed to do something about it. Then I realised: Of course! I could do a three month Portuguese mission! It would keep up my motivation, and I could make videos to track my progress. My aim was to be able to hold conversations in Portuguese at the end of my three month mission. My previous article outlines all of my goals for this mission. In short, I wanted to reach B1 level using almost exclusively speaking and listening resources, with virtually no reading or writing. I did some research to find some promising-looking resources, and then I dove in.

The First Few Days of My “Portuguese in 3 Months” Mission

First stop on my mission: a subscription to PortuguesePod101 from Innovative Language. PortuguesePod101 teaches Brazilian Portuguese, and up until this point, I had only ever studied European Portuguese. But I’ve successfully navigated a range of dialects and accents in English, French, and to a lesser extent, Thai, so this didn’t worry me. Besides, I was really interested in getting to know both major Portuguese dialects equally well. I didn’t see any harm in starting out by splitting my time between both. I blasted through thirty lessons of PortuguesePod101 in my first week, listening to them on my daily walks. I started with some Absolute Beginner lessons, but was pleasantly surprised to find them a little bit on the easy side, so I moved on to Lower Beginner and Beginner lessons instead. They were perfect for my level, and enjoyable too. On top of that, I listened to the following:

NHK World Radio Japão - A fifteen-minute daily news podcast in Portuguese covering stories from Japan and around the world. I listened very actively, but admit that I struggled to understand any of the headlines.

Got Talent Portugal - The classic British talent show whose format has been exported to dozens of countries around the world. I enjoyed the judges’ personalities and would return to this TV show again and again throughout my mission.

Agua de Mar, a telenovela from Portugal. I got through thirty minutes and had to call it quits because the cheesiness distracted me from active listening. I put this show in the throwaway pile.

Music: After some research, I found the Portuguese band Quinta do Bill (“Bill’s Farm”). They’re a Celtic-Alternative Rock band. I love Celtic-influenced music, so what could be better?

I didn’t manage to get on italki in my first week to practise Portuguese conversation. Not a very good start! But I did get onto Duolingo, and instead of typing the Portuguese translations, I switched my phone’s language to Portuguese and dictated the answers. It was a great way to practise my pronunciation; after all, if the computer could understand me, a teacher certainly would. Despite not speaking with a real person, I was still fairly happy with my first week of Portuguese. I did a few exercises every day, and I feel that they really improved my listening comprehension. For speaking practice, I planned to (figuratively) kick myself in the ass the following week. How did things go after that? Stay tuned for my one-month Portuguese mission update and video, coming soon! Questions or comments on my Portuguese mission? Ask away! I’ll check the comments and reply regularly.

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