My Language Struggles in Brazil!

By Nancy Kasvosve

I cannot believe it but I am sadly at the tail end of my time in Brazil :(! .  Before this internship, I had never imagined I would ever come to Latin America. Brazil was one of those countries I grew up loving so much, because of my insane love for socce,r and had only gotten a taste of it through meeting Brazilians in college, including one of my closest buddies Bruno. When Bruno moved back home after college,  we never thought we would see each other again but look at us now!

Bruno( on the right), Vinicri and I on the town!

When I applied for this internship, I honestly  did not think I was going to get it. I knew I was a great candidate for it but the one thing I did not have was Portuguese. I was sure if someone else with language skills was as passionate about this position as I am I would lose it to them. Fast forward a few months later, I landed in Sao Paulo having bravely given up an offer to be in my old stomping grounds, Africa, for this novel experience in a new place . Armed with Duolingo and a “Learn Brazilian Portuguese”  audio book, I embarked on my 13 week journey in Brazil.

My first week on the job was already in the deep end of the language struggle. It was a field research week where my boss took me around Sao Paulo to conduct some market research through interviewing various stakeholders relevant to renal services in Brazil. It was a very enlightening week of meeting nephrologists, clinic administrators and patients and hearing their thoughts on how to improve the delivery of renal care in Brazil; it was all in Portuguese. My very first struggles were just trying to follow what was happening around me and trying to stay awake. My boss would be typing notes from the interviews in English in her laptop while I looked over her shoulder and tried to follow the conversation.   Even though I did not have language skills, my boss still had me at the interviews to observe and give a fresh perspective to the things that may not be in the discussion and I followed along trying to figure it what it is I should be looking out for.  By the time we got to our second week of interviews, I was armed with some vocabulary I had been amassing and a good sense of rapport with my boss for following information  such that I actually learnt a lot in the field. 

My social interactions have the more entertaining Portuguese struggles stories. 

My coworkers love to tell everyone the story of how a guy came to talk to me at a bar, and of course I masquerade as Brazilian through the first  3 sentences of exchange, with my flawless oi, tudo bem! His next words, " Voce muito Linda..."

 I replied "Não, meu nome é Nancy..."

My friend who had overheard the exchange was cackling in the background.  Turns out, Linda is one of the many Portuguese words that mean beautiful, but it is also a popular  name of a person where I come from. So while this guy was calling be beautiful, I thought he was saying my name is Linda, and I replied, no that’s not my name, is Nancy! Oops.

Then there is the story of my first date.

I am single, and an avid online dater and so are Brazilians with way more apps than I knew in the US. I guess in a city of 11 million people, you cannot have enough ways of meeting people. My first date  though, was a riveting experience. I had started texting with this one guy, in English, who within a few days asked me out to dinner. I complied and showed up on a Sunday evening at this restaurant in my neighborhood. To my dismay, my date did not speak one word of English in person! After my Portuguese vocabulary pretty much finished at tudo bem, and a handful of other phrases, I started thinking of ways of  escaping what was surely going to be a terrible date!  He sensed my unease and convinced  me to stay and it turned out to be a really sweet and “normal” date, that was conducted entirely on google translate. We chatted about normal date things, like our jobs, families and the things we like to do. He even had some good critical thoughts on healthcare in Brazil and he gave me a first glimpse into how normal people experience the massive government funded initiatives that hold up the  Brazil healthcare system.   We downed a couple of beers and laughed and spend two hours together,  all entirely on google translate.  The people sitting around us must have been thinking why these weirdos keep turn their phones to each other haha. Oh well do what you gotta do.

Then there was the time I went to my first Brazilian music party.
 

Friends on the dance floor and beyond

It came  in the form of an invitation to a country club from one of new friends,  Maiara.  She sent me  a few youtube clips to clarify she meant  Brazilian country music and I loved it! The music was very relatable and felt like salsa, except Brazilians dance to it a little different in a series of fascinating swinging moves they call  sertaneja! It made for a fun night of, a live band, caipirinhas and picking up the swing of  Brazilian girls! One thing though, except for my immediate group, noone else in that place spoke English, like I tried to chat people up to no avail. I then lost Maiara somewhere between the bathroom and the dance floor and I went into complete panic mode about my surroundings. A combination of the three caipirinhas I had enjoyed as well as not having heard one word of English in 5 hours, drove my brain into frenzy. Where was Maiara, what happened to her, what if something happened to me and I had no way of communicating it, and nobody understands me ? What if I get into a cab alone and I do not know how to communicate where my home ?  When Maiara reappeared 5 minutes later it felt like forever. The language struggle was more than real that night! 

Me and my work friends at my birthday lunch!

Over the summer I have however gotten to embrace my language struggle. Duolingo was actually a big help in filling up my vocabulary so much that I could understand what people are saying to me even if I cannot reply in full sentences. I became good at a few survival phrases, and my co-workers find in hilarious when I spit out my elementary Portuguese at random times of conversation. On the flip side, I have been a local celebrity at the office. Everyone wants to go to lunch and coffee  with me to practice their English and I am a landmark in the office for where stuff  is, ohh  my desk is two down  by the girl who does not speak any Portuguese. The biggest lesson from my language struggles have been patience, having some and appreciating that of others. Most Brazilians have been willing to help me understand things and I have had to learn to patiently learn and listen to them.  Most of all communications comes in many shapes and forms. I have gotten by with a buoyant personality,  a little Portuguese, a lot of sign language, a lot of reading body language and of course, thank God for technology, google translate cue my date! 

I cannot wait to invite myself to all the Brazilian events back at school to show off my new dancing moves and my Portuguese :)!