5 Reasons Portuguese is the Perfect Summer Language

by Erica Wendal

1. Everybody else is already taking Spanish

You’ve heard how Spanish and Portuguese are distant cousins right? Well, it can be argued that Portuguese is the more difficult of the two. So leave the child’s play to all your other friends trying to brush up on the 2 years of Spanish they had in high school and saddle up for a more challenging (and rewarding) language. You’ll impress the room at parties and every Brazilian you meet will be so grateful that you’re not trying to communicate with them in Spanish!

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How to Rock Learning a Foreign Language

by Megan Heise

After checking out the Brazilian Film Festival at Central Park’s Summerstage this past weekend, I’m pretty convinced that foreign-language films and music are one of the most fun – and efficient – ways to learn a new language.

First of all, film and music are just plain enjoyable. Who doesn’t want to dance to the Afro-Brazilian beats of boTECOeletro’s DJ set? And the film itself, Raul: O início, o fim e o meio, was an entertaining, if at times somber, glimpse into the life of the late, great, Brazilian rock god, Raul Seixas.

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‘The Girl from Ipanema’ Turns 50 in 2012!

“The Girl from Ipanema” is the second most played song after “Yesterday” (The Beatles). Composed by two celebrated Brazilian artists, Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, and launched in 1962 in a bar in Copacabana – Rio de Janeiro, “Garota de Ipanema” has more than 500 official versions and has been translated into most languages, including Estonian, Esperanto and Finnish. See how much of this Portuguese article about “The Girl from Ipanema” you can translate and understand!