Learning Portuguese

I made out my grocery list in Portuguese. 

It helps that I eat pretty simply. And I didn’t have hummus on my list. I don’t know the Portuguese word for hummus. 

But eggs, fruit, vegetables, fish, salad and almond milk were there. 

I think I should get bonus points for realizing I had spelled fruit wrong. I put in the i as you would in English, but it’s actually “fruta.” I did a food lesson earlier in the day and was reminded of this. 

I started learning Portuguese more than a month ago using an app called Duolingo. Friends suggested it when I was in Mexico. It’s an immersive type learning. No verb conjugations or memorizing nouns and genders. 

For the most part, I like it. But I still find myself looking up the “rules,” so I can better learn the way I learned French. I need to know how to conjugate verbs. I’ve got some down, but others still don’t make sense in the app.

And why do they sometimes say “I drink water,” and the next time you need the word there to indicate “some” water, but they still say just “I drink water”? That’s confusing. 

The app’s mascot is a little green owl called Duo. He will pop up every now and then to offer encouragement. “Five in a row! Way to go!”

My best interaction with him is when I first started. I did the first lesson and he told me I was 10% fluent. I wasn’t 10% anything. But it was nice of him to say so. (Now that I think of it, I bet he says that to all the girls.)

You earn gems by completing tasks. When you make a mistake, you lose health. You earn health by choosing practice rounds or waiting 24 hours for a full recharge. Or you can buy gems for real money. Like any good game, they try to hook you. 

I get email reminders and pop ups on my phone to do Duolingo every day and keep up with my learning streak. I’m on Day 30. I don’t want to break my streak!

It’s good to do it every day, to reinforce it. I try to do it in the morning or at lunch. Anything later in the day usually is lost. 

On Instagram, I’m able to translate a little of the Portuguese I see. (I follow several Portuguese feeds and hashtags.) So I know I’m learning a little. Maybe by the time I get there, I’ll be able to have a little bit of a conversation with someone — if he or she speaks really slowly. 

Or at least I can write out my grocery list and spell everything correctly.