"Você consegue ver o seu próximo passo?" "Sim!" "Então, dê esse passo!"
"Can you see your next step?" "Yes!" "Then, just take it."
The Horse, The Boy, The Fox And The Mole.
Welcome!
I am Armando, born on a chilly morning many (not that many) years ago in a small town in northeastern Brazil. I've been helping people improve their Brazilian Portuguese for 13 years as a part-time teacher, focusing mostly on comprehensible input and immersion.
What this blog is about
This entire blog was created as a supporting learning tool for my students and for people who are interested in learning Brazilian Portuguese. There are many things I would like to teach them, but normally we do not have time in our lessons, so this blog was created as a space for self-study.
What this blog isn’t about
This blog is not a step by step guide to learn Brazilian Portuguese, although you can learn a lot of common expressions that will improve your comprehension and understanding, especially your listening skills.
What I am doing
Currently, I am learning German (Ich spreche noch kein Deutsch, though) and improving my English.
I’ve learned a lot through projects like Tatoeba.org, and I like giving back, you can check out my contributions to the Tatoeba project.
I am also a volunteer translator for the non-profit organization Translators Without Borders (TWB), which provides free translation and language services to support humanitarian and non-governmental organizations around the world.
Fun facts about me
My name, Armando, is the gerund form of a verb (armar → to arm). It literally means arming or scheming. When I was little, people used to come up to me and say, “Armando, o que você está armando? → Armando, what are you scheming?” (very funny 🙄).
I was born and raised in a rural area, and because of that I really like natural, calm, and peaceful places. As a family, we produce about 80% of our own organic food.
Before moving back to my hometown to help run the family business (a small farm), I worked as a technical translator in the IT industry (my “real” job).
A few warnings
To finish things up, I just want to say that I do not use social media, so anyone who contacts you claiming to be me is not.
Apart from that, the only way to book a private lesson with me is through Preply. I do not use any other platforms to teach.
At the moment, I only teach a fixed number of students, and I am not accepting new ones. From time to time, some spots open up, and I invite people from the waiting list.
I never claimed that comprehensible input and immersion are the magic powder that will solve all of people’s problems with language learning. I simply follow what I have learned from being in the polyglot community for a fair amount of time and from having applied the same methods to learn English, Italian, and German. I also owe a great deal to polyglots like Steve Kaufmann, Luca Lampariello, and Mairo Vergara. I didn’t invent the techniques that I teach and use; they were always in the polyglot community.
Like I said in Learning a New Language - An Overview, any method will work if you have the discipline and the mettle to do what is needed when it is needed, but using the wrong method will increase the time frame.
That said… Enjoy the ride!