tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32405957.post5033807805339507075..comments2023-10-24T10:53:18.732-05:00Comments on Blogging in Bogotá: A designer's journal.: Learn English!Carolina Ayerbehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03446927157890630938noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32405957.post-75812058692754586142007-11-09T15:34:00.000-05:002007-11-09T15:34:00.000-05:00Thank you so much, George! Great comment. I had th...Thank you so much, George! Great comment. I had the opportunity once to be in Brazil for a few months. I did pick up some portuguese, but overall, I wasn't very good at it. Though I could pretty much understand what they said, it was virtually impossible for me to utter a full sentence. All I could say was "Uma picanha grellada, mais uma Coka, por favor". And "Obrigada". Hahaha. Looking forward to your comments in spanish, Carolina.Carolina Ayerbehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03446927157890630938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32405957.post-31937927605838631882007-11-09T10:40:00.000-05:002007-11-09T10:40:00.000-05:00Hi Carolina thank you for saying this. I have many...Hi Carolina thank you for saying this. I have many friends in Latin American countries (particularly Argentina and Brazil) and I keep telling them the same thing: learn English! I'm from Holland originally (left 15 years ago to live in New Zealand and now in Australia), we learn a lot of English in school because Holland is such a small country, however speaking English does open up the borders of the world. It's the difference between getting a job as a dishwasher or a cleaner (with bad English, regardless of whether one is a university professor in their home country) and getting a job that has real prospects in someone's chosen career field in an English speaking country. <BR/>My next challenge is to learn Spanish (which is real hard when you speak Portuguese whilst it's not your native language - all the time the two languages get mixed up because they are so similar), and I hope one day I will be able to post in Spanish to your blog :-)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32405957.post-43650077113397739022007-10-15T14:59:00.000-05:002007-10-15T14:59:00.000-05:00Thanks so much for taking the time to comment, Gra...Thanks so much for taking the time to comment, Graham! I will direct my english speaking acquaintances to visit your <A HREF="http://silly-signs.blogspot.com/" REL="nofollow">Silly Signs blog</A>. It is not only amusing, but a good way to learn english as well! All the best, Carolina. (PS: I've seen in travel shows that Cape Town is beautiful!)Carolina Ayerbehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03446927157890630938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32405957.post-402351782384634342007-10-14T02:12:00.000-05:002007-10-14T02:12:00.000-05:00Excellent post. I spent about 6 months in South Am...Excellent post. I spent about 6 months in South America over a period of two years, and could help myself with the basics after a while. I agree with the "sub-titles" it works well. I also obtained very basic childrens books. Eg "This is a cow" " Johnny goes to the shop" . I studied Latin for 6 years and that helps a lot with the general meaning of words. People speaking "Germanic" languages like Dutch, Flemmish, German and Afrikaans have an advantage in the pronunciation of the words and grammar set up.Grahamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04473110431282022279noreply@blogger.com