Olá a todos! (Hi everybody!) This is our 2nd lesson and we will learn now some different sounds! If you didn't see lesson 1, I advice you to go and search for the letter H. As you saw in the video, H has no sound when it is alone, but if you add other letters, the H can change the sound! For example, in english, had (you don't read the H), but in Shade, you change! There are three different sounds concerning H in portuguese that you might be confronted with: NH, LH and CH. Let's start by the easiest one: CH. This sound can be read equally as you read in China. I will have to use 2 auxiliary languages to explain you the next 2 sounds... We will use Spanish to explain LH and French to explain NH. So in the spanish word "llamar" (call) you just need to make use of your tongue. Watch the video I found on youtube, it should help you! Last, but not the least, the sound NH can be pronounced using the french word Bretagne (Britain) or montagne (mountain). Unfortunately, I didn't find any video for this sound...
Moving on, I will tell you now about a special letter called "C de Cedilha" and it is written like a normal C but with a little thing on it - Ç . This Ç appears in middle of words and its sound is just "S". For example, writing South our Çouth has exactly the same sound! However, the letter never appears in the begining of words! Look in exercises some examples =)
Another important thing I would like to teach you from now, the "problems" with the letters C and Q. The pronounciation of C+vowel gets different when we use E and I vowels... let's see:
CA -you read normally like in word camelo (camel)
CE - you read it in word Macedónia (Macedonia)
CI - you read it in word Cinderela (Cinderella)
CO - you read it in word Córsega (Corse)
CU - you read it in word culpado (guilty/culprit) (be careful, cu means ass in english)
As you see, CE and CI are not following the rule... so we have a special letter for that: Q! I learned this letter in school like this: Q is a very famous popstar and the U is its bodyguard. The role of the bodyguard is to keep fans called A, E, I and O far from the star! So in EVERY word you will never see a QE or QO! However, the body guard just works in the right side of the Q. So, let's see some examples:
QUA- you read it in the word Koala (in portuguese, we say Koala with K, i just wanted you to have the sound)
QUE- here you follow the rule before, so you can read it in the word Kevin (in portuguese, we say Kevin too, just pay attention to the sound)
QUI- here you also follow the rule before, read it like in the word Kilimandjaro ( another foreign word we adopted, pay attention to the KI sound)
QUO- you read it like in the word quota (like in enlish word quote)
It wouldn't make any sense to have a QUU sound so we don't have it. In the next lesson we will see another popstar, G!
There is also another problem, this time with letter R. This is the most difficult sound to be made by an english person, I have experienced some problems with it so I will be searching for a video with this sound... You have 3 types of R, let's see with examples:
In the begining - Rússia ( Russia)
In the middle just one R - partir (it means break and the sound is same as in word car)
In the middle with two RR- this is the most difficult sound, you read it exactly like if the R was in the begining of the word. Example: carro (means car)
Note: Don't make confusion between the word carro and caro, carro means car and caro means cheap.
The story with letter S is similar to the R story: you have a different sound when you mix 2 S's. Let's see with examples:
In the begining: Sérvia (it means Serbia and the sound is the same)
In the middle just one S between vowels: Jesus (the sound is similar if you say Jezuz, so, in this case you can say S=Z)
In the middle just one S between vowel and consonnant: Nova Jérsia ( it means New Jersey and the sound becomes S again like if was in beginning)
In the middle 2 S's: passar (it means pass, sound is equal either in portuguese either in english)
In the end one S: uvas (it means grapes, when portuguese read it, the sound become a bit "uvash")
Note: there are more exceptions than rules in portuguese, for example, word assassino(murderer) is not wrong spelled, it is an exception.
Now we will talk about accents. In portuguese you have 4 differents accents that are always put in vowels. The accents tell you where you should emphasis a certain part of the word. Have this in mind: all vowels with accents must be read with open mouth (if you find an "á" you read it always like in word stAr). Let's see the different accents:
"`"- acento grave. This accent is very rare, it only appears in contractions (contractions are made by prepositions).
"´"- acento agudo. This accent makes the vowel opened. For example, ásk=ask, héll=hell, híll=hill, Ótaumn= Automn, últra= ultra
"~"- til. This is a till, it always appears in diphthongs. Its role is to read the word using the nose, so basically you have nasal sounds. For example, the english word "until" could be written like this: ãntil.
"^"- circumflex. The circumflex makes the opposite role, it makes the sound close. For example, êxpénse= expense, rôbót= robot. Note that circumflex doesn't exist for vowel U, I and recently for letter O too.
Before ending we have another special letter that deserves some special attention: the X. The X has 4 different sounds, there are no rules to know which sound you should choose, but let's see the different sounds with some words:
X read like CS- There are words like: táxi/taxi , sexo/ sex... This X is read the way you say it on english alphabet: écs.
X read like CH- We say xadrez for chess, chá for tea, chover for rain. This X is read the way you say it on portuguese alphabet: xís
X read like Z- The english words exam, example are almost the perfect sound. In portuguese is exemplo, exame (read like ezemplo, ezame)
X read like SS- The word próximo (next/close) or the word máximo (maximum) can be said like próssimo and mássimo)
Well I hope you have learned many things about piers of portuguese language, I don't like this part too much, but trust me, it will help you a lot, specially in reading and pronounciation! Because practice makes perfection, let's do some exercises! Remember that exercises gives you a lot of vocabulary and expressions, including the practice of new things you learn=D
Exercise 1- After discovering the "complex sound", try to read twice each word! If you have any doubt, contact me!
massa(spaghetti), correr(run), casa(home/house), bacalhau(codfish), almoço(lunch), dinheiro(money), chave(key), Marte(Mars), baixo(short), árvore(tree), lê(imperative of read), assassinar(murder), arco-íris(rainbow), intermédio(intermediate), calças(pants), excesso(excess), burro(donkey), ilha(island), ninho(nest), macho(male), fêmea(female), olá(hello), exercício(exercise), asas(wings), queijo(cheese), Quioto(Kyoto), Copenhaga(Copenhagen), França(France), Espanha(Spain), reino(kingdom), maléfico(diabolic), cachecol(scarf), peixe(fish), Reiquejavique(Reykjavik), Alemanha(Germany), Índia(India), Lituânia(Lithuania), Pólo Sul(South Pole), olhos(eyes), queixo(chin), música(music), mãos(hands), pés(feet), orelha(ear), braços(arms), lábio(lips), coração(heart), cansado(tired).
See you in next lesson! =D
Video LH sound - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7nBvBqN5I4
Oceń
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About this contribution
| Do nauki |
 Portugalski |
| Język podstawowy |
 Angielski |
| Tagi |
|
| Widoki | 880 |