Category Archives: Brazil

Combining Spanish and Portuguese with Political Science

Everyone says, “be expected to change your major a bunch of times in college.” However, in my case, I kept on adding majors until I ended up with three: Spanish, Portuguese, and Political Science. I have strong personal connections to all three of these majors and did not want to choose between them, as a result, I have to explore ways in which they can be combined to meet a common academic and career objective.

Continue reading →

If you’re Brazilian, why aren’t you a Portuguese Major?

Leave a reply

I would get this question a lot every time I told someone I was a Spanish major but that my mother country is Brazil. At first, I did not know the answer to that question myself.

Here’s a little back story about myself that I believe is essential to my journey at UMass. I was born in the metropolitan city of São Paulo, Brazil, and is where most my family currently lives. When I was five years old, my dad got offered a job as the manager for a company plant, however, this would be a long-term position in China. Yes, China! My mom sacrificed her musical career in Brazil because she knew living in China would ultimately bring us to the U.S. at some point in the future, which would give me a better education than in Brazil (she’s my ultimate role model). So we packed our bags and moved across the world to a country I had zero connection to. Little did I know that I would be spending 11 years of my life abroad. While living China, I attended a British international school and this is where I learned fluent English and (not-so-fluent) Mandarin. As I got older, I was given the opportunity to learn Spanish, which I quickly picked up and loved to learn. Because my school was so small, they did not offer Portuguese classes, so my parents decided to speak to me in Portuguese at home so that I would not lose my mother tongue. And I am so grateful that they did because now I speak 4 of the most spoken languages in the world, which means I can converse with 4 different groups of people around the world. When I got to high school, I decided to drop Chinese and focus on Spanish instead. This is one of my major regrets in life because now that I’m in college I do not have time to take it up again and I wish that I could speak more than just the basics of conversational Mandarin. I have met so many Chinese speakers here at UMass that I hear Chinese being spoken all around me: in the dining halls, in the library, in the dorms, and it makes me long for the beautiful language and culture I once knew so well. I have learned from my unwise decision, which is why I am so determined to continue Spanish and to become fluent in it. Continue reading →

Studying Portuguese as a Brazilian-American at UMass

Leave a reply

When I first came to UMass, I was worried that I would not find the right major and regret my choice after four years. After many advising meetings, I decided to pursue and public health and Spanish double major. We have all been told that being fluent in another language would benefit us in our future so majoring in Spanish made sense. However, I am also fluent in Portuguese and was raised by parents who immigrated to the United States from Brazil. My feelings towards my family heritage have always been something that I have struggled with. When I was younger I did not appreciate the language barrier and felt different from all of my American friends. I was also constantly deterred from speaking in Portuguese with my Brazilian friends because people would wrongfully assume that we were talking poorly about them. After growing up in a diverse town, I moved to a majority-white small town for high school. There I was confronted head-on of how different I felt around people who grew up privileged and followed a culture that seemed so unfamiliar to me. Although I was raised in the United States, my home is everything but “American.” I only began to truly value my heritage once I realized that although I was a minority, my culture was what led me to become the person I am today and was grateful that I did not stray from the culture despite several societal attempts to deter me from my familial customs. Continue reading →

How to Know What Country to Pick

Leave a reply

Picking what country I would spend about 6 months in was one of the hardest decisions I have had to make. Why? Because of course you never know if you will have another opportunity to go to this country or spend that much time there. One thing I will advise you to do is make a list of goals first, then make a list of places where you think you can achieve these goals best. You have to realize what do you want to take out of this experience. For one if it’s to actually learn the language ensure yourself that you will be somewhere that many people don’t choose for study abroad. The reason being that you will be with many other students who potentially speak English. If that does occur odds are that you will be speaking more English, you may not challenge yourself as much to go out and find locals and make these great connections with new people. Remember that making these connections is key. That’s how you learn about the culture, feel what it’s like to be a local and essential learn things about yourself that you have never known before. Personally, I would do study abroad alone and somewhere not many people I know have chosen to go. That’s exactly what I did. I chose Florianopolis, Brazil. It was honestly one of the best decisions of my life and the happiest life-changing experience ever. Continue reading →

Following your dreams and avoiding anxiety

Leave a reply

Since I was a little girl I have always loved to travel, the excitement of a new place and new culture always excited me. I have always had a connection with my culture and passion for the language of Portuguese. I realized this at a very young age. Till this day I remember looking at my dad while we were watching Brazilian novellas and telling him that with or without him I was going to end up in Brazil at some point in my life. Even though I didn’t speak it well, I always tried. It is honestly an unexplainable feeling because I didn’t know why I was so interested, but simply being able to communicate with other people in a different language and create a bond, made me feel as if I was a part of another group. For example, the point of realization for me was when I went to the director of the Portuguese department Luis Amaral, to speak about taking another Portuguese class since the class I was in was too easy. After the conversation with him, I felt relieved and excited to see where this would take me. The following semester I took two Portuguese classes, a morphology course and junior year writing course in Portuguese, where we learned more about the culture. Never in my life did I enjoy a class as much as I did these, not only did I have an interest, but I was more invested and motivated to do my work. I was also able to relate what I was learning back to my own culture and present a project on the similarities and differences. It was simply fascinating to me to realize how similar they are. Continue reading →