“Tudo bem?” I greeted everyone on a recent trip to Portugal with my husband. “All good?” I was asking, with a smile a mile wide. When I added hello, good morning, good afternoon, and good evening (in Portuguese), I was no longer an American tourist. I felt like a local!
The conversation continued (in Portuguese, of course).
“You speak Portuguese?” they asked incredulously.
Then, carefully and slowly, I answered in my new tongue, “Eu falo um pouco de português e também entendo um pouco.” I had been practicing that sentence for weeks with the help of the language apps Duolingo and Mango. Now, here I was, more than 3,000 miles away from home and actually communicating.
With great pride, I had said, “I speak a little Portuguese and, also, I understand a little.”
With the help of the apps and with stubborn determination, I decided to do exactly that – learn to speak and understand a little. After all, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. When in Lisbon and Porto, do as the Portuguese do. If that meant eating sardines and a hundred variations of codfish, so be it. If it meant savoring every morsel of the Pastéis de Nata (Portuguese egg custard tarts), count me in.
Most importantly, if it meant exercising my fossilized 70-year-old brain so that I could speak, understand, read, and write a few Portuguese words and expressions during our ten-day vacation, then sign me up.
Thus began my journey of Portuguese with a little ‘chutzpah’ (nerve)!
I knew there would be challenges along the way. What was the likelihood that I would be able to understand a foreign language? I need closed captions to watch TV in my native English! In addition, I imagined that most people in the hospitality industry speak English. Why torture them with my primitive Portuguese?
Nevertheless, I pursued my goals. I wanted to be a polite guest in a foreign country and not be pampered in English. I wanted to experience humility as I grappled with a new language, and then pride as I celebrated my accomplishments.
I boarded the plane with confidence, only to face my first setback. I could not understand one word the flight attendants said. They were speaking Portuguese, but it was Greek to me. To my old ears, they spoke very fast, and I listened slowly. My wordlist was limited to tourism: food, clothing, shopping, directions, the calendar and the weather, etc. The words “oxygen mask” and “emergency” were not welcome on this vacation.
The second setback was at the hotel check-in. I should have been content with the script – stating our names, the duration of our stay and where we were from. I would do well with translating our room number and asking for the key.
However, I was besotted with the need to have a conversation. I was compelled to tell the front desk receptionist how very beautiful the hotel was. Of course, she laughed because, in fact, I had told her how very beautiful she was.
Then, later in the trip, I had my third setback. When I asked for the bathroom, I got blank stares. I discovered that there are some differences in the Portuguese spoken in Portugal and Brazil. The language apps I had been using taught the Brazilian version, probably because there are more than 215 million Portuguese speakers in Brazil – about ten times the number in Portugal.
But I was not going to abandon my mission. At that moment, I channeled the advice of the children’s book, “The Little Engine that Could,” and told myself, “I think I can. I think I can.” Armed with some useful vocabulary, including verbs conjugated only in the present tense, I knew I would soon reap the rewards of hours of study.
I was right. Everyone we encountered could not have been nicer or more patient. A simple “Thank you” or “Excuse me” in Portuguese went a long way. Being an over-achiever, I also had mastered other expressions, such as “I am lost,” “Where’s the bakery?” “Please, can you help me?” and “No pork.”
Although the Uber drivers knew our destinations before we opened the car door, they didn’t mind when I repeated them in Portuguese. I continued the conversation in my limited Portuguese; they answered in English. It was the perfect match! By the time we had arrived at the museum or the restaurant, we knew each other’s life stories.
The most entertaining car ride was with a Moroccan Uber driver in Porto. After a few words in Portuguese, it occurred to me that his native language might be French or Arabic. Magically, my high school French cascaded out of my mouth. I asked him where his family lives and if the recent earthquake affected them. (They were fine!) We talked about the weather. Would we ever see the sun? Compared to the challenges of Portuguese, speaking French felt like visiting an old friend.
How I loved going to restaurants on our trip! Not only could I understand the menu, I could also speak with the server and order the food. Dessert is delicious in any language, but when it is called “sobremesa” it tastes even better. Emboldened with my Portuguese, I told the server, “Please, tell the chef the food is very tasty!”
Yes, emboldened, but also cautious. At the Santa Apolónia Station in Lisbon, I purchased train tickets to Porto. Departure time, senior discount rate, track number, etc. – so much pressure. I couldn’t afford to make a mistake. We might end up in Madrid on the wrong day.
After my little speech, I coyly looked at the ticket agent and confirmed everything in English. I had nailed it! So what if I counted on my fingers and it took me a few minutes instead of a few seconds! The agent became my biggest fan that day. I laughed all the way to Porto.
Museums were meccas for practice. Reading the object labels gave me a reprieve from the exhaustion of listening and speaking. Plus, I could cheat and read the English descriptions of the art and artists.
As I look back on my Portuguese language journey, I remember other journeys, also with chutzpah. Learning a new language or reviewing an old one was always a prerequisite for travelling. Of course, Google Translate is helpful, but I prefer really learning new words and sounds, and stringing them together like jewels on a necklace.
At my age, it was exhilarating to learn something new. Although my grammar was often incorrect, my pronunciation needed improvement, and my listening skills were sometimes disappointing, my intentions were noble. My attempts at conversation made everyone, including me, smile.
There are more than ten million Portuguese speakers in Portugal. For ten days, I had the “chutzpah” to believe I was one of them.
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