Brazil
Safety, Comfort, and Easy Ticket Booking on Brazilian Long-Distance Buses
You might not be used to long-distance bus travel. But in Brazil, buses are an important and useful way to travel the country. And for a land with plenty of inconveniences for travellers, the intercity buses are generally surprisingly comfortable and pleasant. We’ll show you how to avoid the few pitfalls to Brazilian bus adventures, …
Why Portuguese is the Best Language for Music
Is it random luck that so many of the world’s great songs are in Portuguese, or does the language itself have something to do with it?
What to Pack for Brazil: The Minimalist’s Checklist for Smoother Travel
We’ve been taking long trips around Brazil for years, and boy, the dumb things we’ve seen our fellow gringos carrying. I suppose it’s hard to know what to pack for Brazil, but heavy clothes, wheeled oversize plastic suitcases, fancy watches — these are all asking for trouble in various ways. The ideal packing checklist for …
Brazilian vs. European Portuguese: Key Differences to Learn in Grammar and Vocabulary
I’ve been speaking Brazilian Portuguese regularly for more than a decade, but have recently been spending more time in Lisbon and so I’ve had to make some adaptations for the European version of the language. So this will be my thorough guide to the differences to note between the two varieties; it’s especially intended for …
For Gringões: 20 Minutes to Feigning Fluent Brazilian Portuguese
As part of the our Fluent in 20 Minutes, this post provides EVERYTHING you need to participate in conversations with Brazilians, whether or not you have any idea what anyone is saying. Why learn (a bit of) Portuguese? Well, there’s good evidence that this language has the best music, and then there are other aspects of Brazilians …
Brazilians even have their own finger snap
The Brazilian finger snap is just one of the countless gestures integral to communication in Brazil, and never taught in any Portuguese class. The estalo brasileiro, or Brazilian snap, is used to indicate speed; sometimes it’s used to (rather rudely) tell someone to pick up the pace. On a drunken night on a break from …
The 25 Most Important Gestures in Brazilian Portuguese
You can’t speak Portuguese without moving your hands. And, as you might expect from a people with their own style of kissing, Brazilians have a grand repertoire of unique gestures. Among them: “big fat liar”, “this person’s quality stuff”, and “in the hood”.
The Most Annoying & Useless Shit Brazilians Say
I just got back from my sixth extended stay in my beloved Brazil, and this time I kept careful notes on the most annoying phrases one hears in this lush, goofy land of samba rock, beaches, and murder. Does listing such uniquely Brazilian language misuse serve any purpose? Probably not, other than to help me …
F.A.Q. on Brazilian Bus Travel
I’d like to put my years of Brazilian bus travel to use and answer a few of the most common questions we get from travellers. I’m also including perspectives here from other travellers with extensive experience in Brazil, including some female travellers who were kind enough to lend their take. 1. How safe are Brazilian …