WooHoo! I am doing a happy dance. I have just had a complex conversation (perhaps a slight hyperbole) in Portuguese on the phone with an extremely patient and kind lady from the doctor’s office. The purpose of her call was to schedule a follow-up appointment with the doctor to discuss the results from blood work, X-rays, and a cardiogram. I had told them on previous occasions that my ‘resulatos‘ were available after the 1st July. I thought they understood. This is the third, maybe fourth, call over the last few weeks to schedule, so obviously not. She listened. Corrected my resultos to resultados. I listened. thanked her. Begged her to speak slowly. Falar devagar, por favor. Told her Eu nao tenho resultados depois quinta-feira, tres Jui.. She kindly corrected me to Julho. I thanked her again. Finally, we agreed marcar dez horas, segunda-feira, sete, Julho … I hope.
Where we live, my interaction with native Portuguese on a day-to-day basis is limited as more and more Indians, Nepalese, and other nationalities are now working in restaurants and in some of the local supermarkets. Even Portuguese workers, who are accustomed to speaking with foreigners, listen to our questions in Portuguese and reply in English. Sigh!
Anyways, over the last week, I have been studying this YouTube language video, writing down the vocabulary and listening to the way the words are pronounced. This is one of the few occasions I have felt the effort has really paid off and enabled me to have a joined-up conversation. YaY! Doesn’t it feel great when your efforts are rewarded?
Finers and toes crossed, I arrive on the 7th, and I have actually booked an appointment!
Piglet in Portugal 
Way to go, Carole! Now fingers crossed for good results.
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Well done, you! You must feel very proud of yourself, Carole. My husband was born in Italy and came to Australia at 4 years old. His mother learned English but mostly spoke to Mike in Italian. I tried to learn and did get to a point of basic communication. I found that I could read and write the language but I was self-conscious speaking it because of my ‘Aussie’ accent. On our travels to Italy, it was great being immersed in the language but I’ve never mastered it. Perhaps it is time to revisit. Thank you for the inspiration. Sue L xx
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Hi Sue, I LOVE the Italian language. I went to an Italian convent school and learning Italian was compulsory. Now I wished I had attended more of the lessons. It must be lovely to have italian relatives. They always seem very family o orientated. I’d love to go Italy on holiday.
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Yay is right! Quite a challenge, but it sounds as though you are making progress. Onward, ho!
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Slowly Laurie, a snail would learn far more quickly.
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Woohoo! Carole!! Congrats to you! I’m still struggling with Spanish but was excited to learn recently, that our park manager in Texas has started in-person Spanish lessons 😊
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Thanks, Terry. I wondered how you were getting along with Spanish. My sister lives in Spain and she still finds it hard but
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Well done, Carole. I know how unnerving it is over the phone, and avoid similar interactions whenever I can, but it does feel great if you can make yourself understood, and reply xx
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Hi Jo, it is unnerving over the phone especially as the Portuguese lady at the open MRI centre kept putting the phone down on me and destroyed any confidence I had.
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Congratulations, Carole! This is fabulous progress. Learning a new language is challenging, exciting, takes great persistence and is fabulous for our brains. Well done!
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Hi Donna, learning anything new at 70 is a challenge. My brain is not as receptive as it once was and as I learn one new word another disappears from the memory shelf.
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