Nome: Sjed Cornelissen

Idade: 24 anos

País de origem: Holanda

Tempo de estudo de português: 1 dia

Narrativa coletada por Fernanda Sousa Carvalho em 11 de outubro de 2005

Sjed Cornelissen. I came here about a week for doing [...]ship at UFMG. And I am doing it at the department of Chemistry and ... so... in order to speak with the people there I’m studying Portuguese also, and I’m also interested, of course, in... to learn Portuguese. That was also one of the reasons to come to Brazil, because then I can speak another language or try to learn another language.

- And before this first class have you studied it by yourself?

No, no. But I was... last year I was also in Brazil, so I’ve picked up someone words, but not really a lot. And I want to improve it now.

- And you did it by talking to people...

Yes,  we were with a friend of mine who did this []ship here and I’ve traveled the land with some friends and ... so most of the time we didn’t speak Portuguese, but ... sometimes we would ask him how do you say this, and sometimes we spoke to people, but people spoke all English, very ... the communication was not really good

- So do you intend to go on learning Portuguese even after you go back home?

Yes, if I speak it ... if I have the feeling that I’ve really improved my Portuguese a lot here. And I would like to come [Rio], but I think if I have the impression that it ... here... I still don’t speak Portuguese when I go home then I think I don’t know if I will keep on ...