Nome: Sarah

Idade: 22 anos

País de origem: Alemanha

Tempo de aprendizagem de português: 3 meses

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

My name is Sarah and I am coming from Germany. I’ve been learning Portuguese for 3 months and I started to learn Portuguese when I decided to go to Brazil. And I found a Brazilian student at my university who could teach me a little Portuguese and I was teaching him German in return. So ... but I just had some little classes so when I arrived like I could not speak a lot just some very very basic stuff. And when I arrived here I found a república to live [in] and I think that the most Portuguese that I learned here was in this república because they talked to me a lot in Portuguese. And then I started to do the classes here and at first it was really difficult to get this course organized because we arrived late... the school in Germany finishes late and so all the courses here had already started and we had to go like four times, five times to the international office just to get the course organized and that was just a little frustrating because I think it is really important to know at least the basic and so I think it’s important that the university can provide this ... Yeah, now I’m doing this course and I’m also [singing in my course] and that helps a lot because I hear all the time and people are very willing to explain me. Something else?

- Yes, you said that you had started learning Portuguese in Germany before you came to Brazil. And how do you feel is that different?

I did not do a professional course in Germany, it was just one student so it was not at all having class, it was just studying together, and talking, and learning like the basic words, so it’s not really ...it’s not really ... I cannot really compare both but it was very nice that I could learn with the Brazilian because I think that is really important for the pronunciation.

- And here ... what do you do for improving your Portuguese?

I go to the classes, I watch TV, I try to talk a lot, I’m now ... I’m more the person who learn the language by talking, by listening to people, I don’t really like so much doing exercises, learning a lot of grammar. I’m more the person who try to talk and maybe in the beginning I will not understand but I think practice is the most important thing so even if I have person who can speak English to me ... with me ... I try to speak Portuguese so that’s like the biggest contribution for learning Portuguese.

- Do you intend to go on studying Portuguese even after you go back to ...

I think so because ... it’s possible because we have an exchange program between the two universities so every year also Brazilians come to Germany and that makes it possible to continue as like ... as I started I think I would just ask a student to practiced with me and I think that’s also one reason why I really want to learn Portuguese because it’s not just for being here but also when I go back.