One of the things that I wanted to do while in Mozambique
was improve my Portuguese and also learn about how Mozambican Portuguese is
different from Brazilian Portuguese. Although I do have a lot of chances to
practice Portuguese, I never get beyond the day-to-day usage and practical
vocabulary and would like to learn more. Also, nobody ever corrects me when I
say something wrong. In addition, most of the local staff is really working on
learning English and thus try to speak with us in English whenever they can
even if I try and speak Portuguese.
This week I started at a language school called “Nova Escola
de Línguas” and have been going every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for 90
minutes after work. I’m taking private classes and so far the teacher has been
very good at pointing out some bad habits in pronunciation, when I’m using
Spanish and when my Portuguese is too Brazilian that Mozambicans won’t
understand. I have to write an essay before every class which he has corrected
for me when I get there. My current topic is giving advice to people who have
to live in a shared house with people who like to party 24/7 (not a
coincidence). This is because we are practicing making commands in Portuguese.
To me, Mozambican Portuguese feels like a mix between
Brazilian Portuguese and Portuguese from Portugal. In terms of pronunciation,
while Brazilians pronounce words like “tarde” and “noite” as “tar-gee” and “noy-chee”
Mozambicans say “tar-day” and “noy-te”. Regarding grammar, the forms to address
“you” differ a bit as Brazilians use “voce” universally and Mozambicans discriminate
between “tu” and “voce”. In addition, a Brazilian would say “estou fazendo” to
explain what he is doing at that moment and a Mozambican would say “estou a
fazer”. This has taken some getting used
to. There are also a surprising number of differences in vocabulary that has
caused some amusement. Hardly any of the Brazilian slang or explanations mean
anything here and there are some key changes in word choice. For example, to
ask where the bathroom is you don’t say “onde fica o banheiro” but “onde fica a
casa de banho”.
I’m finding it much more difficult to understand Mozambican
Portuguese because they speak faster and cut off the ends of their words and
vowels. Unlike Brazilians, they don’t speak with a drawn-out sing-song cadence
that makes it really easy to follow along. But in other places I’m lost
entirely as only about half of the population speaks Portuguese and within that
only 10% speak it as their first language. Most everyone speaks one of the many
indigenous languages, many of them with Bantu roots. As soon as I leave
environments like the office, a Rotary meeting or my language school and go to
the market, take a bus or walk past fruit and vegetable vendors on the corner,
I’m not hearing Portuguese but rather conversations in Tsonga, Chopi or
Makonde.
The things you pointed out sort of make me think that Mozambiquan portuguese is more like the Portuguese from Portugal. But i am wondering whether Brazilian Telenovelas have found their way into the living rooms of Mozambique Tv audience? this way, Brazilian Portuguese is widely understood in Portugal
Libby, you're absolutely right!! And that's what's saving me here - most everyone watches Brazilian soap operas so they way I speak isn't that strange at all and people can just roll with it. Good observation.
Hi Sarah, thanks for answering my comment ^^ as for Portugal: finally they have won their first title in history. Are Mozamicans on the Portugal side or don't they watch Europe Cup at all?
As for Portuguese language, whatever the oddities of dialect may be, still every existing variation of Portuguese is spoken somewhere. Unlike Arabic, where you have to get used to the fact that the Modern Standard Arabic is not a spoken language in the everyday life of ANY Arab country. Without dialect you are lost. The most accepted or widely understood one is the Egyptian, due to the movie industry (like Brazilian Portuguese in a way)
btw: Can you tell Tsonga, Chopi and Makonde apart just by hearing? *.* i think i at least wouldn't be able to ^^
Hey Libby! Those are good questions! Everybody here was rooting for Portugal and the game was definitely THE thing to do Sunday night and the main topic of conversation at work the next morning. And it's so true that regardless of Portuguese dialect we are all able to communicate unlike MSA for sure! I cannot tell the difference between the indigenous languages here and things get especially complicated when they mix it with Portuguese - sometimes it takes a minute to figure out what I'm actually listening to.
Oh ok, yes i can imagine how big the influence of those languages is on each other, creating "pidginization" :)
Hi great blog 😁