5 ms·

From his examples I wonder if these apps are good for grammar too, given that the two Portuguese sentences he writes have wrong grammar and/or declination. 1)

From his examples I wonder if these apps are good for grammar too, given that the two Portuguese sentences he writes have wrong grammar and/or declination. 1) Mulheres bonitas sao muito motivado. Literally "Beautiful women are very motivated", though the correct one (for gender and number) should be "Mulheres bonitas são muito motivadAS". Not sure what sense this makes though, I guess he wanted to say beautiful women were a good motivation (for him to learn Portuguese), "Mulheres bonitas são boa motivação". 2) (NSFW) Sua rabos e bonita should better be "seu rabo é bonito", i.e. (literal translation) "your a__ is nice". Wrong gender in "your" and "nice" and wrong number in a.

yummyfajitas 12y ago
Thanks. I did those from memory, still learning. Never claimed anki will make you perfect instantly.
- merraksh 12y ago
  Makes sense, it's probably easier and more fun to learn some vocabulary than correct grammar. I moved to an English speaking country (from Italy) eight years ago and still confuse "his" and "her" sometimes.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
- ricardobeat 12y ago
  Is that really on Duolingo? The wording "seu rabo é bonito" would be considered hugely gross regardless of context or location.
  - yummyfajitas 12y ago
    I thought I was clear about that in the post - I put stuff like that one into Anki because DuoLingo won't remind me of it - but reading it again it seems unclear. Anyway you are correct - that's not in DuoLingo. I learned that from a different source who does not consider it "hugely gross" (at least when I say it).
  - JetSpiegel 12y ago
    I think it makes you look like a prude or a child more than gross. There are widely used slang in both european and brazilian variants if you want to make those kinds of remarks. Not to mention all the african variants I'm not really familiar with.
    - ralmeida 12y ago
      As a Brazilian, I agree with ricardobeat. I don't think I ever saw a situation where saying 'rabo' as a slang for ass would be considered even slightly prudish or childish, but always at the very least explicit. The african variations for 'ass' are much more tame (used on TV broadcasts, for example).
      - JetSpiegel 12y ago
        As a portuguese, that's how it's used here. A sanitized version of slang.
        ralmeida 12y ago
        Oh, I didn't know that. Well, that's a good reminder that pt and pt-BR have several vocabulary differences. A few more I can remember would be the words "bicha" (pt: queue, pt-BR: male homossexual) and "durex" (pt: condom, pt-BR: a kind of adhesive tape).
        JetSpiegel 12y ago
        "bicha" has already picked up your meaning here in the last years. Endless source of crappy jokes anytime someone says they waited somewhere. :|
        swah 12y ago
        Our non-offensive words for that are bunda and bumbum. The latter is more common w/ children, but I suppose foreigners would also like the sound.
jmillikin 12y ago
I find SRS useful for grammar, using a fill-in-the-blank card. The user types in a template with the blanks marked: T: {{c1::Mulheres bonitas::Beautiful women}} são {{c2::boa motivação::good motivation}}. Then it will generate one flashcard per template blank: Q: Mulheres bonitas são [good motivation]. Q: [Beautiful women] são boa motivação. The larger the blank, the more grammar the user has to come up with to synthesize the correct answer. Anki has built-in support for this through something it calls a "cloze card", though I've found its implementation insufficient for languages with grammatical changes spread through the sentence.
muxxa 12y ago
He's going about it the right way. Always learn vocabulary first, grammar after. Without the words you cannot communicate at all. Without the grammar you will be able to engage with a native speaker enough for them to correct you as soon as they get your meaning. Duolingo rightly postpones the grammar til later lessons and takes the right approach.
psychometry 12y ago
I don't think there are many children on HN. You can say "ass" and no one will bet upset.

yummyfajitas 12y ago

Thanks. I did those from memory, still learning. Never claimed anki will make you perfect instantly.

merraksh 12y ago
Makes sense, it's probably easier and more fun to learn some vocabulary than correct grammar. I moved to an English speaking country (from Italy) eight years ago and still confuse "his" and "her" sometimes.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
ricardobeat 12y ago
Is that really on Duolingo? The wording "seu rabo é bonito" would be considered hugely gross regardless of context or location.
- yummyfajitas 12y ago
  I thought I was clear about that in the post - I put stuff like that one into Anki because DuoLingo won't remind me of it - but reading it again it seems unclear. Anyway you are correct - that's not in DuoLingo. I learned that from a different source who does not consider it "hugely gross" (at least when I say it).
- JetSpiegel 12y ago
  I think it makes you look like a prude or a child more than gross. There are widely used slang in both european and brazilian variants if you want to make those kinds of remarks. Not to mention all the african variants I'm not really familiar with.
  - ralmeida 12y ago
    As a Brazilian, I agree with ricardobeat. I don't think I ever saw a situation where saying 'rabo' as a slang for ass would be considered even slightly prudish or childish, but always at the very least explicit. The african variations for 'ass' are much more tame (used on TV broadcasts, for example).
    - JetSpiegel 12y ago
      As a portuguese, that's how it's used here. A sanitized version of slang.
      - ralmeida 12y ago
        Oh, I didn't know that. Well, that's a good reminder that pt and pt-BR have several vocabulary differences. A few more I can remember would be the words "bicha" (pt: queue, pt-BR: male homossexual) and "durex" (pt: condom, pt-BR: a kind of adhesive tape).
        JetSpiegel 12y ago
        "bicha" has already picked up your meaning here in the last years. Endless source of crappy jokes anytime someone says they waited somewhere. :|
      - swah 12y ago
        Our non-offensive words for that are bunda and bumbum. The latter is more common w/ children, but I suppose foreigners would also like the sound.

jmillikin 12y ago

I find SRS useful for grammar, using a fill-in-the-blank card. The user types in a template with the blanks marked: T: {{c1::Mulheres bonitas::Beautiful women}} são {{c2::boa motivação::good motivation}}. Then it will generate one flashcard per template blank: Q: Mulheres bonitas são [good motivation]. Q: [Beautiful women] são boa motivação. The larger the blank, the more grammar the user has to come up with to synthesize the correct answer. Anki has built-in support for this through something it calls a "cloze card", though I've found its implementation insufficient for languages with grammatical changes spread through the sentence.

muxxa 12y ago

He's going about it the right way. Always learn vocabulary first, grammar after. Without the words you cannot communicate at all. Without the grammar you will be able to engage with a native speaker enough for them to correct you as soon as they get your meaning. Duolingo rightly postpones the grammar til later lessons and takes the right approach.

psychometry 12y ago

I don't think there are many children on HN. You can say "ass" and no one will bet upset.