Moving to Portugal

[Flickerdart]

I was accepted into the Carnegie Mellon Human Computer Interaction program, and they have this thing where you can do half of your degree in Portugal, at Madeira University. All I know about Madeira is that it's a kind of wine, but also an island. So if anyone knows anything about that university's reputation, that would be handy.

Is the language hard to learn? Is health care free? What other things does the government foot the bill for? Will I succumb anticlimactically to some exotic local diseases, savage animals, or weird cuisine?

Also, I've realized that I don't actually know any stereotypes for Portuguese people, so please let me know of some and then dispel them immediately.

[nedz]

Portuguese is most similar to Spanish, but also quite different. It's also spoken in Brazil, which might be handy.

[kurokotetsu]

Is the language hard? Well, how good are you wiht languages and how much time are you going to give it? If you have a basis in romance languages (Spanish very good, Galician best, French no so good, Italian good) then there is a lot of similitude and probably can help you to learn it (if you can keep the vocabulary separated) by giving grammatical clues. If possible learn Portuguese from someone that is Portuguese,as Brazilian dialect has a very different accent (sometimes I've heard that Brazilian understand better other Latin American nationalities than Portuguese).

Also, for the zone I doubt there are any "exotic diseases", it's been a colony for half a century and is probably mostly Portuguese food (similar palette to Spanish food). That kind of programs usually have a medical insurance, but it is Europe, so state welfare is probably better than that of USA. Some medicines should be included. Not being a tax payer, I don't know how well covered you'll be, but the college should help you in case of need, but the government won't probably give you all of the benefits.

About the college itself, I know nothing about it.

[Gray Mage]

I was accepted into the Carnegie Mellon Human Computer Interaction program, and they have this thing where you can do half of your degree in Portugal, at Madeira University. All I know about Madeira is that it's a kind of wine, but also an island. So if anyone knows anything about that university's reputation, that would be handy.


It also means "wood" in portuguese.:smallsmile:

Anyway, I don't know much about the details of where you're going, but I'll try my best to answer the ones I can.



Is the language hard to learn?

Well, portuguese has it's fair share of details and exceptions, which makes it a bit trickier to learn, but for a functional use I wouldn't say it's the hardest. If you have some knowledge of other romantic languages (as kurokotetsu said, Spanish is very similar, with italian to a lesser degree but still close (to the point that without any actuall study in them I can still read and understand people speaking them), and french being the least similar, but still having some stuff). Foreigners seem to have the most trouble at conjugating verbs (or at least that's the stereotype).

There used to be some spell



Will I succumb anticlimactically to some exotic local diseases, savage animals, or weird cuisine?


It's possible that there are some tropical diseases there, but nothing that some vaccines wouldn't handle. Check an actual doctor, though. If the cuisine is similar to the portuguese, then most likely not, although it'd depend on any allergies you may have. Portuguese cuisine is famous for fish dishes (in a major part cod dishes) and sweets made with egg yolk.


If possible learn Portuguese from someone that is Portuguese,as Brazilian dialect has a very different accent (sometimes I've heard that Brazilian understand better other Latin American nationalities than Portuguese).


This is partially true. On a written level, there used to be some spelling differences (of the color vs colour kind) and some other rules, but a couple of years back they were unified, so I don't think there's any difference now. It is true that the accents are diferent, though unless the speaker is a motormouth I don't have any issues, but I'm a native speaker, so there's that. I'd advise learning from someone from Portugal too.

On the understand other Latin Americans thing, that's because spanish that's spoken in latin america (or at least places like Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, which are the ones mostly associated with this) is that their pronunciation is a bit closer then ours, both of us naturally speak a bit slower when neither is fluent with the other language and that we more or less meet in the middle (this middle language is know as "portunhol").

[kurokotetsu]

[snip]It's possible that there are some tropical diseases there, but nothing that some vaccines wouldn't handle. Check an actual doctor, though. [snip]


This is partially true. On a written level, there used to be some spelling differences (of the color vs colour kind) and some other rules, but a couple of years back they were unified, so I don't think there's any difference now. It is true that the accents are diferent, though unless the speaker is a motormouth I don't have any issues, but I'm a native speaker, so there's that. I'd advise learning from someone from Portugal too.

On the understand other Latin Americans thing, that's because spanish that's spoken in latin america (or at least places like Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, which are the ones mostly associated with this) is that their pronunciation is a bit closer then ours, both of us naturally speak a bit slower when neither is fluent with the other language and that we more or less meet in the middle (this middle language is know as "portunhol").Unlikely there are any tropical diseases, as it is near Northern Africa, so above the tropic. Some strange diseases may be, but unlikely there will be tropical.

Also, I was talking more form the perspective of an non-speaker (I get through using Spanish) the different accents may be a problem, so better to study the one that he is going to listen the most, as getting accustomed to Brazilian may have problems further on. I'm aware of "portunhol" too, as I've spoken with several Brazilians before (normally speaking slowly both, as you said).

[Palanan]

I've worked professionally in both Spanish and Portuguese, and studied both languages for years. If your plan is to learn Portuguese, I'd strongly advise to avoid Spanish altogether, and as others have suggested, learn Continental Portuguese rather than Brazilian.

--And this is nothing against Brazilian Portuguese; I've spent a lot of time in Brazil and the language is lovely. But after having spent years of effort learning Brazilian Portuguese (which includes several very different regional dialects) I have an extremely hard time following Continental, which to my ear sounds very clipped and sharp. One day I need to find a good book on the history of the language.

Also, definitely try bacalhau, which is insanely salted cod.

:smallwink: