As we know, Brazilians speak Portuguese following the 16th-century colonisation of the country by Pedro Álvares Cabral, so if you know a few words of Portuguese you’re more than likely to be able to get your point across in South America’s biggest country. However, there are certain words that mean one thing in European Portuguese(…)

New Year’s is just around the corner, putting an end to turkey and chocolate feast and probably putting an end to that glorious time off work. Yes, soon you will have to put on real clothes, not pyjama onesies and venture back out into the world. But before you do, there’s one last party to(…)

When you think of the languages of South America, it’s a fair bet that Portuguese and Spanish are the first ones most people will come up with. English, French, and Dutch might also get a mention owing to colonial history. But in addition to these, there are a wealth of indigenous languages spoken, some of which share(…)

A country of contradictions and recently home to the FIFA World Cup, Brazil has had a turbulent past and still struggles with issues of crime and drugs today. You may have heard of the infamous favelas, or slums, that exist in cities like Rio de Janeiro, but do you have any idea what it’s like(…)

If you’re looking for a party, nothing in the world can compare to Carnival in Brazil. While the rest of Latin America celebrates Carnival, too, no other country takes its duty to party in the days before Lent as seriously as Brazil does. The music, the dancing, the gatherings in the streets, the food, the(…)

In the age of cheap airfares and routes to almost everywhere in the world, getting to a foreign destination is a pretty simple business. But once you’re there, travelling from A to B within a country can be a daunting affair, with phrases to pick up and vocabulary to understand to make sure you don’t accidentally(…)

Brazil is the home of an astounding array of music, as was frequently explored during the World Cup of 2014. Some of the finest Brazilian musicians of all time were collected together on an exceptional album entitled ‘Sonzeira: Brasil Bam Bam Bam’, for which you’re strongly recommended to hunt bargain bins to pick up a(…)

The first time I travelled outside of Brazil, I was 23 and went to Newcastle, England, to take a course that would last one year. For us Brazilians, very little information about England is available. The difference between the UK, England and Great Britain results in endless confusion and more than a few mistakes. In(…)

I met a Brazilian couple in Egypt while travelling and they sold me on a visit to the country without having to say very much. The same was true for the incredibly intelligent Brazilian students I taught this summer. A country filled with contradictory elements like the favelas and 4 star hotels, there are so(…)

The World Cup in Brazil is just around the corner, and the eyes of an expectant nation will be on the home team. As they bid to win a remarkable sixth World Cup – five is already a record – minds will be cast back to the classic Brazil teams of the past, and the(…)