The 21st of April  is a day where Brazilians commemorate the national hero Joaquim Jose da Silva Xavier, on the date of his execution. Xavier lived from 1746 to 1792 and fought for Brazilian independence from the Portuguese colonial power. Xavier was later betrayed and then hanged in Rio de Janeiro in 1792.  The day of his death is a national holiday in Brazil with all government offices, schools and banks closed. The plaza (Praça Tiradentes) where he was executed is named after him and the Brazilians also raised a monument there in his honour. Government officials will meet at Praça Tiradentes on the 21st and pay tributes to the hero with speeches dedicated to the martyrdom of the revolutionary. Written by  Mikkel Hansen 

Aprils Fool’s Day, or as they call it in Brazil Dia das Mentiras , is celebrated because of the arrival of spring. The tradition, which had the origin in France, was brought to Brazil, by the Portuguese, when they first arrived. In Brazil, April 1 st was first celebrated in the great state of Minas Gerais in 1828, when a newspaper called The Lie , announced the death of Dom Pedro I, who was the founder and first ruler of the Empire of Brazil. This announcement was contradicted the next day. In Brazil this day is celebrated with fun and games by playing practical jokes and hoaxes to friends and family.  Furthermore in Brazil and as well as in Denmark, the mass media tempt to pull some kind of a hoax. This link is a great example of a practical joke in Brazil! -         -    http://esportes.br.msn.com/copa-2014/noticias/artigo-espn.aspx?cp-documentid=257040064 Beware out there!! Written by David Monteiro Paes

In the beginning of this semester we were introduced to Denise Christina Kluge (photo), associate professor from UFPR (Universidade Federal do Paraná). She talked about her work as a phonetician and taught us about perception and pronunciation of the Brazilian Portuguese. Afterwards we took part in a test that researched our perception skills, for instance, if we were able to hear or not the difference between nasalized vowels.  Last Monday (11.03.2013) she presented the results and our average were a bit over fair or middle taken into account that we have only been studying phonetics for less than two months. On behalf of all students from our class, I want to thank you, Denise, for your efforts. It was fun, challenging and educating. Thanks Denise!      Written by  Niels Aslak Lehtonen

Would you like to hear more about Benjamin Moser’s lecture? Then please keep reading. Benjamin Moser is born on September 14th 1976 in Houston, Texas. Moser started studying Chinese but he found it too serious and lacked patience. Therefore he changed to study Brazilian Studies. Benjamin Moser had two main topics at the lecture: The life of the famous Brazilian author Clarice Lispector and the art of translating. About Lispector’s life, Moser told that she was born in Ukraine in 1920, in a village which was known as the worst place to be a Jew outside the Nazi occupied areas. In Ukraine Lispector’s mom got raped, got syphilis and later she died, while Lispector was still a child. Her family moved to north-east Brazil when Lispector was around two years old in 1922. In her adult life, Lispector married an ambassador and lived “the American dream”. She was tall, blond, glamorous and spoke with a French accent, so people did not suspect that she had been poor. Lispector pub...

Spring is just around the corner, the days have become warmer and it fills people with joy.  4 th semester has begun their adventures in Brazil and although the semester has just begun the students both in Brazil and in Denmark are having a hard time not spending all their time in the lovely weather. However, the exams are to be passed before we can fully enjoy this. But after all what is better after feeling the burden of a hard workweek on ones shoulders than drinking a beer in the bar at the university among friends?!  Written by  Daniel Schmidt 

A new semester has just begun and along comes a whole new set of challenges, especially for the  4 th  semester students as they are off to Brazil. Back in Denmark on 2 nd semester things are humming since new and more intense courses are scheduled. One of them is a course in phonetics and phonology which is a different discipline to most of the students.  As an introduction to the course we have a visiting lecturer, Denise Kluge, from Universidade Federal do Paraná, Brazil.  During the first lesson she taught the importance of making our Portuguese intelligible as a result of correct pronunciation. She states that the context will not always compensate for your lacks, and even if the receiver is able to understand the meaning of your statement he or she might not be willing to compromise with it.  Pronunciation and the production of sound are therefore extremely important even at our level of education. Not least it is essential to base it on the ...