We began our language studies with a wide range of books.

On particular book was called “Grupos”.  It was basically conversations written in Portuguese on one side and English on the other.  The idea was to learn to read the conversations quickly, thereby improving one’s knowledge and pronunciation.  Being of a competitive sort, my sister and I also spent a lot of time trying to say it the fastest.    We might have no idea what the words meant, but at least we could say them quickly.

We were quite upset when it was decided that, perhaps, comprehension was more important than speed and our races ended.

One particular conversation in the book included a woman speaking to a guest in her home.  After asking if the guest liked the coffee she said, “My daughter made it.  She’s eligible for marriage.”

A useful phrase if one is a closet Mrs. Bennett trying to get her daughter married off.  With four daughters, my mom might have found the conversation useful if we hadn’t abandoned the book in favor of better ones.

The main problem with Portuguese, though, is that a lot of words sound the same.  (Yes, yes, I know English has to, too, and two, etc…  But I found English so much easier, I learned to speak it as a baby).

Three particular words were Sol, Sal, and Sul, meaning Sun, Salt, and South respectively.  The danger, of course, was to ask someone to pass you the sun at the dinner table or tell someone to go salt to Uruguay. 

Two more words that sound alike are the words for soda pop and cold (as in sick cold).  My Dad fell into their trap when he asked a waiter if he had a cold while trying to ask for pop.  The waiter gave him a funny look.

And we never did get that pop.