Why you SHOULD learn the local language while abroad, and not miss opportunities to mingle with the locals...

Hey you, Foreigner ! :-)

Ok, since the aim of these language meetings is precisely to communicate in other languages and exchange linguistic and cultural and social knowledge about each other, here goes a message in English too, for those how do not (yet) master the local language of our hosting country.

But the relatively easy to find opportunity to speak English should NOT be an excuse to be lazy and to NOT learn the local language, right ? ;-)

Ok, you may be right, you actually can live without the need to learn the local language now, but there will always be a situation where no one will understand you and wher you would feel more than happy to speak some Portuguese.

And you will be even more sorry not to have taken the chance to learn Portuguese while with the ideal opportunity for total linguistic immersion, if/when one day you leave this lovely country and go elsewhere or back to your roots, and when you realize that it will be extremely difficult to keep in touch with those you met here and/or people you might get to know one day and who speak this language.

Just imagine the competitive advantage you will have against others of your folks who do not speak Portuguese. While back in your country you can become or act as a guide for Portuguese-speaking tourists or business people, you can be the liaison for Portuguese institutions and companies, acting as a local contact for international trade and relation, you can litteraly be an Ambassador of Portugal and its culture and language and people and products and services you will have learned to know and appreciate while here, wherever you are in the World...

But to achieve this goal you MUST make some small effort now and learn the local language, something that will be a lot more easy now and here than some day somewhere else, far from the immersive linguistic environment.

Well, all that to say that you should take each and every opportunity you can get to mingle with the locals, not just your direct colleagues at work, and even those, ask them to speak Portuguese with you. They think they do you a favor while speaking English with you, and they probably do, in a short-sighted point of view, but they certainly do not if you face reality with a long-term perspective.

So, in short : why not joining us for an informal dinner, this Friday night (28/6), and later on for that Pic-Nic in the mountains (13/7) ?

Both meeting events will bring an informal and nice atmosphere, and all sorts of languages will probably be spoken, so these will be perfect opportunities to know new and nice people, not just for partners for small talk fort that particular couple of hours, but maybe real and true friends for the rest of your life.

See you then !