So often, when I ask someone about their language-learning journey, they reference love. We bought some presents from a woman in Sao Paulo and when we asked about her English, she said she had gone to Florida with here parents as a teenager and had met a guy at Disney. They hit it off and had short but passionate romance that happened mostly via email and that got her started.
This week, someone having lunch at a Adrianna's overheard Carol and I talking and complemented our English. Turns out the guy is an American and a seasonal local who has spent the past 18 years on Armacao beach. We asked about his Portuguese and he said it wasn't that great for the first 16 years but that he had been dating a Brazilian for the past year and a half and suddenly he could listen in on conversations in Portuguese without having to try. It's the power of love.
We have our own story. I was not interested at all in learning Portuguese when I met Carol. In fact, when we started to realize that we shared a dream of living in a non-English speaking place and she mentioned Brazil, I vetoed it. I told her that I just couldn't with the language. I probably could with Spanish and maybe could with French but I couldn't even hear Portuguese and I wished I could, but just no. She challenged me to at least try and as it turns out, I could and I can. I loved her, and she loved Portuguese, and we both love Brazil and now here we are in love with each other and learning more Portuguese every day and starting to listen in on the conversations of strangers. Its the power of love.
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