Frustration, Memory and Patterns

Of late, I have been frustrated with my level of progress with Portuguese. This has been odd, because the classes have gone really well, I have held my own in a few conversations (or, at least, held a conversation that flowed), and have seen signs of development in my written production. But, it can feel like a few steps forward and one back. Part of my problem is that because I am fluent in Spanish and because of its similarity to Portuguese, I seem to be stuck in a place where I see Portuguese only through a Spanish lens. This means that, currently for me, Portuguese is viewed as either like or unlike Spanish, rather than a thing in itself. I realise the problematic politics of that given the sometimes tense relationship there has been between the two countries over the centuries, but, I am coming from it as a learner who is eager to plot out patterns and relate them to prior learning rather than any reductive colonial or imperialistic intentions. 

As a method this is great for grammar and fine if you are thinking in terms of one or two words where you can see differences and similarities and remark upon them as helpful points of reference or curiosities. But, where you're trying to build up a whole sign system it becomes an edifice that can only be rickety. Let me explain. If word A is similar to word B in Portuguese, that's interesting and can be related in that file where that memory is stored. But, it is similar and not identical, so a further related fact must be stored with that. That's okay, if it's only one or two words and where there might a collection of words with related common patterns. For example, words ending in -tion and  -ción in English and Spanish, respectively, in general end in -ções in Portuguese. That's fine and simple. But, what of the words that are spelt similarly and mean different things? I then have to remember a kind of narrative around that word and remember that words C and D should be stored in separate but related files because they may look the same but they inhabit a different register or field. That means I am asking myself to remember the word and its difference, rather than figuring out the language on its own terms. 

This is exhausting and fruitless. I'm not sure how to get beyond this habit, because it is my (and many others) inclination to see patterns and to relate it to prior learning, hence the frustration. I think that I will have to find new modes of approaching the language and immersing myself in it in order to go beyond seeking out commonalities and allow it to inhabit its own archive in my memory bank. I think that, in part, I need to do it by stepping back from only looking at the language at a micro-level (i.e. word by word) and read, listen and watch more extended pieces. The issue with this is where to find material (you can only ask so much of a teacher) that suits my own particular needs and interests?

This brings me to curation, which I will discuss in a future post. In the meantime, I'm off to listen to a podcast and see where that brings me.

What's available online to practice your Portuguese verbs?

I have difficulty memorising the pretérito perfeito simples [preterite tense] irregular verbs. The regulars ones are not so bad, there's a pattern that's recognisable which is logical and straightforward. The irregulars, however, are not so easy. How does Trazer (to bring) become trouxe? or, fazer (to make) fiz? While the regular -er verb endings are -i, -este, -eu, -emos, -eram, trazer follows its own route to become: trouxe, trouxeste, trouxe, trouxemos, trouxeram and fazer is: fiz, fizeste, fez, fizemos, fizeram. There is some patterning, but mostly its a list that needs to be memorised fully. One of my preferred methods of memorising blocks of things like this is to use the voice memo feature on my phone and read them into it and then listen to it on a loop. This is not helped by the fact that I'm not sure how to pronounce trouxe (a crucial question for my teacher to help with).

So, I turn to the Internet for help. Of the seven (?) that result from my Google search term "practica portugues preterito" two are Spanish-related. There are flashcards such as: http://www.cram.com/tag/perfecto-portuguese-preterito/7 (this one turns up twice, another time under a different address). These are user generated and most seem to have several tenses at once. Therefore, it's useful for those revising, but not for those learning. There are a few that help figure out and practice the different usage of the imperfect and preterite: http://www.easyportuguese.com/Portuguese-Lessons/Imperfect.html and this one even has a cute frog: http://conjuguemos.com/activity.php?id=12&source=public&language=spanish. Again, these presuppose that you have memorised both. There's a wiki list:  http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Portuguese/Contents/Preterite_tense_regular_verbs. Useful if you don't have the list to hand. Not a great return. The results for similar searches all lead to Spanish-learning websites.

I try an English search term "practice Portuguese preterite". It returns ten, none Spanish, some are the same or similar to the above: two that compare between the imperfect and preterite http://www.netplaces.com/brazilian-portuguese/verb-tenses-an-overview/the-preterite-versus-the-imperfect.htm and http://www.learn-portuguese-with-rafa.com/Learn_Portuguese_with_Rafa_Newsletter-preterite-vs-Imperfect-in-portuguese.html, a quick introduction to verbs and tenses that is handy for those unfamiliar with grammar: http://www.linguanaut.com/portuguese_verbs.htm, a language learner's forum entry: http://help.berberber.com/forum65/15674-past-tense-regular-verbs-1st-ending-ar.html and the conjuguemos, flashcards, and wikis above.

There is a curious one that gets you to translate 91 verbs from English against a clock that counts down from 11 minutes: http://www.sporcle.com/games/benjaminritsema/portuguese-irregular-verbs-conjugation-past-tense. Not for me, but might appeal to others.

This is exactly what I'm looking for: http://www.verbs-online.com/portuguese-verbs/portuguese-verbs.htm. It allows me to practice the tense and I have to write it out, which helps further. The only flaw is it supplies a series of letters with accents or cedillas, but there is no 'i' even though this is required to complete the exercises correctly.

I'm surprised that there isn't more out there. I may be missing things, but equivalent Spanish searches resulted in thousands of results (173,000), some of whom I am very familiar with and have used in the past with students. For now, I can only conclude that Portuguese language learning has a long way to go before it can be considered to be well served by the Internet but there are useful things to be found. I would love to know ones that others have encountered.