Are there any portuguese members here, besides me??

[Flyer22]

Tat´s it, i´m trying to know if i´m the only member here.. , portuguese one that is

[TheWizard]

Olá Flyer, eu sou americano, mas minha mãe é português.

[Flyer22]

Great!! try and get me at MSN if you use it filipedaniel79@hotmail.com ok.

Great to see a guy that can speak portuguese!! Where´s you mom from??

[TheWizard]

She was born in Terceira, Açores, but she moved to the USA at a very young age so she is fully americanized now. Her mother still lives in Europe though, avó lives in France and visits Portugal frequently.

[Flyer22]

ok great i live in Lisbon capital of Portugal ,by the atlantic ocean!!

[TheWizard]

I know Lisbon is the capital of Portugal, I'm not THAT stupid of an American. As a matter of fact, I'm a geography major, so knowing capitals is part of my curriculum.

[Flyer22]

Really geography??


Most americans think Portugal is a province of Spain or something, or have heard something about the discoveries, or just know that INDIANS are called so case a Portuguese navigator though he had arrives India crossing the Atlantic (going west instead of east) and called the natives INDIANS.......and so on!!

Good to know you´re not as many!!!

[Matt]

Way to be condescending to the rest of the Americans present here who aren't geography majors and do not have the time to learn every detail about every country out there

[TheWizard]

I'm innocent! Don't look at me, look at Flyer's comment: "Most americans think Portugal is a province of Spain." And Flyer is a foreigner speaking about Americans that he has spoken to! That's pitiful teaching, all Americans should know that Portugal is a country, not a province! Geography is an elementary subject, the problem is, a lot of students don't remember any basic geographical facts (like the Portugal example above). Spelling is another elementary subject, and not a lot of people know how to spell correctly...but that's a different rant all together, and I don't feel like going there.

That's not an insult to you, Flyer, I don't expect you to spell every English word properly, after all, it's not your native language. I doubt I'd spell every Portuguese word correctly either because it's not my native language. For Americans, they should know how to spell English words! Tsk tsk.

[Flyer22]

no prob i just think Portugal was ( and is although with much less importance) one of the most important countries in the world culture history ........USA is a newborn country raised by Europeans so i guess all of the USA should know stuff from Europe, at least.

Spelling: i make some kistakes cause i don´t read what i wright i just type i and send it, so some are really lack of attention errors, others like grammar are really cause English aint my all day language although it is simple and easy to learn/ use language ( try Portuguese or French grammar!!! lol )

Keep up ppl

[Matt]

I'm a resourceful person... if I don't know where something is I look it up on a map. I'm not going to waste my time memorizing history/georgraphy facts when it serves me no use in my daily functions. As for lazy typers, I don't think you can label one culture more intelligent than another based on their presence on the internet.

[Flyer22]

agree, don´t worry man!!

[Matt]

Trust me, this is the last place I stress about

I like to keep the peace though, and if people are trying to say they're better than others, I'm sure that can light some fires for some people so I try to keep those under control

[Flyer22]

Fireman Matt

[TheWizard]

I think we got off on the wrong foot, Matt. I meant no ill intentions with my posts about geography and spelling. It's a personal pet peeve of mine when I come across Americans who don't know what countries border us to the north and south. You don't need a map to identify Canada and Mexico, it's common knowledge. Same thing goes for Portugal, I'm not saying people should be able to pinpoint it on a map, but people should have the basic knowledge that it is a country and not a province of Spain.

As for spelling, I don't mean just on the Internet, but written prose as well. There are statistics that prove American children have lower test scores as opposed to children from other countries. Not to sound too political, but it's the fault of the government and Americans in general for not doing something to improve the schools here. It's a sad fact, you know?

Again, I didn't mean to start a fire with all these flames, they just irk me. I'm with you, I learned long ago not to stress myself out with stuff that happens on the Internet, it's simply not worth it. In closing, is it too much to ask students to know that Portugal is a country and not a province? To make an analogy to another elementary subject, math, is it too much to ask that students know 2 + 2 = 4?

[mikeg]

I had a portuguese girlfriend once yveonne exotic no does that count? bottoms up.wasn't colombus portuguese working for spain?