New World?
So much the same, so very different --- it sure is the new world but it aint home.
Right before I came to Brazil, I went to Paris with my family. I live in Paris for nine months in 2003-2004 and this was my first time back since then. For a while there, I was literally over Europe. I had studied it for so long, it shares so many ties with my current life that it wasn't interesting to me anymore. I studied Africa and was lucky enough to visit the beautiful country of Mali for a short while. But up until now, I don't really know my Americas very weel.
And so there are so many things about Brazil -- part of the New World -- that are so very familiar to me. Like it's a country of immigrants, and everyone has their immigrant story, "So, where is your family from?". The newer architecture, the reliance on cars (ESPECIALLY in Sampa.) And a certain informality and creativity. I often think the flatness of the A's in American English and Brazilian Portuguese are somehow an evolution of new world english. And then there's that quebequois, and I dont much know what that could be. . .
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment