Right around the time I moved to Rio, Eli and I watched one of these videos and it went *woosh* right over my head. I didn't understand why it was funny, mostly because I missed a lot of what they were saying. Fast forward to this weekend, when we watched the same video and a ton of others from the same comedians, and it felt like I was seeing the original video for the first time. While the first video is in fact hilarious, I especially enjoy the second video, which is all about language itself, tautology in particular. They say understanding humor is one of the final barriers in learning a language, so I think videos like these are a fun and useful barometer for gringos learning Portuguese. And for Brazilians, I hope you enjoy if you haven't seen these already!
"They say understanding humor is one of the final barriers in learning a language, so I think videos like these are a fun and useful barometer for gringos learning Portuguese."
That's what I thought too when struggling to understand 'Gato Fedorento' videos. Not getting the joke was driving me insane, and I searched endlessly for the punchline, watching the same video several times and faulting myself for not laughing...until I realized that there was no joke. Sometimes other cultures just enjoy particularly dry humor, and its not our fault for not getting it.
Posted by: Tritone | February 08, 2010 at 05:01 AM
estes são muito bons mesmo. meu favorito é este http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD6v60v0j1g, mas esse exige conhecimento das canções infantis brasileiras. começa em 3:58.
Posted by: Natalia | February 08, 2010 at 08:03 AM
I'm still at the stage of it going over my head completely. Can't wait until the day when maybe I'll get a laugh out of these videos! I mean, I understood what was happening in the first 30 sec of the first video, but I just didn't get half the words! That'll be the day...
Posted by: Elena Betts | February 08, 2010 at 02:12 PM
Só de ouvir alguém falando um palavrão em certas ocasionais já é engraçado.
Posted by: Fabio Bossard | February 09, 2010 at 05:27 PM
Eu nunca tinha pensado em alguns dos exemplos que ele deu como "prefeitura municipal", "vereador da cidade", mas outros como "verdade absoluta" eu diria que é uma enfase.
Posted by: Fabio Bossard | February 09, 2010 at 05:55 PM