Oddbean

I had an overnight layover in Lisbon and got to spend time exploring the city. I want to come back and see more. I’ve spent a ton of time in Brazil so being in Portugal is weird. It’s like decaf Brazil. The other odd thing is in Brazil everyone assumes that if you’re there then you’ll be able to speak Portuguese. I was given a note the very first day I arrived in Brazil telling me that if I was going to be there I should learn the language. I thought it was a bit of a high bar given my 12 hours in the country. My Portuguese is not great but I’m able to read and understand people and make myself understood if people have patience. In Lisbon nobody thinks seems interested in speaking Portuguese to me. The assumption is that I don’t *look like* a Portuguese speaker I guess. Or I’m only hanging out in touristy places and here they’ve given up on the idea of people speaking the local language. You can really feel how much Lisbon has become an international tourist / “digital nomad” destination. https://v.nostr.build/0J1Pw2OKcjwp6bbX.mp4

The level of English in Portugal is much higher than neighbouring Spain. Sounds simplistic but it's down to subtitles! In Spain the movie guys have perfected dubbing. In Portugal English movies were subtitled, so you develop an ear. Each film star has their own dubber who stays through their career. It's a weird phenomenon. The end result is Spanish students are insanely well drilled in grammar but hablan inglés como indios.