Home Office, Brazilian-Style: Remote-Work Etiquette Every Expat Needs in Portuguese
I landed my first fully remote Brazilian contract in 2020, convinced that pajamas, Wi-Fi, and Google Translate were all I needed. On day one, my Slack pinged with a cheerful “Bora alinhar rapidinho?” I scrambled to answer, only to realize I didn’t know whether alinhar meant a five-minute huddle or a two-hour strategy download. Ten […]
Portuguese Fluency: Industry-Specific Vocabulary for Tech, Finance, and Healthcare
My Portuguese breakthrough didn’t happen at a beach bar or inside a classroom. It happened in a noisy São Paulo café, when a developer leaned over and asked, “Esse endpoint já tá idempotente?” I froze. Idempotent? Sure, I knew the English term, but suddenly I needed to explain load balancing in Portuguese before my latte […]
Navigating Networking Events with Confidence in Portuguese
I knew I had stepped into unfamiliar territory the night I attended a fintech mixer in São Paulo armed with a stack of English-language business cards and the confidence of a freshly minted LinkedIn profile. Within minutes I realized the real currency in the room wasn’t my résumé—it was the agile bate-papo swirling around every […]
Seal the Deal: Negotiating a Salary Package in Portuguese
I still remember the jitter in my espresso cup the morning I negotiated my first Brazilian salary. I sat across from the HR manager in Belo Horizonte, rehearsing numbers in my head while my Portuguese Vocabulary sputtered between polite and petrified. When she asked, “Qual é sua pretensão salarial?”, I blurted a figure without mentioning […]
Presenting in Portuguese—Vocabulary for Slides & Q &A
When my manager in São Paulo asked me to present quarterly metrics in Portuguese, I felt like a drummer suddenly handed the trumpet. I knew the numbers cold, but phrases like “market share” and “takeaways” refused to translate themselves on the click of a slide. Standing in front of fifty colleagues, I kicked off with […]
Breaking the Ice over Cafezinho: Portuguese Office Small Talk That Builds Rapport
I still remember my first Monday at a Brazilian tech company in Recife. The HR tour ended at the kitchen, where colleagues clustered around a tiny espresso machine chatting about the fuleco mascot from that weekend’s football match. I smiled, reached for a paper cup, and blurted, “Legal o jogo ontem, né?”—only to realize I […]
Ace the Entrevista: Common Job-Interview Questions and Model Answers in Portuguese
On a humid Monday morning in São Paulo, I found myself in a glass-walled conference room facing three politely curious hiring managers. My résumé was polished, my blazer freshly pressed, but my tongue tied itself into knots over the simplest phrase: “bom dia, é um prazer conhecê-los.” I managed a smile, but the rest of […]
Inbox Etiquette: Crafting Professional Emails in Portuguese
My first Brazilian job application almost ended before it began—all because of one email. I opened with “Hola” (Spanish reflex), forgot the accent in “obrigado,” and closed with a hearty “Saudações!,” which apparently works better for carnival invitations than for human-resources inboxes. The recruiter still invited me to an interview, but she gently explained the […]
Signing on the Dotted Line: Key Portuguese Phrases for Notary Visits and Official Certifications
My introduction to Brazil’s cartório culture came on a steamy Tuesday in Salvador. I needed to notarize a rental contract, and I arrived armed with photocopies, a hopeful smile, and the confidence of someone who had just mastered ordering pão de queijo. The clerk greeted me warmly, then asked if my signature was “reconhecida por […]
Buying a Car in Brazil: From Test-Drive to Transfer Papers
The first time I tried to buy a car in Brazil, I showed up at a used-car lot in Fortaleza with nothing but a mechanic friend, a hopeful grin, and my Dominican sense of “haggle until they laugh.” I left empty-handed after the salesman asked for my comprovante de residência and rattled off a list […]