Learn about renting a phone
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Hello and welcome to Portuguese Survival Phrases brought to you by PortuguesePod101.com. This course is designed to equip you with the language skills and knowledge to enable you to get the most out of your visit to Brazil. You will be surprised at how far a little Portuguese will go. |
| Now, before we jump in, remember to stop by PortuguesePod101.com, and there, you will find the accompanying PDF and additional info in the post. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| In today's lesson, we'll cover cellphones, an indispensable tool for the modern-day traveler. In Brazil and most countries, there is a fantastic loophole through GSM chips and prepaid phone cards. I'll explain the situation after the lesson, but here are the phrases you are going to need. |
| In order to get a GSM chip, you will need 20 bucks. That's it. I've done this several times, and that's all you need. You do fill out some paperwork, but it is pretty simple, and the vendor at your store will help you with that part. |
| In Portuguese, "I would like a prepaid GSM chip." is Eu gostaria de um chip pre-pago. |
| Eu gostaria de um chip pre-pago. |
| Let's break it down by syllable: Eu gos-ta-ri-a de um chip pre-pa-go. |
| Now, let's hear it once again: Eu gostaria de um chip pre-pago. |
| The first word, eu, means "I." |
| eu |
| eu |
| Next, we have gostaria de, which means "would like." We learned this in a previous lesson. |
| Let's break this down and hear it one more time: go-sta-ri-a de |
| And gostaria de |
| Then, we have the word, um, which means one. And we learned this word in our lesson on numbers. This is followed by chip, which, in English, is "chip." |
| chip |
| chip |
| This is actually the word, "chip," pronounced with a Portuguese accent. |
| So to recap here, we have Eu gostaria de um chip. Literally, this means "I would like a chip." The word chip in Portuguese is strictly for electronics, so they won't get confused when you ask for one. |
| Let's take a look at the last term pre-pago, which means "prepaid." |
| pre-pa-go |
| pre-pago |
| So all together, we have Eu gostaria de um chip pre-pago. Literally, this means "I would like a prepaid GSM chip." And that's it. |
| CULTURAL INSIGHTS |
| The loophole I talked about before is to get a quad-band GSM phone in the States and just buy a prepaid chip in Brazil. This phrase will get you that chip. The best part about prepaid in Brazil is that incoming calls are free. So your family can call you on Skype or a normal telephone, and it costs you nothing. Making calls is not so great, so pay attention to how much credit you have left on your phone. |
| Remember, the quad-band phone is the key. Brazil uses different cellphone frequencies than the United States, so non-quad-band phones won't work down there, even if you have the chip. You can research quad-band phones on the internet or go to your local AT&T or T-Mobile store. They are the largest GSM vendors in the United States. And these phones are usually a bit more expensive, so buying a used one on the internet isn't a bad idea. I have a friend who works for one of these providers, and he gave me an old, nearly broken quad-band phone they were going to throw out, and it worked perfectly. |
Outro |
| Okay. To close out today's lesson, we'd like for you to practice what you've just learned. I'll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase, and you're responsible for saying it aloud. You'll have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so boa sorte! |
| "I would like a prepaid GSM chip." - Eu gostaria de um chip pre-pago. |
| Eu go-sta-ri-a de um chip pre-pa-go. |
| Eu gostaria de um chip pre-pago. |
| All right. That's going to do it for today. Remember to stop by PortuguesePod101.com and pick up the accompanying PDF. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment. |
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