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1st Grammar
Workshop
New York, NY - June 2-4, 2000
1º Curso Regional de Gramática
Nova York - 2 a 4 de junho
de 2000
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MUITO BEM
... NOTA CEM!
Joana Nogueira (Braexp@aol.com)
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| The review workshop in
Portuguese grammar held in New York on June 2, 3, 4 was an eye-opening
experience, to say the least. Our instructor was Profa. Dra.
Regina Alfarano, an educator, translator and lecturer, who not only
managed to dominate our attention, but to also simultaneously quench
our thirst for knowledge; thus enabling us to improve our craft in
the art of translation. She answered questions with enthusiasm,
wit, charm and a BIG SMILE!
After a brief individual introduction,
she knew all of us by our first names, without hesitation.
Her bubbly and dynamic personality
combined with her unique mannerisms kept us focused and interested.
There was no time for boredom. In fact, there was not enough
time to cover many other topics of interest. Dra. Alfarano’s
degree is in linguistics/ literature and her passion for this
aspect of the humanities/social sciences fields was unmistakable.
One could vividly feel her love for
life, as she demonstrated how to approach various linguistic styles
from a translator’s point of view. To the serious learner, this
atmosphere was contagious. Her expertise in Portuguese and
English were clearly evident.
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| She emphasized the need
and the importance of correct grammatical practices in a number of
areas: punctuation, verb tenses such as in the case of “haver, fazer”,
superlatives, basic writing ABC’s skills – avoid starting a sentence
with “porque, isso” and alternate usage of the subjunctive tense.
She also addressed the do’s and don’ts of text writing and offered
tips on improving our existing writing skills. There were lots of
handouts in Portuguese for purposes of comparison – the good, bad
and ugly ones were discussed.
To be or
not to be, that’s the question. There are different ways,
depending on circumstance, of writing “que, quê, porque, por
que, porquê ”, and much more.... This was truly a 3-day MARATHON
of learning and reviewing the Portuguese (and even the English)
language.
There is
always room for improvement. Attempting to perfect our work
is crucial in today’s competitive market. Attending workshops
such as this one is one of the ways of accomplishing this goal.
Knowledge is empowerment. What is worth it? Yes, absolutely!!!
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