It’s raining mangoes! Yes, apparently it’s mango season here in Belém.
The Cinema Olympia – the oldest operating theater in Brazil – is showing free movies most evenings. Since I am still awaiting research clearance and need to save my centavos, I see movies there quite often. Recent showings include O que terá acontecido com Baby Jane?, Sociedade dos Poetas Mortos, and Candelabro Italiano (a 1962 movie with Suzanne Pleshette and Angie Dickinson originally titled Rome Adventure. If you haven’t, don’t.)
Here’s the theater’s website: CineOlympia 100 Anos
Anyway, as I was walking home from Cinema Olympia, the wind blew and mangoes started falling out of the trees lining Avenida Presidente Vargas, a major street very close to my hotel! I was so surprised I didn’t have the sense to pick up the mangoes that had fallen, like some Paraense around me were doing. I did, however, manage to avoid being hit on the head, which really would have been a tragic fieldwork story at our annual anthropology meetings.
Mangoes still on their tree, waiting to hit an unsuspecting person
I’m currently convinced that my Portuguese language skills (uh, “skills”) are declining. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being best Portuguese speaker ever, it’s a short way to absolute 0 for me. So, over breakfast this morning, I began (re)reading Essential Portuguese Grammar. The book’s description includes phrases like, “without trivia or archaic material,” and “the most efficient system for adults with limited learning time.” Perfect.
In the chapter about verbs, Alexander da R. Prista points out:
Since the subject pronoun [i.e., “I,” “you,” “he/she,it,” etc.] is very often omitted in Portuguese, failure to employ the correct [verb] ending results in misunderstanding.
How right he is! An example of my recent failure to employ the correct verb ending during a conversation with the (incidentally, not at all helpful) official working at the Setor de Estrangeiros, or Foreigners Section, at the federal police, where all foreigners in Brazil have to register:
He speaks rapidly, explaining something critical to me.
Me: Não entendeu! [You didn’t understand!]
Senor Official [in a rage]: Não entende?! [I didn’t understand?!]
Me [frightened]: Não! Não entende?! [No! I didn’t understand?!]
Senor Official: Não entendeu?! [You didn’t understand?!]
Me [eyes closed, praying for death]: Não! Sim! Não entendeu!
You get the point. Surprisingly, I made it out of there with the document I needed.
Here’s an example of a mistake I made using the correct verb ending but the incorrect pronoun.
Scene: In the airport, people standing at the customs exit, watching passengers from a recent flight pass by.
What I mean to say to a nearby person: Você sabe de onde ele é? [Do you know where it (the flight) is from?]
What I actually say: Você sabe de onde você é? [Do you know where you are from?]
As you might expect, he answered “Sim!”
A final note about grammar for nerdlings out there. The movie O que terá acontecido com Baby Jane actually translates to “What Has Happened to Baby Jane?”, which I think conveys a slightly different meaning than “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” It didn’t spoil the movie, of course, but it has me thinking.
Entendeu?
Life with Its Teeth Out 
Thanks for sharing your blog! I’ve already read all your entries (I love field journals). I’m super jealous of your sloth sitings and I say this as I sip on a frothy caffeinated beverage from the Starbucks on north broadway in your honor. Enjoy your time down there -it sounds much better than the ‘writing and revising’ portion that comes next…
This is great. Wish I were there with you to hit up the fabulous film selections. Remind me to tell you about how I used to ask my friends if they wanted to play in tennis shoes rather than asking if they wanted to play tennis.