Category: Culture

Blending in with Cariocas in Rio

written by Benny Lewis

Rio de Janeiro

I am absolutely amazed by this city. It has a fascinating cultural history, an active music and dance scene, some of the most outstanding scenery I’ve ever come across, the world’s most famous Carnaval, samba, enough to inspire judges to have it be the host of both the 2014 World cup final and the 2016 Olympics, and, most important of all, Cariocas – its residents.

I came here in September of this year, with the mission of trying to become more like them (me carioquizar), and I got so much more than that from my time there!

3 months in the marvellous city

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How to survive as a travelling vegetarian

written by Benny Lewis

I’ve been travelling for about 7 years so far, and have lived in places like beef-crazy Buenos Aires, shrimp-hungry Brazil, fish-famous Donegal, paella filled Spain, and foie-gras-loving France. My own way to get to know the culture of these places involves learning and hacking their languages and spending my time almost entirely with locals, but […]

Don’t be scared to meet new people

written by Benny Lewis

What’s the worst that could happen? If you plan on learning a foreign language, and especially if you plan on travelling, you have to meet new people. You can’t avoid this! It’s kind of the whole point of learning a language (unless you are only interested in literature) and travelling (unless you travel only to […]

Why I love Brazilians (& Br. Portuguese)

written by Benny Lewis

If you liked this post, I’ve also written about How to speak like a Carioca, and how to learn Portuguese after Spanish. Brazilian Portuguese Motivation is extremely important in being able to improve your command over a language. Today I’d like to share my motivation for deciding to make Portuguese the first language that I […]

Finding the right accommodation for immersion in a culture

written by Benny Lewis

Hello from Rio de Janeiro!! Since I’m still just settling in (and getting over jetlag), tonight will be the first time that I go out on the town! Obviously the main part of this mission is to get out and meet Cariocas who can help me understand their language and culture a little bit more, […]

My next mission: Become Brazilian in 3 months!

written by Benny Lewis

EDIT: This mission was a success! You can read how I spoke Portuguese with no foreign accent, and how I adapted to life in Rio. I also wrote about why I love Brazilians so much:=) After learning 6 languages to fluency in 6 years of travels, and learning to speak Czech in just two months […]

How to become a location-independent freelance translator

written by Benny Lewis

In the previous post I explained my background (and need) to become a freelance translator. In this post I will go into more detail about how I got work, what that work involves and why it’s not as easy as you think!! Finding translation work I was in a pretty bad situation a few years […]

My background before becoming a location-independent freelance translator

written by Benny Lewis

Unlike most of my posts, this one is not a general “how to” that I think everyone can also follow. It’s my random story of the path I took to get to a great job; for those curious 🙂 This post does not have any useful information about finding work as a translator etc. It […]

Do you need to be rich to travel the world?

written by Benny Lewis

A lot of people have been asking me how I fund my language-learning travels – did I win the lottery? Do I have really rich parents that pay for everything? Maybe I donate a lot of plasma, sell property or invest in the stock market? Actually, for many of my travels, I had quite normal jobs […]

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