Episode 03 – The Political Relationship Between Brazil and Israel
Intro
Hello and welcome to My Speed News Podcast, your beginners Portuguese News Source.
I’m Vlad, your Brazilian Portuguese teacher and today we’re talking about Brazil joining the boycott of Israel’s prime minister during his UN speech in early October 2024.
This happened after months of pressure from a significant portion of the president’s electorate which has been demanding an end to ties with Israel.
Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, better known as Lula, has made several comments over the past year condemning the genocide of the Palestinian people. But Brazil’s stance on the current situation gets more complex once we understand Brazil’s history of support for the Israeli government and the strong military ties that Brazil has with Israel.
Context
But before we get to it, let me explain the format of this podcast.
This podcast is aimed at beginners and intermediate students, so if you’re starting to have conversations in Portuguese, this content will be perfect for you for three reasons. It will help you keep up with the latest in Brazilian news, it will expand your vocabulary, and, through tips that I’ll give you, it will equip you with tools to better use the language beyond the topic at hand.
So let’s get to it, or as we say in Portuguese, bora lá!
Answering to Listeners
In today’s episode we have a new section, where I respond to your questions.
Today we have a question from Marley, a student from Califórnia. Let’s hear his request.
Thanks, Marley! That’s a great one! He wants to know how to use the word “embora”.
So, what is “embora”? Well, it’s a versatile word in Portuguese that can be used in a couple of ways. Let’s break it down.
Use 1: “Although” or “Even though”
First up, “embora” is used mainly in written Portuguese as a connecting word to mean “although” or “even though.”
Let’s imagine you want to say: “Although it’s cold, I’m going to the park.” In Portuguese, that would be:
- Embora esteja frio, vou ao parque.
Here, “embora” is introducing a contrast: it’s cold, but you’re going to the park anyway! When used in this way, “embora” is usually followed by the subjunctive mood. Don’t worry too much about the grammar yet—it just means the verb might look a little different, like “esteja” instead of “está.”
Another reason not to worry is because in spoken Portuguese you’ll mostly hear people using a different connecting expression. That expression is “apesar disso”. This one doesn’t need the subjunctive mood so it’s much easier. So the initial sentence “embora esteja frio vou ao parque” becomes “Está frio, apesar disso vou ao parque”.
Use 2: “To leave” or “Go away”
Now, in spoken Portuguese “embora” has a totally different meaning and that’s the one you should focus on. The key here is to notice that it’s used with the verb IR “to go”. In this case, it means “to leave” or “to go away.” You’ll hear it all the time when people are talking about leaving somewhere.
For example, if you want to say: “I’m leaving now,” you would say:
- Eu vou embora agora.
And that’s where the expression “bora” comes from. It’s shorthand for “vamos embora”, depending on the context it means “let’s go”, “let’s get going”, or even “let’s start it”.
In this case, “embora” is just helping to express the idea of leaving, and it’s not connected to the subjunctive. Much easier, right?
So, just to review:
- If “embora” is connecting two ideas, it means “although” or “even though,” and the verb following it is often in the subjunctive mood.
- When “embora” is used with the verb IR in any of its conjugated forms, it means “to leave” or “go away.” Simple and no fancy verb forms needed here!
Now to a vocabulary tip.
Vocabulary Tip
This tip is about word formation. Learning new words is a challenge that every language learner faces, but there are certain patterns that make our lives easier. So, sometimes, when you see a certain spelling, or you recognize a certain sound at the end of a word in Portuguese, you can correctly guess the corresponding word in English.
In today’s story we’ll mention a few words with the M-E-N-T-E ending.
In many instances, Portuguese words that have this “mente’ ending end with L-Y in English.
The word ‘first’ in Portuguese is “primeiro”, so “firstly” in Portuguese is ‘primeiramente’.
The word ‘harsh’ in Portuguese is ‘duro’, so harshly becomes ‘duramente’ in Portuguese.
Based on this, what do you think the Portuguese word ‘historicamente’ means?
TIC-TOC-TIC-TOC
You’re right, “historicamente” means “historically”.
To tell you that you got it right I could’ve said ‘exatamente’, that means ‘exactly’
Pronunciation Tip
Now to our pronunciation tip.
One very important aspect of understanding what people say is noticing how different words kind of combine, or sort of become one in spoken language.
Many of my students tell me that they can understand written Portuguese much better than spoken Portuguese, even when it’s the same sentence or phrase
In today’s story, there are a few examples of what happens when a word that ends with ‘s’ is followed by another that begins with a vowel.
In general, when a word ends with ‘s’, we have a /s/ sound in Portuguese. “More” in Portuguese is ‘mais’, spelled M-A-I-S
But between vowels, the letter ‘s’ has a /z/ sound. ‘House’ in Portuguese is ‘casa’, spelled C-A-S-A, /z/.
But that doesn’t only happen within a word, it also happens between words.
So, in the story there’s a mention of ‘the intense attacks’, which in Portuguese, pronounced individually is ‘os intensos ataques’.
Now, no Brazilian would ever say it like this, so it becomes ‘‘os intensos ataques’ with a clear /z/ sounds in between them.
In a different section there’s a reference to ‘economic agreements’, or ‘ acordos econômicos’, but in natural spoken Portuguese it becomes ‘acordos econômicos’ /z/
There are more examples of this, and you can find an extra one in the transcript of this podcast at bestwayportuguese.com.
More Examples (only written)
So let’s review the three cases of the sound of the letter ‘S’ in Portuguese and see more examples of each:
- Sound of /z/: When the “S” is between two vowels, or after a consonant and a vowel, in what we call CVC – consonant-vowel-consonant.
Example: presente (present), Brasil (Brazil), mesmo (same), presidente (president), países (countries). - Sound of /s/: When the “S” is at the beginning of the word or after consonants, or even when the “S” is between a vowel and a consonant in this order.
Example: seu (your), pasta (folder), esperar (to wait), intensos (intense), armas (weapons). - Between words, the “S” at the end of one word can sound like /z/.
Example: As aulas (the classes), empresas israelenses (Israeli companies), os dois (the two).
Cultural tip
And now to our cultural tip.
Using Google translate won’t help much sometimes, as we need some cultural or historical insight to fully understand a word in context.That’s the case for the expression “pra inglês ver”, literally “for English people to see”.
In the early 1800’s England, for economical reasons, decided to abolish the slave trade. The enslaved person was a problem for the expansion of early capitalism, because they did not receive a salary and that meant that they could not buy any of the products manufactured in England.
For this reason, English ships would patrol the Atlantic, in search of the only-recently-labeled criminal traders, impounding many Brazilian ships.
When England decided to abolish the slave trade, Brazil was already struggling financially because it had only recently bought its independence. I say “bought” because we had to pay a hefty fine to Portugal to become independent.
So when the price of coffee increased, Brazil decided not to adhere to this international policy and maximize its coffee production by increasing the number of enslaved people arriving in Brazil.
But to openly disregard such laws abolishing the slave trade would mean declaring war against the biggest empire at the time. So Brazilian ships would go around pretending they were apprehending slave ships, just so they could tell the English they were cooperating.
This episode has persisted in the form of the expression, “só pra inglês ver” and it’s used to this day whenever someone only pretends to do something or puts the minimum effort possible into something.
History Intro
In today’s story you’ll understand a bit more about the complex relationship between discourse and practice in international politics in the context of the ongoing massacre of Palestinians by the Israeli government and the official position of the Brazilian government.
History in Portuguese
A relação diplomática entre o Brasil e Israel está em crise. O Brasil retirou seu embaixador de Israel definitivamente no fim de maio e boicotou o discurso de Netanyahu na ONU em outubro de 2024. Mas isso pode ser só pra inglês ver.
Os intensos ataques à Faixa de Gaza já duram um ano. Durante esse período, o presidente do Brasil, Lula, criticou duramente o governo israelense e o genocídio do povo palestino.
O discurso do presidente Lula foi duro e direto. Isso agradou seus eleitores. Muitos eleitores pensam que Israel deve ir embora da Faixa de Gaza. Apesar disso, a relação entre Brasil e Israel historicamente é cordial. Os dois países têm muitos acordos econômicos.
O Brasil compra armas e importa tecnologia de vigilância de Israel. Por exemplo, em abril de 2024 o governo brasileiro comprou um bilhão de reais em armamentos de uma empresa israelense.
O Brasil não está em guerra com outros países. Na verdade, o Brasil compra e usa essas armas dentro do próprio território. Principalmente em áreas pobres no Brasil que têm ocupação militar.
Essas ocupações militares são altamente letais. A polícia brasileira matou mais de 6 mil pessoas em 2023. A polícia brasileira é a que mais mata no mundo. Por isso, o dia-a-dia em muitas favelas brasileiras não é muito diferente de uma zona de guerra. Inclusive muitos policiais brasileiros recebem treinamento em Israel.
Nesse contexto, o boicote ao discurso de Netanyahu é uma jogada política, porque o Brasil continua negociando com empresas israelenses. Além disso, muitas empresas brasileiras têm negócios com empresas israelenses envolvidas nos ataques à Faixa de Gaza.
Por isso, a crise entre o Brasil e Israel é mais no discurso do que na prática. O Brasil continua apoiando e financiando Israel e, consequentemente, o genocídio do povo palestino. Assim como financia uma guerra contra seu próprio povo.
Extra Practice
Now, if you want to take this practice further, I’ll give you the meaning of some of the words and expressions that you might have missed. Write them down and, as you listen again to the story, tick the ones you managed to understand the second time around.
GLOSSARY
“Deve ir embora” means “must leave”
‘apesar disso’ means ‘in spite of this’
‘Armamentos’ means ‘weapons’
‘Ocupação militar’ means ‘military occupation’
‘Jogada política’ refers to a strategic political move, a ‘political stunt’ in this context
‘Negócios’ in our context means ‘trade agreements’
“letais” means lethal (singular is “letal”)
Now you can go and listen again, paying close attention to these words.
CTA
Now to have access to the transcript of this podcast, you can go to bestwayportuguese.com. There you’ll find more tips, an exclusive audio version of this story with a natural speed, closer to what you could expect from a native Brazilian in a conversation, and other recordings of the same story read by our tutors from other parts of the country, so you can also practice with different accents.
There you’ll also be able to book a lesson with one of our amazing tutors and practice what you’ve just learned.
That’s all for today, thanks for listening. Até a próxima!
