Did you know that Portuguese has passed through non-European languages, such as Sanskrit, Arabic, and several African languages? Portuguese and Spanish are closely related, with a few exceptions.
The long "a" sound is spelled ei. (examples: pareira, capoeira, seringueiro)
The long "i" sound is spelled ai. (examples: coaita, saimiri, pirai)
The long "u" sound can be spelled u, o, or ou. (examples: murumuru, chocalho, chibigouazou)
The "sh" sound is spelled with an x. (examples: abacaxi, xarque, caixinha)
The "sh" sound at the beginning of the word is spelled with a ch. (examples: chamade, chamiso, chavante)
The "k" sound is spelled with a c or qu. (examples: candiru, callimico, jequitiba, macaque)
The "zh" sound is spelled with a j. (examples: feijoada, teju, acajou)
Portuguese is a rare language used at the National Spelling Bee. There will be one appearing up every now and then. If you know the rules, you will probably get the word right.
Tomorrow or whenever I can, I will post rules from Persian, Sanskrit, and Hindi.
No comments:
Post a Comment