Como dizer tudo em inglêsFale a coisa certa em qualquer situação
by Ron Martinez, Editora Campus - 2000, 256 pages
Reviewed by Ceridwen Buckmaster
As a learner and teacher of languages, I realise how useful and effective this book will be. Students learning English already bring complex thoughts and ideas with them into the learning process - ideas that have matured over the years while learning their first language. Yet we as teachers many times have students expressing these same ideas in English in very un-complex and often unnatural ways. This book will help avoid this.
Whether you and/or your students are beginner or proficiency level, if you've got a sensitive, important or tricky situation on your hands, this book has got it covered.
Be it comforting someone after some bad news. Não deixe isso lhe afetar (Don't let it get to you), or flirting... Você tem um sorriso bonito (You have a really nice smile), or signposting a lecture or comment in a formal meeting... Vamos voltar a questão do... (Let's go back to the question of…) - this book gives you the language (if not the courage) to help you and your students communicate efficiently. There is no grammatical explanation in Como Dizer Tudo as it focuses first on meaning and communication. Students don't necessarily profit from being able to label grammar and different parts of speech just as you don't need to know the names of the streets to get you from A to B - you remember landmarks, traffic lights, memorable buildings, left turns, right turns, billboards.... that is, you remember the situation you are faced with. This is how this book works - you navigate your way through the book depending on the situations you find yourself in.
Como Dizer Tudo is not a "phrase book" in the old, limited sense but a rich and practical resource that demystifies language-learning and the relationship between English and Portuguese. So in your linguistic journey from A to B, whatever your level or objective, Como Dizer Tudo em Inglês will help you out with the way.
Whether you and/or your students are beginner or proficiency level, if you've got a sensitive, important or tricky situation on your hands, this book has got it covered.
Be it comforting someone after some bad news. Não deixe isso lhe afetar (Don't let it get to you), or flirting... Você tem um sorriso bonito (You have a really nice smile), or signposting a lecture or comment in a formal meeting... Vamos voltar a questão do... (Let's go back to the question of…) - this book gives you the language (if not the courage) to help you and your students communicate efficiently. There is no grammatical explanation in Como Dizer Tudo as it focuses first on meaning and communication. Students don't necessarily profit from being able to label grammar and different parts of speech just as you don't need to know the names of the streets to get you from A to B - you remember landmarks, traffic lights, memorable buildings, left turns, right turns, billboards.... that is, you remember the situation you are faced with. This is how this book works - you navigate your way through the book depending on the situations you find yourself in.
Como Dizer Tudo is not a "phrase book" in the old, limited sense but a rich and practical resource that demystifies language-learning and the relationship between English and Portuguese. So in your linguistic journey from A to B, whatever your level or objective, Como Dizer Tudo em Inglês will help you out with the way.
The reviewer
Ceridwen Buckmaster is an EFL teacher at Britannia schools, as well as a writer and translator. Contact her by e-mail: cezzab@yahoo.com