LIB 005: The Cost of Living in Brazil, what You Really Pay

The cost of living in Brazil What should I really budget on spending per month in Brazil?

This is one of the biggest questions that people asked me and it’s pretty obvious why: it is important to have a realistic expectation of how much you will need to live off of per month in Brazil.

And after seeing the success of my post on the cost of living in Brazil, I’ve decided to go even deeper into and talk more detailed about how much things cost and why.

Not only that, in this podcast you will also be presented with things that you normally wouldn’t budget for that may not be necessary to pay for back home.

So sit back, listen and enjoy this episode.

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6 Ways to Communicate in Portuguese Through Body Language

ok sign, body language, Portuguese Body language can be up to 90% of the communication happening in any given conversation – how we move our bodies, use our voices, gesture ,move our eyes and use facial expressions can be a communicational deal maker or breaker.

In a nutshell: learning the vocabulary of a new language is only the beginning of being able to speak Portuguese fluently, in the end, it comes down to how you use your body to express yourself.

With that in mind, let me give you an example by telling you a story about a well meaning American, who accidentily called everyone he met in Brazil the vulgar equivalent of a rear end…

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Overstaying a Tourist Visa in Brazil: What to Do When Illegal

illegal tourist visa Have you been wondering what happens if you are living on an expired tourist visa in Brazil and what to do in that “illegal” situation?

E-mails come to me regularly from numerous foreigners that live or are considering living illegally in Brazil on an expired tourist visa.  And I usually get asked advice on what visa to switch to or apply for or what the consequences for overstaying your tourist visa would be.

And hey, if you’re in this situation, I’m not here to judge you but only help.

So today I will be addressing those questions and advising you on what you can do in this situation including how to pay the fine if you do overstay.

But first, let’s talk about the limits of a tourist visa and how far you can go on one.

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LIB 004: Getting a Investment Visa in Brazil with Sam Flowers of Gringocafe.com

Investor visa For those with around $75,000 (R$150,000) to invest into the Brazilian economy, you can secure yourself permanent residence status while opening or building a business.

The Brazilian government allows you to get an Investor Visa just by investing into the economy.  This is a popular visa amongst career professionals but there are some important aspect of getting this visa that they won’t tell you about…

Here is where Sam Flowers comes into the picture, owner and operator of the Brazilian diner “Gringo Café”, he has gone through this process, employed several Brazilians and currently lives a picturesque Gringo life at Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro.

You will want to take heed to his words as Sam tells his amazing story of how he got to Brazil, made it through the Investment Visa process and opened his business.

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5 Tips to Ace Your Job Interview in Brazil

Job interview in Brazil, Brazilian interview, Interview Brazilian company Palms sweating and hands shaking, the receptionist “un-helpingly” says “you’re the first one today huh?” as I headed to the conference room to be interrigated interviewed for my dream job.

2 weeks of “what if, what if?” waiting had gone by, where my mind raced day and night about how to be best prepared to tackle this interview.

A lot was riding on this: my career, our future, relocating and uprooting our family!

The conference room door was in clear site and in my Sunday best, I headed straight for it.

BUT at the last moment in a big turn of events, nature called in a way like never before…

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How Real Life Portuguese Usage Throttles Your Learning

Portuguese conversation Allowing your Portuguese to see the light of day is the single most important thing you can do to increases your speaking abilities by immeasurable amounts.

When I was 16 and oh so nieve, I purchased a really cool car that needed a whole lot of work – a 1986 Pontiac Fiero GT.

“A whole lot of work” basically meant that there was no motor, transmission or anything mechanical in it.  The paint was shot, interior ugly and when I handed over the hard earned $200 bucks to the seller, I got several boxes of parts.

Ok cool, so it’s like putting a puzzle together right?

Wrong!

This was a mixture of a 10,000 piece labyrinth-puzze (if that even exists) especially since I had no mechanical inclination what-so-ever… And so I mustered my best 16 year old spirit up, purchased a repair manual and cheap-o tool kit and got to work.

I was in for a ride (no pun intended)…

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LIB 003: 5 Solid Visa Types Allowing You to Work in Brazil

5 types of visas allowing any foreigner to live and work in Brazil broken down and explained in this podcast episode. If there is one single thing that I get asked the most about, it is visas and jobs.  Do I get a visa to get a job, a job to get a visa or what allows me to make money and live in Brazil? Having gone through this myself and helped countless others, I thought it was time to tackle this question and pick 5 solid obtainable visas that you can get as a foreigner looking to live in Brazil.

In this Session You Will Discover

  • Why being married to a Brazilian is a great way to slingshot you into Brazil.
  • How the little known Stable Union visa could be your way in.
  • The Work Visa vs Business Visa confusion.
  • What types of Work Visas are out there and how to get one.
  • Why an Investor Visa is an open door to a permanent visa for anyone with R$150,000 (75,000USD)
  • The reason we chose to have a baby in Brazil: instant citizenship.

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How to Master the Brazilian Portuguese Nasal Vowels

Brazilian Nasal Vowels Today, we have a special guest post from Idahosa Ness.  I’ve been really looking forward to this post because not only has he learned the science behind “language Flow”, he’s got Portuguese pronunciation down with pretty much 0 accent!

Let’s welcome him with big, open and Brazilian abraço – take it away Idahosa!

To learn Portuguese and blend in with Brazilians with your accent, you’re going to need to master The Flow of Portuguese.

In my language-learning philosophy – – “The Flow” of a language refers to the sound patterns that underlie its words and phrases.  You can learn every word in the dictionary, but if you don’t master the flow of Portuguese then you won’t be able to converse fluently.  

Without a doubt, your biggest challenge with Portuguese flow will be in mastering the nasal vowels.  These sounds are not only difficult for most foreigners to articulate correctly, but they also occur all the time in Portuguese speech; so there’s no avoiding them.

But not to worry, you can master the portuguese nasal vowels in less than a month with proper training.

Here’s the process to Portuguese nasal vowel mastery:

  • Understand what a nasal vowel is and what it is NOT
  • Tune your ear to the sound of nasalization
  • Develop an awareness of your “Velum”
  • Train your control over the nasalization muscles.

Take the time to understand the diagrams and practice the drills in this post and you will eliminate over half of your foreign accent in Portuguese and dramatically increase your comprehension and speaking fluency.

Let’s get started…

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LIB 002: Teaching English in Brazil and the top 6 FAQ with Josh Plotkin

Teaching english in Brazil podcastTeaching English in Brazil is one of the most sought after ways of earning money for foreigner coming to the country.  Fortunately the need for English teachers is only increases as the economy grows, equating to too many jobs and not enough gringos to fill them!

I had the pleasure of interviewing Josh Plotkin from  on this podcast and was able to pick his mind to get the best answers to the top questions that you as a foreigner want answers to.

Josh is a wonderful guy and really knowledgable about teaching English, so much in fact, that he dedicates most his time to helping you anyway possible.

To be honest, this interview was a lot of fun and I really believe that you will enjoy it!

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Getting an Interview for a Brazilian Job in 3, 2 and 1

Interview job in Brazil Sending your application and CV (or Resume in USA) in hopes of getting a Brazilian job is only the first part of the equation, the second part is actually landing the interview.  

And after today’s post, you should have the clear steps on how to get an interview and be closer to your dream of getting a job in Brazil.

As you were looking through job classifieds, you found one that caught your eye.  This particular job seems to encompass you in every way and appears to be a perfect fit with your qualifications and desires.

So you eagerly write up a wonderful application and CV and are ready to send it in, in hopes of getting that elusive interview – will they contact you and schedule an interview or not?

Here are 3 easy-to-follow steps that will increase your chances of getting the interview by leaps and bounds:

  1. 1 e-mail to Separate your application and CV From the Rest
  2. The 1 Phone Call that will Make Your (and Their!) Day
  3. Sicking The Network You Didn’t Know You Had, after the Company

But First, do you know about the single largest mistake we make when sending our CV in that gets it put right into the trash?

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