Introduction: Hello, hello and welcome to Fundamentos. This is our new 30-day English course that will help you be more comfortable and more confident in day to day situations in English. Isso aí, seja bem vindo ao Fundamentos. É o nosso novo curso que vai te ensinar como dominar as situações essenciais do dia a dia. We are super excited that you are participating and we're confident that you're going to learn a lot. Então vamos começar!

Foster: Hello, hello. Hey Alexia. How are you doing today?

Alexia: Hey Foster. I'm doing just fine. What about you?

Foster: I'm doing well. It is bright and early in the morning. As we sometimes say in English, "Top of the mornin' to ya." Do you understand that?**

Alexia: Yeah. But you never say that.

Foster: I never say that. I think that's more of a British expression, but I'm just saying good morning.

Alexia: Yes. Good morning.

Foster: Okay. So today we are talking about travel. And we've already talked about hotels, Airbnbs, the fun part of travel. But today we're talking about the not so fun part of travel. 

Alexia: Yes. Not so fun part of travel, that means that everyone gets super anxious about it.**

I'm anxious.
Estou ansioso.

He's anxious because he has a job interview tomorrow.
Ele está ansioso porque ele tem uma entrevista de trabalho amanhã.

I'm looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.
Estou ansioso para te ver amanhã.

Foster: Yeah. So in general, we're talking about the bureaucratic part of travel, the imigration, dealing with security, going to airports and you know, getting taxis, that kind of thing. 

Alexia: Yes, yes. And especially going through costumes. 

Foster: Costumes? 

Alexia: No. Customs.

Foster: Customs. 

Alexia: 'Costumes' is 'fantasia,' and 'customs' is the 'imigração.'

Foster: Exactly.

Alexia: The federal police department.

Foster: So let's just focus on that pronunciation real quick. Customs.

Alexia: Customs. 

Foster: É… Como é que fala isso em português?

Alexia: Imigração.

Foster: É. And then, 'costume.'

Alexia: Costume. Fantasia.

Foster: Yeah. Actually quite different if you think about it. Custom. Costume.

Alexia: Yeah. 

Foster: Okay. So Alexia, just to give a little bit of context, you have had a lot of experiences with different imigration officials. I believe the 7th or 8th episode of Inglês Nu e Cru Rádio was about your experience in the Atlanta Airport. 

Alexia: Yes.

Foster: And it's still one of our most popular episodes today.

Alexia: Yes. People love some reality show, don't they?

Foster: Yes. People love drama and hearing about Brazilians being interrogated in airports. But today we don't want drama, today we just want the fundamentals. So Alexia, as someone that has passed through this experience several times, what are the basic things, the most important things that you need to know when you are traveling? 

Alexia: I would say how to understand what they're asking. Because it won't be more than, "What's your name? What's your last name? Where are you going to? Where are you coming from? What are your plans about your travel? Are you going to work?  Are you going to...just on holidays?" You know?

Foster: Uh-huh.

Alexia: So know the basic things like, and really really practice before going to. 

Foster: Yes.

Alexia: Like, really really practice it. If there is a situation that I could practice a lot, it's that one. This will make your life so much easier.

Foster: Yeah. If there's a situation that you'd recommend our students preparing for more than any other situation...

Alexia: Yeah.

Foster: If you're going to travel, this is probably a situation where you are going to get anxious, where your English is just going to disappear, so it's better to prepare beforehand. 

Alexia: Yeah. And that's why it's so important to know how to talk about yourself. That's why we always say, like, "If you know how to present yourself, how to talk about yourself, what you do, everything will be easier."

Foster: Yeah. Absolutely. Can I give you a couple of my personal tips?

Alexia: Uh-huh.

Foster: Like when I'm traveling to Brazil, in general it's not as difficult for me to enter Brazil as an American compared to you as a Brazilian entering the .U.S. Nowadays, who knows? But in the past when I was traveling to Brazil. But I have a couple of tips. 

Alexia: You had a bad experience in England, in London.

Foster: Yes. Can I give you a couple of tips for my Portuguese, please?

Alexia: Yes. 

Foster: Okay. Tip number 1: when I was traveling to Brazil and I was a little bit nervous about my Portuguese. First, I always try to speak to someone on the plane. Because the plane is full of Brazilians and normally I'm sitting beside a Brazilian and I can say, "Qual é o seu nome?" And they're like, "Pedro." "Where are you from, Pedro?" "I'm from São Paulo." And then I can kind of practice my Portuguese a little bit so when I arrive, I already have the experience of speaking with a native speaker, I feel a little bit more comfortable. 

Alexia: Yeah. 

Foster: Yeah. And tip number 2: on the plane, in the airport, before the airport, I'm always listening to Brazilian music, listening to podcasts in Portuguese, watching movies in Portuguese on the plane, just to get my brain transitioning into Brazilian mentality. Does that make sense? 

Alexia: Yes. I think when you are in the airplane, some people can sleep. I can't that much, so I am always watching movies and not using subtitles in English or anything just to get my mind settled to English only. 

Foster: Yeah, for sure. And another really important point that I just thought about. When we talked about misunderstandings, so if someone says something and you do not understand them, how to respond to that. Those are super super important. Those expressions, those phrases, will be very useful because like Alexia was saying, when you're going through emmigration, or talking to airport officials, there is usually not that many questions.

Alexia: No. 

Foster: It's like, "What are you doing here?"

Alexia: And if they see like, that you don't know how to answer, in their minds are like, "This person is lying or she needs help and I'll send her to the room, so she can get more details about what she's doing here. And I need to get through my line." Because they have a huge line, so just pass to the other oficial, they don't wanna know about you anymore.

Foster: Yeah.

Alexia: So if you know how to make it really fast and really full of information, the way that they want, you're gonna be okay. 

Foster: Yeah. 

Alexia: It's not that easy. I'm always super anxious about it because I'm so worried about the other person like, is it a nice person? Is it not a nice person?

Foster: If they're having a good day.

Alexia: Yes. And it's... Oh my goodness, it's so hard. 

Foster: Yeah. It's a sad thing, but it is very true. Linguistic discrimination is a very very real thing. 

Alexia: And not only that, in my case it's a woman traveling all by herself going to see her boyfriend in the United States. I mean… 

Foster: Yeah. I mean, also if your story fits a specific profile. But if you're very confident with your answers, I'm just imagining everytime I go to Brazil, their responses are almost always, "Uh, você fala bem português. O seu português é muito bom. Onde você aprendeu?" "Ah, minha namorada." "Ah, que legal cara." And you know, all day they probably speak to Americans that speak no Portuguese. So when they have an American who speaks Portuguese, they think "Oh yeah. Okay, this guy is cool in our country."

Alexia: Yes.

Foster: And the same thing, if they see a Brazilian passport and someone is very prepared...

Alexia: And this person is very polite, you gotta be polite, they're doing their jobs. So, I mean, they're trying to keep you safe and keep the country safe, so…

Foster: Exactly. So I think the most important thing, the moral of the story today…

Alexia: Know what you're gonna say. Practice before.

Foster: Yes. Prepare, make your scripts, listen to the repetitions, do that process again approximately one thousand times and you'll be good to go. 

Alexia: Yes, exactly. 

Foster: And we all still have a little bit of time before we're going to travel internationally again probably. But a vaccine is on the horizon. 

Alexia: Woo-hoo. 

Foster: So you have time to practice, and I think that's it. 

Alexia: That's it. 

Foster: Cool. We'll see you guys tomorrow. Thank you, Alexia. As always, keep up the good fight…

Alexia: And lose well. Bye!

bright - brilhante, radiante

anxious - ansioso

practice - praticar

easier - mais fácil

disappear - desaparecer

beforehand - antecipadamente

plane - avião

beside - ao lado

arrive - chegar

brain - cérebro

thought - pensamento, pensei

discrimination - discriminação

profile - perfil

responses - respostas

polite - educado

safe - seguro