Disclaimer: Not ALL Brazilians do ALL of these. Nor are Brazilians the only ones who do them. These are based on differences noted by Anglos living in Brazil and by Brazilians living in the English-speaking world. I have never been to Brazil myself – yet.
Culture:
- Put your old national identity to one side and make room for a new Brazilian one.
- Be a Lusophone: learn Portuguese – Brazilian Portuguese, of course.
- Be Catholic or at least Christian or at least respect religion.
- Use metric units.
- Use the 24-hour clock.
- Listen to Brazilian music.
- Watch Brazilian films.
- Watch soccer or Brazilian telenovelas. Or both.
Food:
- Eat rice and beans every day.
- Buy freshly baked bread every day
- Drink strong coffee, not that watered down stuff they drink in the US.
- Eat pizza with a knife and fork.
- Add sugar to your juice.
- Take a full hour to eat lunch. And then brush your teeth. (You did bring your toothbrush, right?)
- Order something not on the menu.
Hygiene and manners:
- Share, especially food (give others a first bite).
- Shower before you go out and before you go to bed.
- Brush your teeth before breakfast and after every meal.
- Do not burp in public.
- Do not blow your nose.
- Cough into your hands not into your arm.
People:
- Family comes first.
- Greet people warmly.
- Hug!
- Be friendly to strangers. Help them if they need help. But do not necessarily trust them.
- Your friend’s friend is your friend.
- Struggle to be on time. Better late than never.
- Parties: Arrive two hours late. Greet everyone personally when you get there.
- Linger at parties, restaurants, the beach.
- Sing along at concerts.
- Kiss your girlfriend in public, hold her hand.
- Bring back gifts from abroad.
- Be judgemental about how people dress, yourself included. The world treats people better when they dress well.
Talking:
- Take time to actually talk to people.
- When talking to someone try to put yourself in their shoes and speak to that. Get into what they are saying.
- Talk with emotion, not like blah-blah-blah-blah.
- Use strong eye contact to show interest.
- Include everyone in the conversation.
- Do not get straight to the point. Ask for things in a roundabout way.
- Lie to protect people’s feelings.
- Avoid saying no, even if it means making promises you later break or keeping your opinion to yourself.
Life:
- Life is about people.
- Measure your success by your happiness not your accomplishments.
- Remember that the glass is half full, not half empty.
- Be optimistic and fatalistic. Everything works out in the end. Things will get better tomorrow.
- Stop and smell the roses. Enjoy today instead of worrying so much about tomorrow (but still worry).
- Do something you love each day.
- Love beauty in nature, people and architecture.
- Complain about your country, especially the government, but be proud of your country too.
- Be class-conscious more than race-conscious.
- When asked where you are from, just give your nationality. Do not get into race or ethnicity or where your family came from.
– Abagond, 2018.
Sources: “Brazil – Culture Smart” (2006) by Sandra Branco and Rob Williams; Brazilian Gringo, Global Citizen Year, Lexiophiles, and endless YouTube videos.
See also:
- Brazil
- My thing for Brazil
- Black Brazil in the Black gringo gaze
- Guide to Anglos
- How to be Parisian
- WWSD – What Would Sade Do?
561
I can get with this!
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Religion – “Catholic” no longer a strong factor: Evangelicals are officially 20% (and many, including I, suspect it’s more), and they’re more likely to keep their Christianity in mind most of the time.
Brazilian films: nearly every Brazilian watches Hollywood more (though maybe even the French do likewise, so weak point), and also, thinking Brazilian films suck isn’t rare (though, I think, not so common nowadays).
Soccer/Brazilian soap operas: yes, if you watch neither, you’re pretty much not a Brazilian in any meaningful sense even if born here, and a lot of usual conversation fails to exist. (I don’t even have a TV.)
Pizza with knife and fork: it gets done, but far from always – I didn’t think it was distinguishing.
Ordering off-menu: I wouldn’t know. (Mentioning this because I’m confirming all those I say nothing about.)
Not burping: no consensus on that among men.
Not blowing nose: not in public, or never? I’m not sure even the first is consensus.
Family first: not as total as in Africa and Asia, but yes, it’s the tendency.
Punctuality: for non-business activities, being on-site 5 min before might actually cause complaints.
Others’ shoes: I’m not convinced Brazilians are good at that. A famous Brazilian thought is that rules exist for everyone but oneself (admittedly, there is a minority that is against rules in any case).
No blah-blah: BS; there’s plenty, also plenty of gossip.
Including everyone: yes, with a small possibility of obviously forced, insulting inclusion.
Optimism: there’s plenty that “life can always go on”; “things will get better” is less universal.
Something loved every day: the average day involves working in a job object of little feeling, and getting back home, so more time with family than anything else, by far (I wouldn’t say Brazilians are good at having hobbies or belonging to non-family groups, for example).
I’m skeptical that there’s Brazilian appreciation for architecture worth noting (I mean, some, of course, but more than the average culture?).
Class/race conscience: I’d say more that Brazilians elide either one when it looks like there’s potential for conflict, which doesn’t mean they don’t think about both a lot.
Source: am Brazilian. (If it matters, Southern, but a) I’ve been elsewhere and seen “more typical” Brazilians, and b) the differences between large cities Southern and not are a lot less than some Southerners think.)
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Gonna disagree with Silva here on the soap opera/soccer thing, in some circles nobody cares about them. Also, starting from the 00s, cable became a huge deal for middle class folks, leading to more focus on american media. And the internet is kinda killing interest on TV in general for certain demographics. But then again, São Paulo is a bit of an extreme outlier in terms of cosmopolitanism, so the reality probably looks much different in an average city.
@OP Never heard of the “taking a bath twice per day” thing. It’s even more bizarre given that nobody wants to overspend on electric/water bills. Dunno where you’ve heard that one.
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@ Silva
Thank you!
Keep in mind that this is a comparison between Brazil and the English-speaking world (the US, Canada and Britain, to be precise), not with France, Africa, etc.
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@ Silva
That is a good point. Brazil does not seem to have a film industry on a scale with Hollywood, Bollywood or Nollywood.
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@ Abagond
Please correct the name “Snadra Branco” in your statement about sources.
The correct name is “Sandra Branco”.
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@ munubantu
Thank you!
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