Carlos

Carlos

When did you come to Australia?

I was born in Brazil and started school there. After the end of year 1 I moved to Australia with all of my family. I started school here in year 2 in a public primary school and in year 7, I moved to this school for secondary.

What language do you speak at home?

We speak Portuguese at home. Mum and dad don’t speak a lot of English. I am helping Mum to learn more English. So at home we usually speak Portuguese. But my sister and I, we speak English together as well. Sometimes she doesn’t understand Portuguese, so she says it in English so I we keep switching.

What language do you speak the most of?

I am pretty a fluent speaker of both English and Portuguese, and I can also speak a little bit of Spanish. When I first came here and started to learn English I didn’t read or write in Portuguese, but when I learnt how to do that in English I started picking up how to write and read in Portuguese too. I don’t know why but it just helped. But now I read books and other things in Portuguese when I’m at home. I hear English and I know it straight away. I don’t translate it anymore like I used to. But now I sometimes forget words in Portuguese, because when you learn English you start forgetting a bit of words from your own language

What helps you in class?

I like to sit with an English speaker in class. That way if the teacher speaks fast and I miss something I can just quickly check with the person beside me. If I’m with a Portuguese speaker in class we spend lots of time trying to work out what we are supposed to do.

What about homework and assignments?

When the text is heavy reading I think that having some words translated might help me to understand the English. My Mum might be able to help me if we had some translation too.

*These profiles are constructed from real interviews, but are not direct transcriptions.