Amigo or Amiga?

          Living in the so-called Chinatown neighborhood of the city is quite interesting. As you walk around you hear people speaking Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese. Let alone the Portuguese that we speak. There might even be other Asian languages that are spoken which I do not recognize. I have always thought that it was quite rude of people to speak a language other than the common one for the people living in the country, in this case Portuguese.

Portuguese is a real hard language to learn and speak accurately, in my opinion. I speak from experience. I learned Portuguese when I was sixteen and as I usually say: I am still in the language acquisition stage. English is my first language and I do not follow all the tips that I preach, I mean teach when it comes to learning a language.

Today I went into a neighborhood grocery store. Perhaps it can be called a little supermarket; you can find a lot of things there, not just food. It is owned by a Chinese family who can hardly speak Portuguese. They know a few words like obrigado (thank you) and oi (hi). They point to the cash register when they charge you and to order cold cuts which are sliced at the spot, you have to give them a show of fingers whether you want 200 grams or 300. Somehow everyone seems to communicate well enough to buy and sell.

Like I said, I went there today for some juice and mozzarella, 200 grams. The girl who attended me said Oi amiga. (Hi friend). I thought it was nice. She had added a new word to her line because before she would only say Oi. When she handed me my cheese she smiled and said Obrigada amiga. (Thank you friend)

When I was at the cash register she came to help with the sacking. There was an older woman ahead of me and the girl said Oi amiga to the older lady too. When she handed the shopping bag to the older lady she said Obrigada amiga. Tchau amiga. (Goodbye friend).

It made me wonder whether or not she could use the masculine for amiga, you see amiga is the feminine form of the word friend in Portuguese and the masculine is amigo. As there were no men around, I do not have the answer to this question.

I guess I will have to pay closer attention to see whether or not she knows how to use the feminine and masculine form of the word the next time I stop in to buy something.

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(Written November 5, 2012)

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