Within its vast territory, you will find people from different regions, sharing the same language, but with so many accents and different words to say the same thing. Although everybody in Brazil speaks Portuguese, the “Brazilian Portuguese” has some regional differences that derive from the local culture.

In the Northeast you can eat “macaxeira”, the same delicious root that is referred to as “mandioca” in the Southeast, or “aipim”, in the South. In the South, due to the chilly weather in winter, people wear a “japona”, but in other parts of the country, that word is meaningless. Instead, you may hear words like “casaco”, “blusa”, or “jaqueta”, all of them meaning “coat”.

Visiting the five Brazilian geographic regions will give you an idea of the Brazilian diversity, starting with the language. At Univali you can learn Portuguese and come into contact local students and residents. This will be a great help you when learning Portuguese, because not everybody in Brazil speaks English or other second languages.

Learning Portuguese will also help you to understand the lovely Bossa Nova songs, and the many other music genres, such as the colorful “Carimbó”, from the State of Pará, the “Frevo” from Pernambuco, in which the dancers make acrobatic movements while holding small parasols, the “Vaneirão” of the Gaucho traditions from Rio Grande do Sul, or even the “Funk”, from Rio or “Samba”.