Talking to myself is my new hobby.

I’m sure I’ve muttered a few things under my breath on occasion in the past, but I’m full-blown chatting away to myself in the car to learn Portuguese lately.

When I started listening to Pimsleur Portuguese language CDs, I felt stupid repeating after the speaker. The nasal sounds of Portuguese become ridiculous in a hybrid form with a Minnesotan accent.Melanie Mogg

I eventually caved and began practicing at full volume – introducing myself to fictional characters, buying things in a store where I have “no money” or “a lot of money”, ordering “feijoada” (a Brazilian black bean and meat stew) and a round of “cerveja” or “caipirinha” (Brazil’s sugar-cane based rum drink) for imaginary friends, or locating a bathroom.

At least the bare necessities of my upcoming Group Study Exchange Trip to Brazil have been covered, and the language CDs are more thought provoking than anything on am radio; although, I’m sure Tony Fly and the crack team at B 96.3 FM are having high-brow discussion I’m missing out on.

Instead, I can ask “Where is the hotel?” in Portuguese, and an imaginary cab driver says, “The hotel is there.”

Perfect! I’m fluent.

Even if I sound like a five-year old, I won’t starve to death or come back to Prior Lake without purchasing souvenirs from Vitoria, the city where our team will spend the bulk of its visit, on the eastern coast, north of Rio.Taz Baldiwala

Emily, Leah, Taz, Melanie and myself make up the Rotary Group Study Exchange team to Brazil this year. While the other team members have much more background in other languages than I do, we’re all learning Portuguese for the first time.

It will take me  time to grasp vocabulary and how to use verbs correctly - not to mention to get tenses correct - but the CDs helped to dive in with phrases and pronunciation. Anything a person can learn in the car in a 30-minute commute is attainable (if you drive and can talk at the same time without getting too distracted, which can be a challenge; but they haven’t passed legislation against using language CDs in the car, yet).

It’s heartening how many free or easily-accessible language tools are out there for learning.

Scott County libraries offer Rosetta Stone computer programs online for free, while Hennepin County libraries have MP3 downloads available; both resources have access to language books, CDs and more.Emily Geyer

The Web is riddled with free resources – www.mangolanguages.com, www.fsi-language-courses.com,  www.babelfish.altavista.com – to start working with language through slides, listening exercises and translation.

One reason I applied with the Prior Lake Rotary Club for the Group Study Exchange to Brazil was to create an impetus to study another language – with the scare tactic of not being able to talk for a month abroad. That got me listening to CDs pretty quickly.

Wanting to communicate through a new language is like breaking a code.

Taz located a Portuguese study group through www.meetup.com, where we meet weekly to listen to native speakers, and other speakers who are further along than I am. I’m slowly able to pick out more words and to grasp a better understanding each week.

In Prior Lake, we certainly encourage the children in our community to learn new languages and about new cultures, and I don’t think the adults in our community are washed up yet.Joanna Miller

Why not challenge myself to learn a new language and about another country?

Why should that learning stop at high school or college graduation?

What better retirement hobby, when people have the chance to travel more often and use a language first hand?

If you’ve put learning Spanish, French (or Portuguese) on the back burner, I’d say it can be a free foray into a new culture.

Why not give it a shot?Leah Sedler

 Joanna Miller can be reached at (952) 345-6375 or jmiller@swpub.com.