Carioca and Paulista: Two Ways to Sound Brazilian
Rio hisses its s because the Portuguese court moved there in 1808. Sao Paulo carries an Italian melody from a million immigrants. Plus the four other accents Brazilian television does not use.
Vokabulo helps you build the vocabulary of your own life: the words you encounter, reach for, and want to use. Personal vocabulary for people who are past the basics and want to become more articulate.
Home 133 🇪🇸 DO YOU REMEMBER?
el mando a distancia
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Words 2,067 🇪🇸 Enter a word, expression, or complete sentence
una elegancia atemporal
a timeless elegance
“Su casa tiene una elegancia atemporal que sobrevive a cualquier moda pasajera.”
“His house has a timeless elegance that outlives every passing trend.”
no salir de su asombro
to not get over it
“No salgo de mi asombro con esta noticia.”
“I still can’t get over this news.”
el borrador m
the draft, the rough copy
“Te mando el borrador esta tarde para que le eches un vistazo.”
“I’ll send you the draft this afternoon so you can take a look.”
Es tan ingenuo que picó el anzuelo.
He is so naive that he fell for it.
picar el anzuelo
to fall for it, to take the bait
Scenes 🇪🇸 I just moved here and I want to meet new people and make friends.
EXAMPLES
Sets 🇪🇸 WHEN GRAMMAR ISN’T THE PROBLEM ANYMORE
Language apps and courses teach the foundations: grammar, pronunciation and the first thousand words. But around B1, the problem changes. You can already speak. Now the challenge is finding the words to say exactly what you mean. After B1, your vocabulary becomes personal.
FEATURES
01 Words
Hear a phrase you want to remember. Find a word in a book. Get stuck searching for the right expression in a conversation. Add it, and Vokabulo fills in the translation and a natural example.
Watch video · 1 min Words 2,067 🇪🇸 Enter a word, expression, or complete sentence
una elegancia atemporal
a timeless elegance
“Su casa tiene una elegancia atemporal que sobrevive a cualquier moda pasajera.”
“His house has a timeless elegance that outlives every passing trend.”
no salir de su asombro
to not get over it
“No salgo de mi asombro con esta noticia.”
“I still can’t get over this news.”
el borrador
the draft, the rough copy
“Te mando el borrador esta tarde para que le eches un vistazo.”
“I’ll send you the draft this afternoon so you can take a look.”
Enter a word, expression, or complete sentence
una elegancia atemporal
a timeless elegance
“Su casa tiene una elegancia atemporal que sobrevive a cualquier moda pasajera.”
“His house has a timeless elegance that outlives every passing trend.”
02 Scenes
Tell Vokabulo what you’re about to do: a client meeting, a dinner party, a doctor’s appointment, a first date. It creates the vocabulary and examples for that exact situation, matched to your level.
Watch video · 2 min Scenes Tell us what’s happening or what’s coming up, and we’ll help you find the right words.
Meeting new people and making friends
Key vocabulary for building a social circle after a move
25 words generated
conocer a alguien → to get to know someone
“Tengo muchas ganas de conocer a mis nuevos vecinos.”
“I’m really looking forward to meeting my new neighbours.”
hacer amistad → to make friends
el círculo social → the social circle
la red de contactos → the network
caer bien → to be likeable
acogedor → welcoming
un vecino → a neighbour
charlar → to chat
proponer tomar algo → to suggest going for a drink
apuntarse a un club → to join a club
intercambiar los números → to swap numbers
03 Study
Understanding a word once isn’t enough. Vokabulo brings it back at the right time, again and again, until you can recall it when you actually need it.
Watch video · 2 min Es tan ingenuo que picó el anzuelo.
He is so naive that he fell for it.
picar el anzuelo
to fall for it, to take the bait
Colloquial
04 Sets
Renting an apartment, opening a bank account, seeing a doctor: Sets are ready-made word lists for the moments every learner faces. Look through the words, then add them all to your Words with one tap.
Watch video · 2 min Sets 🇪🇸 Apartment Hunting Vocabulary
30 words
el alquiler
the rent
“El alquiler incluye la luz y el agua.”
“The rent includes electricity and water.”
la fianza
the deposit
“Nos piden dos meses de fianza por adelantado.”
“They’re asking for two months’ deposit up front.”
amueblado
furnished
“Buscamos un piso amueblado cerca del centro.”
“We’re looking for a furnished apartment near the centre.”
Words 2,097 🇪🇸 el alquiler
the rent
“El alquiler incluye la luz y el agua.”
“The rent includes electricity and water.”
la fianza
the deposit
“Nos piden dos meses de fianza por adelantado.”
“They’re asking for two months’ deposit up front.”
amueblado
furnished
“Buscamos un piso amueblado cerca del centro.”
“We’re looking for a furnished apartment near the centre.”
FOR LIFE IN ANOTHER LANGUAGE
The words you need come from your work, your conversations, your interests, and everything you want to do more fully in another language.
Handle everyday life with confidence: from appointments and paperwork to conversations that make a place feel like home.
Join the seminar, the discussion and the life around it, with the words to contribute, connect and belong.
Bring the same clarity, confidence and personality to every meeting, presentation and conversation.
Go beyond understanding the gist: catch the nuance, humour and references that make the original worth reading or watching.
WHAT CHANGES
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precision
Say exactly what you mean instead of the nearest thing you can remember.
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natural speech
Learn how people actually say things: the right tone, phrasing and word combinations.
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range
Move beyond the same safe words you reach for in every conversation.
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expression
Say more of what you think, feel and notice, without simplifying yourself.
VIDEO
“I’m amazed at how precisely it comes up with genuinely useful words for one specific situation. Brilliant app for my day-to-day work in medicine!”
“It’s good fun, and after a few weeks of using it, it works really well for the way I learn.”
“Vokabulo helps enormously. Everything makes sense straight away and the app is really well thought through. Learning like this is a pleasure.”
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Q&A
Everything you’ve always wanted to know about Vokabulo.
FROM THE BLOG
Rio hisses its s because the Portuguese court moved there in 1808. Sao Paulo carries an Italian melody from a million immigrants. Plus the four other accents Brazilian television does not use.
Dégun, biloute and septante. Three corners of the French-speaking world with their own substrate languages underneath, and the number system that finally makes sense.
Not an accent. A four-hundred-year divergence, a vocabulary that resists English harder than France does, and a system of swearing built entirely out of church furniture.
Ahorita can mean in a second or never. Güey is punctuation. And a good part of the vocabulary is not Spanish at all but Nahuatl, including several words English borrowed too.
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CAUGHT IN THE WILD