ForbiddenKnowledgeTV
Alexandra Bruce
October 15, 2014
Although one of the largest cities in the world, few who haven’t actually been here realize that Rio de Janeiro grew from the middle of the Tijuca rainforest, since its founding in 1565.
Although the jaguars were extinguished long ago, many other wild animals still call Rio their home and it’s not unusual to see troops of tiny marmoset families walking along neighborhood power lines – or swinging from the trees outside one’s apartment window. (Squirrels are cute but marmosets are cuter!)
I’m very happy to say that I am here with my vast family, in this life-loving city.
The narrator, who some may recognize as the former MTV VJ, “Downtown” Julie Brown, pronounces “Tijuca” like “Ti-HOO-ka as if it were written in Spanish – which is not the language of Brazil and is certainly not how the indigenous Tupi people pronounced it. In phonetic English, it would be “Chee-ZHOO-ka” The “j” being pronounced the same as a French “j”; a consonant that exists in several languages but not in English, except in borrowed words, like “massage.”
