Learning Portuguese

I have audio books from Rosetta, also tried youtube from time to time, used google translate to and there were itunes podcast videos as well.

But talking to friends will always be the best way, there were some things that you can only learn from the locals. Always ask questions. I always ask my friends to explain certain things, as there were certain words which have connotative meanings that may surprise you.

As a native brazilian that used Rosetta Stone in the past for other languages, I can recommend you LiveMocha, it's a website.

Everything you listen will be the real pronunciation, sometimes even with regional accents (since the recordings are made by 'language natives' this is great to learn how people actually pronounce day after day).
Besides it, talking with friends as said by kenj is the best way, watching movies with subtitles can help you a bit too.

As both a language teacher and someone who began learning the Portuguese language in 2001 largely self-taught using computer based teaching material I would like to pass along some of my personal observations.

Any exposure to a new language is beneficial, however nothing can take the place of having some formal education in the language. After a few months of home-learning using CD rom based programs I decided to enroll at a local language school in Vancouver, Canada that had a teacher who was a native Brazilian. Following an intitial evaluation I was placed in a class for Intermediate Portuguese. While my home studies had helped I began to learn at a much more accelerated pace in a traditional classroom setting.

I augmented my classroom studies using the internet, chat rooms and a site that I would highly recommend to anyone learning Portuguese, English or any other language for that matter.

Paltalk - This is a program available as a free download at www.paltalk.com and it is a vast number of chat rooms that you select by region, interest, topic, etc. It has both audio and text so you not only are able to see the language in its written form, thus learning the grammar and spelling, but you can also hear the language spoken with its various accents and train your listening skills at the same time.

The one advantage of using the internet as a learning tool is that it is fun and it is free. You can spend hours online without even noticing it and you are learning all that time. Nobody would cheerfully accept several hours of homework from a Portuguese language teacher, but this probably has an even more educational effect than the homework would.

Another advantage, for those who don't see suggestions as being criticism, is that you enter a chat room and let the other participants know you are learning Portuguese suddenly they all become teachers devoting their time and energy to you. You get lots of comments that will stroke your ego and show you how you are progressing. At the same time you will get useful tips from native speakers as to how to say things in a more natural way.

From the time I began my home studies to the day I arrived in Brazil about 8 months had elapsed. I arrived here speaking Portuguese fluently, albeit with a horrible gringo accent. Having said this, I was totally unprepared for the baptism by fire that total immersion in the language would really be. I found out from painful experience just how much all the teaching materials and schools in the world can never teach you - how to live with a language on a day-to-day basis in real life. Something as simple as a trip to the supermarket was a real eye opening experience, it showed me that I needed to increase my vocabulary a thousand times just in order to keep from starving to death. Just imagine all the foodstuffs and other products at your average supermarket... do you know their names in Portuguese?

Ten years on, I have total dominance of the language, yet I am constantly learning new things. My students all comment that it is their dream to speak English as well as I speak Portuguese. Whatever route you choose to learning Portuguese try to integrate as many different types of exposure as you possibly can, computer programs, internet, classroom studies, films using Portuguese audio and subtitles (never English), magazines, newspapers, etc. Everything helps and after a short time you will notice a marked improvement.

Good luck to all,
Wm. James Woodward

Thanks everyone for the replies.

I've used google translate and bing translate, as well as babylon. They are free, but the result often is difficult to understand. I guess you get what you pay for!

I'm also looking for either an online or software dictionary. Again, I find that the free sites are pretty rudimentary. I'd like to be able to browse or search an alphabetical dictionary. I've found plenty that let you enter a word and see the translation, but I have found that if you're not sure of the spelling they don't help much.

I am thinking to learn Spanish. Is it easy for me to learn Portuguese later?

hi  i am living in brazil now and trying to learn the language fortunately my future wife speaks english but living in the culture helps  i have various books and i downloaded portuguese for dummies which i am finding helpfull  hope this helps 

books include   brazillian portuguese the basics
                portuguese in three months
                bbc portuguese phrase book and dictionary

all amazon and cheap

David Scott

Been coming to Rio, Brasil for 6 years on and off. The wife s Brasilian but her English is impecible so i never really tried to learn Portugeuse. Since we moved here to Rio for good 4 months ago i ve taken up lessons and what a difficult language, but being immersed in it really helps. Lessons and living here is really best way to go.

I came to Brazil in 1980, and learned Portuguese on the street, but it would have been much faster if I had taken a course!  Good tips from Mr. Woodward, as always!

Does anyone have recommendations of language classes in Rio for advanced Portuguese speakers?  We are moving in May and I would like to take a reading and writing class to solidify my Portuguese.    I have heard PUC has a good program but I am not sure if it targets beginners or all levels.   Has anyone tried (or would recommend) it or any other language schools?

Hi thinkingaboutmovingtorio,

If you're looking for an English/Portuguese bilingual dictionary I would highly recommend that you go out to one of Vancouver's many fine bookstores and pick up a copy of the Longman Dicionário Escolar. It is an excellent reference book and also comes with a CDRom you install the dictionary to your computer. You can search either in English or Portuguese it will give you the translation.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

I've been studying of an on with Pimsleur (a little) Rosetta Stone (The entire series) and Various classes varying from UCLA, language schools, and two two week stints at Dialogo (Portuguese language school in Salvador Bahia) since 2007 As I don't live there and have little option to practice daily my ability to speak is pretty marginal. I've been stepping up my efforts by moving to Miami where I work daily with Brazilians and have more chance to speak (although most tend to speak english) I agree formal classroom with a trained teach is necessary especially after using electronic or recorded resources.

I found an excellent resource at Hacking Portuguese. if you search for that online the blogger has a lot of resources and strategies for learning the language. I really recommend it.

Hi philmoto85,

First of all I encourage you to read my topic posting LEARN OVER A THOUSAND PORTUGUESE WORDS IN A FEW MINUTES it is loaded with information, tips and tricks. In fact, I just added some new material just yesterday.

Since you're moving to Miami you'll find a fairly substantial Brazilian population there, perhaps you should seek out a local Brazilian Community Association or maybe even look for a church that has a predominantly Brazilian congregation. That's exactly what I did when I learned the language in Vancouver, Canada 13 years ago, and the exposure helped me attain fluency in less than a year.

You may also want to listen to Brazilian music CDs, Watch films with Portuguese audio on DVD and find some of the internet news feeds for television news reports from the BAND (Bandeirantes), Record and SBT television networks. You may be able to stream them.

Boa sorte com a aprendizagem.

Cheers,
James     Expat-blog Experts Team

Thanks James,

I'm lucky in that through my work, everyday I interact with sone Brazilians. I try to speak some but often they known english. I also work with Brazilians so they help some too. I definitely will check out your post. I need to work on my vocabulary ;-) If you check the site I mentioned I am listening to a lot of the great podcasts and videos she recommends.

I didn't think much about the Brazilian church so I'm going to add that to my list. :-)

Thanks again for all your amazing help in this forum. I've been going through a number of threads and your advice is invaluable. I'm going to be asking a bunch of questions soon about marriage and work visas I just want to scan through what's already here so I'm not being too redundant.

Thanks again and thanks in advance.

Philippe