Hi David, that’s wonderful that you are thinking about learning Portuguese. As I wrote on the front page, I think Portuguese is an absolutely gorgeous language that is quickly becoming an important world language as Brazil gains cultural and economic influence. If there’s something about the language that draws you to it, I say go for it. You don’t have to commit to becoming fluent right away – you can instead take it for a test drive to see if you get into it or not – that’s pretty much how I started. The Semantica videos, the book Portuguese in 10 Minutes a Day, and the Byki app are all fun and gentle ways to get more acquainted with Portuguese and see how you like it. If you do get hooked, you can pursue a more serious course of study later, but at the very beginning stages I think it’s important to keep it light and explore the language in a more freeform way. Having said all this, there is one thing I thing you should consider.

Learning a language takes a sustained effort over several months or years, depending on how far you take it, and I think it’s difficult to keep up your motivation unless you have 1) people to speak the language with, and 2) a personal reason for wanting to learn the language. In my case, I spent 5 years learning French in school but I’ve forgotten a lot of it, because I had no reason to keep speaking it and no French speakers to speak it with.

With Portuguese, I made much faster progress because I wanted to learn it to understand a particular style of music, and I also had a trip to Rio planned that motivated me as well. Where I live in LA, I have a teacher that I meet with and several Brazilian friends so that I get somewhat regular practice speaking the language. Of course, the process of learning the language will most likely bring you into contact with speakers of the language, but it does take a little effort, and it helps if you live in a city or region where there is likely to be at least a small Portuguese-speaking community. And it’s also true that in learning the language, you may find new interests as the lusophile cultures becomes more accessible to you, and these interests will help motivate you too. I guess what I am saying is that you should look at your situation in terms of where you live and what you interests are. If you live someplace where there are a lot of speakers of, say, Spanish, it may ultimately be more fulfilling to spend your time learning Spanish because you will at least have the chance to use it regularly. But if you’re set on learning Portuguese, then I suggest you find a reason to learn Portuguese – something that learning the language will help you to accomplish.

I really do think the number one factor for success in learning a language is motivation, and if you can find that reason, it will keep you motivated throughout the process. Take care and best of luck! Hi David, my name’s David too. I read what you wrote and felt I just had to reply. I think we could really help each other. I’m Brazilian, I speak Portuguese fluently like full on born and raised in Rio de Janeiro Brazilian yet I’m a born and raised English speak American of California.

I’m quite literally the first American of my Brazilian family, a born natural at helping English speakers speak Portuguese and Portuguese speakers speak English. I’d really like to hear back from you and see if we can build a way for us to help each other. Please feel free to e-mail me personally if it sounds to you like this message makes sense. @ David, There’s no reason why you shouldn’t learn Portuguese (or any other language).

I've also studied the book How To Learn A Foreign Language by Paul Pimsleur himself which gives a lot more insight into his method. There are some new software. Also, you have a choice of Latin American Spanish or Spanish as spoken in Spain and download lesson 1 for free. They usually have a discount code. American Spanish with Pimsleur Language Programs (English and Spanish Edition) Online Free, book pdf Pimsleur Spanish Conversational Course - Level 1 Lessons 1-16 CD: Learn to Speak and Understand Latin American Spanish with Pimsleur Language Programs (English and Spanish Edition), Pimsleur Spanish.

If you’re interested in the language, do as Lauren said, just take it easy, and study it during your free time. If the flirst evolves into a passion, you can take it more seriously, and eventually go to a Portuguese speaking country, and interact with natives. I personally learn languages because I want to gain a closer and more personal access to other cultures, especially literature and movies.

It might be something else for you, but given the fact that the internet offers plenty of options to learn languages (and even interact with native speakers via Skype) for free, the only thing that you need to put in is time and effort. I learned English and German when I was in my twenties, and I’ve learned French on my opinion to an intermediate level in the last six months, and never once did I care to inform my friends that I’d do it or ask them their opinion whether I should do it or not. I did and do it and will continue doing it for myself. Besides French, I’m currently learning Russian, and it’s a quite difficult language, but I’ll be damned if I’ll let that stop me from learning it and reading the Russian classics in the near future.

I might even decide to visit Russia or find a language exchange via Skype to practice my conversation, but that will be my decision, not anyone else’s. Don’t let anyone tell what you can’t or can’t do. Hi Lauren, Your website is extremely helpful and I’m enjoying it very much. I have studied Spanish, French, and Italian, and am just beginning to learn Portuguese. The written language is easier for me than the spoken, because it looks a lot more like Spanish than it sounds, but I love the sounds and want to acquire at least a passable pronunciation. What do you think of Portuguesepod101.com? Besides a paid website with a lot of lessons, they’ve published a couple iBooks that include audio.

They offer a 7-day trial period, but I received a message that my trial had expired after less than 24 hours, so I’m not too impressed, but the lessons seemed pretty good. Also, are you at all familiar with the book “The Everything Learning Brazilian Portuguese Book: Speak, Write, and Understand Basic Portuguese in No Time” by Fernanda Ferreira?

It’s not too expensive and from what I could see from the sample pages on Amazon, it looks as if it might be a good, basic introduction. Audio-only is a good way to start, but I want a basic grammar reference. I’m debating between this one, and the much more comprehensive book by John Whitlam which you have praised so highly. Any thoughts or suggestions for a very new beginner, who has some background in several other Romance languages?

Phil, thanks for checking in – I’m glad you found some of the suggestions useful. Yes, the way the words run together in speech is a major challenge and something that I still struggle with.

Even if I know all the individual words a speaker is using, it can be hard to hear them clearly and make sense of them. For this reason I’ve tried to find listening resources that have subtitles or transcriptions in Portuguese, so I can use it as a crutch when I need it, without feeling like I’m cheating too much. I have a bunch of suggestions on the Listening page, but you might find the free Ponto de Encontro listening exercises most useful since the speakers are slow and clear. The Semantica Series 1 videos, though not free, are also a great introduction to the sound of the language as it is spoken in Rio, and they also give you a peek at the unique cadence and intonation of Brazilians as they speak, which is actually helpful for getting the sounds down. I’ve been exploring Portuguesepod101.com, listening to some of the audio and checking out the pdfs, and you know what, it’s better than I expected. It has way more material than any other website I’ve seen and the podcasts are actually well produced and not too mechanical.

So I may have to give them a second look. Also, thanks for pointing me to the DK visual dictionary. I’ll have to get a copy and check it out. The only other visual dictionary I know of is the Oxford, which is terrible – this one sounds much better. Your original comment inspired me to finish working on a page I’d been meaning to upload on. At this point it’s mostly a brain dump of stuff that I’m sure is available in a clearer format elsewhere, but maybe there is some useful info there. Good luck again, and have fun!

Hey Phil, thanks so much for your continuing updates – I’d love to read your blog when you’re ready to share it. One thing I regret is not writing down my initial impressions as a beginner studying the language. Sounds like you are doing plenty of listening practice – which is fantastic – but I also suggest taking the time to do some writing every week. Even if it’s just a short email or a comment on a blog/facebook post, it puts us in the position of using what we’ve learned. I’ve also found that it builds vocabulary quickly because it forces me to look up common Portuguese words/phrases that I don’t know yet, and I remember these new words better when I’m using them in my own writing. Keep at it and drop a line in portuguese when you feel ready!

Hi, My husband is full Portuguese and speaks, for the most part, fluently with his family. While I am picking up phrases and learning words I would still like to invest in a program that will help me become fluent in all aspects of the language.

My husband can speak and read but he states that he doesn’t know how to write it or the grammar. He said that he would love to sit down and brush up on it. The one question I have is which Portuguese do I learn? His mother is from Saint Jorge and his father is from San Miguel. So I believe that I should do the European Portuguese instead of the Brazilian but I want to check and make sure before I invest in the wrong course. Serialize Html Table To Json on this page.

Thanks in advance for your help. Hi there, I just discovered this website while googling for a comparison of Rosetta stone and Pimsleur and thought I’d share my experience of learning languages. I’ve found that the best way is to be honest and decide exactly why you want to learn and -important – decide the level you want to attain. My own levels are Survival, Simple conversational, Full conversational, Semi fluency etc. For example, I learned greek using the Pimsleur CDs simply so I could enjoy our holidays more i.e.

Survival and then simple conv. The trick here is, once you’ve learned the very basics, to take control and ‘customise’ your learning. If I’m lost in the middle of Paris, my schoolboy french lessons years ago won’t be much help. “The apple is on the table” isn’t much help! So what I do is take time to think about what I really need to know and imagine myself travelling in that country. Then I actively find out how to say what I want and, very importantly, learn all possible answers to my questions!

If you do this alongside your language course, you’ll find the progress is amazing! Hi Paul, I haven’t tried to access the FSI files in a while; that’s good to know that they’re gone. Maybe what I can do, since I *think* I have the complete collection, is host them here. Sip Trunk Setup Trix Box here.

I’ll leave you a message if I’m able to do that, but it won’t be for a couple weeks since I’m out of town. I wish I was more knowledgeable about European Portuguese resources, but there don’t seem to be that many out there. Many older books seem to teach that dialect by default. Ponto de Encontro is a good recent textbook that explicitly teaches both; Portuguese: A Reference Manual is another new one that tries to be neutral.

If you find other resources that you like, please come back and share. I am thrilled to find this site. My girlfriend is Brazilian, and while English is her native language, I want to learn Portuguese anyway. It would be fantastic to be able to converse with the rest of her family in Portuguese some day soon. I have been seriously considering the Pimsleur program. First of all, it has an excellent reputation. Secondly, most of the other training methods that I’ve found seem to be software or web based.

Since I am totally blind, this would present a problem. It’s uncertain whether the software or site would be accessible with screen reading software. Even if it is fully accessible, my screen reader would read the materials with a real American sounding voice, which might throw me off. When I first looked into Pimsleur, I was expecting it to be highly expensive, and only available on CD. Well, they now offer mp3 downloads at $119 per phase. Even better, you can purchase as you go, buying mp3 lessons in packs of 5 at a time for $24.95 each.

This is a good deal. Still, I thought I would see about other ways to save money on this. I googled “rent Pimsleur,” and found your page. I am absolutely stunned to learn that these lessons can be obtained through audible.com.

They also sell the five lesson packs for around $21 for non-members and about $15 for members. So I can use my 1 monthly Audible Listener credit on a pack, and buy more at the member rate. This is truly a fantastic find.

I am curious to know if the versions offered by Audible are the latest revisions of these lessons. The release date shown on Audible is 2010, but the free lesson I obtained from pimsleur.com mentions a 2012 copyright date.

This leaves me wondering what, if anything, has changed? Should I pay more for potentially newer downloads straight from the source?

Finally, while listening to the free lesson with me, my Girlfriend mentioned something that your post has confirmed. She said it sounds somewhat formal. My usage will be in very relaxed, informal settings. I would be self-conscious if I sounded out of place. Can you recommend any other audio resources to help me transition to a more informal way of speaking? Thanks again for all of the useful information in this blog post.

I really appreciate it. After my earlier comment tonight, I still couldn’t sleep after getting excited by discovering this post. I headed over to portuguesepod101.com, and on first glance I am highly impressed. When you first sign up for a free account, you instantly get a very hyped and pressured offer to get a nice-sounding deal. For $1, you get several items. Something called the “Ultimate getting started with portuguese box set,” a free month of the premium subscription level, plus a couple other items that I haven’t explored yet.

If it hadn’t been for the positive things you said about the site in this post and in the comments, I would have been very skeptical. The marketing technique used on this welcome page is the only thing I dislike here, and very nearly scared me away from a true gold mine. I went for the $1 offer here because of your positive remarks. I must say, after downloading the huge zip file with the box set, it is very nearly all that was advertised. I know I will get a lot out of all of the audio lessons and PDF notes I received in this zip, not to mention what I have access to as a premium member. The pronunciation series was not in the zip as the email said, but I can easily download them separately because of the subscription.

I did turn off automatic monthly renewal for now, strictly out of my own budget issues and not because of any content quality issues. Anyway, this is just to let anyone reading this know that the introductory offer from portuguesepod101.com is legitimate, and a great value. Thanks again for the helpful site. I’m only now starting to read your other blog posts, and look forward to learning more as I go.

Hi Lauren, my wife and I are moving to Brazil soon to be missionaries. We will be doing extensive language training in Brazil for the first year and completely realize that much of becoming fluent in Portuguese will happen there. However, we would like to at least get started while state side. Reading and Writing it is not as important to us as speaking and listening. We want to be able to have conversations. Which program or method of learning the language to you recommend to us? By your summaries of each, Pimsleur sounds like it may make the most sense.

Though I am also going to look in to StreetSmart. I look forward to hearing from you, thanks! Hi, good review, I am an intermediate Brasilian Portuguese speaker and I’ve tried most of the recommendations here, the top 3 on my list would be 1.

Bussuu Pimsleur is fantastic because it can be used while driving, on a train, walking,etc, you can be ‘unplugged’ and be learning a language on the go. It helped me learn the most out of all the other programs. Its ‘dated’ but it has everything you need to start with the language and it has repetition in each lesson that drills vocabulary over time. Rosetta is great as well but requires dedicated time to sit and click through the lessons Bussuu is like Rosetta but less pricey, a great resource as well. This is really helpful!

I’ve been having a lot of trouble finding software for learning European Portuguese, as most websites and software seem to focus on Brazil. As I am planning to move to Portugal, I’d feel really silly speaking in a Brazillian accent. I already started on Livemocha, but only very basic levels are available on there. I’ve already lived in Portugal for a while, and even though I haven’t been focused on learning the language before (you can actually get around pretty well with English), the Livemocha courses are already too low level for me.

Learning the colours and numbers is useful if you’ve never been in Portugal, but what I want to start learning is making sentences. Based on this review I’m now trying to get myself the Pimsleur mp3’s. I hope these will help me further! The idea behind this program is that it uses a series of computer sequenced audio lessons that help you retain information from the very first lesson. Just about every Pimsleur Approach review that you will read mentions how much easier it is to use this program than other methods. The real reason for this is that you do not have to worry about reading, writing, spelling, or conjugating verbs – you simply focus on listening and speaking.

Because there are fewer distractions with this type of learning, people find that they are able to understand native speakers much quicker and easier. Without the distraction of the written word, it is also a better way for people who are only interested in picking up a limited amount of language skills in order to travel.

My situation and reason for learning Portuguese is somewhat unique, so I was wondering if you could specifically suggest the best product(s) for me. My long term girlfriend is Brazilian (& American), so I have someone to converse with consistently and correct my mistakes immediately. Though I need to study consistently and learn on my own because we are both busy people and do not live together. I have a solid knowledge of Spanish which is also a huge advantage, but more so with conjugation and sentence structure, not too much with vocabulary and pronunciation. I have a few books, but they seem more supplemental and referential to someone starting and not in classes with an instructor.

My girlfriend is not instructing me and has not intention to do so. I have been told by people that this is THE greatest gift you can give a significant other/spouse that is not a native English speaker. Not to mention, if we do get married I want to be able to understand her mother/other family and eventually my children (who will be dual citizens). Hi Lauren, Thank you for all your wonderful information on learning Brazilian Portuguese.

I was wondering if you could offer me some advice. I was born in Brazil and speak it semi-fluently. We moved to the US when I was 5 but I continued to speak it with my parents. I made the mistake of not speaking it with my kids when they were born and now I regret it very much.

They are now 12, 10 and 7. I would like for them to learn it. Can you recommend the best programs for kids? I know that I myself would be a great resource for them. I would like a program that they can use on their own and then I am available to review, practice and overall supplement what they’re learning. I never went to school in Brazil since we moved here when I was 5 so I am a much stronger at speaking and understanding than writing and reading. I regret so much not speaking it with them regularly as they were learning to talk.

I was overwhelmed by motherhood and since English has become more native to me than Portuguese, it was easier. Also, I have forgotten so many words through the years that my Portuguese has become choppy. These are all excuses, I know. If I had spoken with them as I should have, they would at least know as much as I do and that would’ve been great. I know it will take some hard work on all our parts to make this happen but I am committed. I want to give them this connection to their heritage. Any advice you can offer will be greatly appreciated.

Hi Lauren, I have just come across your website and I think it is fantastic! I started learning Brazilian Portuguese properly at the beginning of the year as my partner is Brazilian and I wanted to be able to speak to his friends and family when we visited. I have been teaching myself using the Living Language series which I find very good and I just wondered if you had come across this series? My only issue is that it doesn’t have listening comprehension excercises but I have found these elsewhere. I am now looking to buy a grammar book to go into more detail with grammar points and I think I will go with your recommendation on this. I would perhaps also like to get another textbook for when I have finished with my current one and wonder which one would be your top pick?

Downloads If you require a replacement booklet for your course, you can download it here: Filename Filesize (bytes) 1031 66 7302 641 788 6862 6 1190 904 641 6 6 11 543 690 5887 219 973 881 603 50 726 750 7958 7948 77 893 625 675 675 689 580 512 707 784 719 651 640 851 756 773 658 70 1247.