How to Learn Portuguese Daily

Over 200 million people worldwide speak Portuguese, including more than 50 percent of South America. It is the official language of 9 countries and one of the most common in Africa. If you have a basic understanding of Portuguese (speak at an elementary level), you can improve your conversational speaking every day without much effort.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• basic understanding of Portuguese (pronunciation and some vocabulary)

1. Think in Portuguese. If you are cleaning the house, standing in line for coffee or walking to your car, try to identify things around you, such as ‘cadeira’ [cah-de-AIR-ah] (chair) ‘camisa’ [kah-ME-shah](shirt) ‘chaves’ [SHA-vaysh] (keys) and such.

2. Describe your actions in Portuguese. In order to get the most benefit, wait until you are alone, then say it out loud, such as ‘Meus sapatos estão sujes,’ [MAY-oosh sah-PAH-toesh esh-TAOW su-ZHAY-sh] (My shoes are dirty) or ‘Necessito comprar mais leite para a manhã’ [neh-seh-SEE-tu com-PRAHR MIE-eesh LAYE-teh PAHR-ah ah mahn-YAH] (I need to buy more milk for the morning.) This gives you the experience of thinking, speaking and hearing Portuguese.

3. Watch DVDs and increase your vocabulary. Many DVDs now have a Portuguese subtitle track. Though it is not 100 percent accurate, it is usually enough to get the idea of what the words mean. Some DVDs also have a Portuguese language track, so you can hear Portuguese as well as read it. If not, look at your local library or video store for films in Portuguese.

4. Make your ear accustomed to hearing Portuguese. Find a Portuguese station on the radio or online and try to understand what they are saying. After watching a few DVDs, this will help to make you more comfortable in hearing Portuguese without any visuals words. It is also a good way to listen to Portuguese if you don’t have access to a DVD player.

5. Converse with a friend. If you know anyone who is learning Portuguese (or better yet, already speaks it) practice on them. Start with small routine things, like ‘Onde é o pão?’ [OHN-deh ay oh PAOW] (Where is the bread?) and build into full conversations.

Tips & Warnings

• To learn basic Portuguese, or improve your current Portuguese, contact a local college, community center, language school or tutor.

[ipanema]

on 2/11/2009 "Onde ESTÁ o pão?" and not "Onde É o pão". There are 2 verbs TO BE in Portuguese: ser and estar. Well done! Keep learning!

[ipanema]

on 2/11/2009 Very good article. Just a little adjusment: "meus sapatos estão sujOs".