How to Learn European Portuguese
Learn European Portuguese quickly and easily with activities that are focused on vocabulary expansion, simple conjugations and pronunciation. Once you feel confident practicing the basics, these activities can be expanded and adapted to increase your fluency. European Portuguese differs from Brazilian Portuguese mostly in pronunciation. So place your practicing emphasis on listening to native speakers and repeating what you hear.
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Things You'll Need
- Flash cards
- Noun conjugations chart or book
- Recordings of native speakers
- Voice recorder
Instructions
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Expand your Portuguese vocabulary using flash card memorization, worksheets with simple sentences and pictures substituted for some words, and repetition. For example, the teacher may say a sentence in English and then repeat it in Portuguese, with emphasis on the vocabulary words. Students should repeat the sentence and be able to identify the vocabulary words. When using flash cards, beginning learners often benefit from words that can be classified together in groups, such as foods, activities, locations and days of the week. If the words have a common use, it's easier to categorize and learn them. Emphasis should be placed on the masculine and feminine words and learning how to differentiate by word endings.
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Repeat several regular verbs in the "eu" (I), "tu" (you--singular), "elle" (he) /"ella" (she), "nois" (we) and "vois" (you--plural) forms. Practice using each personal pronoun and conjugate the verb five times.
Create flip charts with the verb on one side and its conjugated forms on the other in order to switch back and forth between the verb and its conjugations.
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Listen to an audio recording of a native speaker, or if a native speaker is present, listen to his pronunciation. Practice speaking and have this person model (and listen for) the correct pronunciation. Pronounce verb sounds as well as sounds that occur only in European Portuguese. Record yourself and listen to your speech after listening to a native speaker. Then compare the two.
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Spend time with native speakers. This is the easiest way to learn any language. Portuguese speakers are usually enthusiastic when someone wants to practice the language because it's not as widely spoken as Spanish or English. Practice listening and speaking Portuguese with native speakers, and don't be afraid to make mistakes. If possible, travel to Portugal to get the authentic accent of native Portuguese speakers.
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Keep a journal in Portuguese. When you begin, the journal may have a few expressions and words among mostly English thoughts and ideas. In a short period of time, however, you will begin to see the Portuguese take over. When you begin writing in complete Portuguese sentences, you will have started to think in Portuguese. That is one of the biggest steps toward fluency.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit www.sxc.hu
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