How to Learn Azorean Portuguese
Portuguese is a romance language related to Italian, Spanish, French and Romanian, and several Mediterranean dialects such as Sicilian, Sardinian and Corsican. These languages are the modern, living forms of Latin. Former African colonies, Brazil, the Chinese port city of Macau and the South Pacific Island of East Timor also count Portuguese as official or co-official languages. The Azores Islands are Portuguese territory, but have their own unique cultural traditions and dialect of spoken Portuguese.
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Instructions
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Familiarize your ear with Azorean pronunciation. If you already know a romance language such as Spanish, French or Italian, much of the vocabulary will be familiar, though the pronunciation will be quite different. Portuguese also shares many Latin roots with English. Though some of the vocabulary will be familiar and easy to pick up, learning the genders of nouns is perhaps the most difficult aspect of romance languages. Definite and indefinite articles have genders, so you will need to learn which form to use for every noun. The pronunciation of Azorean Portuguese is similar to the sound of French. Watch films or TV channels from the Azores and listen to Azorean music. Standard written Portuguese will not vary much from place to place.
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Choose a method of study. You can use computer software, sign up for a class, hire a private tutor, or teach yourself with a book or free online course. The Portuguese spoken in the Azores is closer to the dialect spoken in Portugal than Brazil, so choose European Portuguese as opposed to Brazilian. LiveMocha is a free interactive online program for language learning. Here you can get in contact with people from the Azores who can answer your specific questions and help you with the exact dialect you want to learn. The differences are not so great as to make the languages mutually unintelligible, but for beginning language students it is preferable to have as many familiar vocabulary words in use as possible. Even simple variations in vocabulary can cause confusion, as in the differences of vocabulary between American and British English.
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Speak with Azoreans. If you don't have the means to visit the Azores and want to have a solid language base before you go, meet people in your own country from the Azores. Look into the Portuguese communities near where you live or join some online groups. With some research, you may find that most groups don't originate from mainland Portugal but from Azores. Acoreanos is one such online community where you can get information on the language, culture, travel opportunities and diaspora of Azorean communities. Remember that the islands differ from one another. The Azores are made up of nine major islands. When you meet a person of Azorean ancestry, ask him which island he comes from and see if you can tell the difference between his accent and one from another island.
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References
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- Photo Credit Azores Cost image by Joaquim Rocha from Fotolia.com
