LEARNING PORTUGUESE

[fatscholes]

hello, My wife & I want to learn Portuguese with the intention of moving to the Algarve where we have a villa. I would prefer to do this online so have been advised the best to use is Rosetta Stone. But they only do Brasilian Portuguese instead of european Portuguese. It also seems that the majority of online tuition is Brasilian & not european. Its not cheap either so want to make sure its going to be good enough before buying.

I am getting more confused the more i read into the differences...does it matter to learn brasilian rather than european? Can someone out there let me know if I really should look to learn epn portuguese specifically or will it be ok to learn the brasil.

[Farol]

If you learn Brazilian Portguguese you will be understood even though some words and pronunciations differ. It's a bit like somebody from Newcastle being understood in Devon!

I have tried several computer based courses. They all help but there is no substitute for learning in a classroom with a proper teacher.

Where I live in Essex I struggled to find a suitable course and evening classes were often cancelled before they started due to lack of numbers. However I am now in the second year of classes together with approx 16 others - all of who have property in the Algarve.

Where I find classes better than computer based tuition is when the teacher turns to you unexpectedly and rattles off a question in real speed Portuguese and with a typical Portuguese accent - just as would happen when you are out there. Suddenly you realise just how un-natural some of the computer courses are.

One aid that I can thoroughly recommend are the 2 books "Practical Portuguese" and "Progress with Portuguese" written by Sheila Watts and available at the "Resident" office in Lagoa.

I still wonder how long it takes before a native does not answer your best Portuguese in your best accent with a srtraightforward English reply! They spot us every time.

[Robbie]

I am just back from another very enjoyable break in Carvoeiro and given that it was my fifth visit in the year I have come back with a new years resolution to learn a bit of the language. Even if they answer in english I still think they appreciate the effort. I enjoy their culture, their food, their golf, their drink and hospitality and still don't speak a word of the language. There are no classroom courses in my area so I guess I'll have to start with the books and C.D's. Any info from others who have tried would be appreciated.

[laserblazer]

You don't have to go far inland before they don't or won't speak any English.

[Farol]

The BBC Talk Portuguese course is a good starting point. These is a course book with CD/audio cassette available from the BBC, Amazon, etc. It is supported by a BBC Learning Zone programme that is shown overnight on BBC2 on a fairly regular basis. The next showing is Tuesday, 29th January 02.00 – 03.30 Talk Portuguese 1-6
03.30 – 06.00 Brazil Inside Out 1-5.

There is a lot of supporting material available on the BBC website http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/other/portuguese/talk/

I have found two teachers that use this course so I guess they must think it quite good.

Make sure you watch the videos and print off the extra material - don't just rely on the text book and cds.

It's all fairly simple stuff but is well structured.

Also have a look at:
http://www.learningportuguese.co.uk/index.php

http://www.sonia-portuguese.com/

and the following which although Brazilian Portuguese is extremely thorough:
http://deltatranslator.com/delta/grammar_index.htm

[dennisg]

My wife and I have been coming to CVo for the past 12 years, and my wife enrolled in Portuguese classes at local college about 8 years ago, which she attended for about 3 years. At the same time I tried learning the language from Linguaphone cassetes plus a text book. Although we both learned quite a lot of grammar and vocabulary we found it difficult to retain it, and on trying to speak it to locals in CVO they invariably came back in better English than we could speak Portuguese, so we eventually gave up learning. The difficulty with the Algarve is that being a tourist area, most people with whom you come into contact speak pretty good English (and German and Dutch), but if you venture further north you will find very few English speakers which gives you more chance to practise your language skills. Having said that, we have found it helpful to know the odd word or two. As someone who learned French and German at school, plus a good working knowledge of Italian and Spanish, I have to say that Portuguese is a very difficult language to learn, probably because the words are usually pronounced completely different to the way they look on paper, unlike those other languages. But go for it, and good luck!

[tomgibson]

Yes the BBC CD and book is good. I also completed a years course at a local college and learnt lots of words but found it difficult to converse. Finally when last flying out to Faro the safety film was played in Portuguese I found that the only words I understood was 'brace brace' so I have given up trying

[aussie]

I have bought 2 different cd's from amazon very reasonably priced and they are both good to give you a start.
1. Teach yourself Portugese by Manuela Cook
2. Hugo in 3 months- Portugese.
As others have said you will get a reply in English but it is nice to try to speak a little.

[Karen Ann]

It appears that trying to find Portuguese lessons is very difficult which ever area you live in, we even have a language college in our area where you can learn French, German, Japanese, Spanish, but not Portuguese.

After attempting a number of different methods of learning Portuguese, ie from typical phrase books to CD's and tapes, I felt that I was picking it up a little (and may I say, it was just a little).
I was advised by a local man to book an hour per day every time I visit and I would soon pick up the language. Not sure how much this would cost and I do realise it would only work if visits to Portugal were regular, but it is worth looking into. If anyone has any costs please let us know.

[ceh]

After we had spent several holidays in the Algarve, in 2004 I decided to enrol on a Portuguese course at a local college in Reading. I am still attending college, now at Kingston and take the GCSE in Portuguese this summer (a frightening thought as it's a few years since I took any exams...). I was never particularly good at languages at school but have found learning Portuguese very enjoyable. However, I wouldn't have made the progress that I have without formal teaching which I can thoroughly recommend.

Although people in the Algarve do speak English they appreciate it when someone tries to speak Portuguese. We tend to use a limited number of restaurants etc where they get used to me practicing. I always try to great people in Portuguese and provided I get in first, usually order food, drink etc

When I went to collect the car from Sixt at the airport earlier this week, I said Bom Dia to the lady at the collection point. She asked, in portuguese whether I spoke Portuguese and I said a liitle so she said we'll do this in portuguese then. At the end of the transaction, she asked me a number of questions about where and how I was learning the language.

When we spent a few days on the west coast across from Lisbon a couple of years ago at Ericeira, some knowledge of the language was very useful as less English was spoken. In one beach bar they didn't any English and having managed to ask for 2 beers in bottles not cans, I asked for some food and to this day I've no idea what we ended up with but at least we got something.

I would recommend anyone wanting to learn the language to find an evening class - Learndirect's website lists courses within a given distance of postcodes etc.

In addition to the books others have recommended, Portugues XX1 by Ana Tavares published by Lidel (ISBN 972-757-138-7)is a good book and also has a CD which accompanies it.

[gerrit]

Why learning portuguese ? By reading the local newspapers you know more what's going on, and you better are aware about the portuguese points of vieuw.

And reading is much easier than speaking and an efficient way of maintain your knowledge.

Gerrit

[blue]

I find I can ask for most things & usually manage to make myself understood (which is often more than I can say when I speak English). The trouble I have is when they speak back to me in Portuguese, I only manage to understand about every sixth word - if I'm lucky.