Great! The best way to learn Portuguese is to commit to your goal. We have gathered some tips that will surely come in handy and help you on your way to fluency.
Get specific with your goals
Planning is an essential part of studying. Seeing the bigger picture like “learning to speak Portuguese” cannot be as effective as having clearly structured goals with proper time distribution. As a matter of fact, your goals should be driven by the reasons as to why you chose to study the language.
If you want to travel to Brazil, you’ll definitely need some Portuguese phrases for travelers. They will come in handy with hotel check-ins/outs, ordering food, getting around the city, and even asking for help. Thus, you can break down the situations and vocabulary pertaining to each of them. The same can be applied if you need Portuguese for work or for moving to a Portuguese-speaking country.
Cover the basics
For an absolute Portuguese beginner, it’s essential to cover basic Portuguese words and phrases such as greetings, days of the week, months, numbers and question words. To memorize useful Portuguese phrases, label objects around you or use flashcards whereby you write a Portuguese phrase on one side and its English translation on the other.
After you have at least 1,000 words under your belt, including the most common adjectives and nouns, plus you know how to conjugate several verbs, you will instantly have a variety of sentences at your disposal.
Immerse yourself in the culture
Language & culture go hand in hand. Learning the language is a way to embrace the rich culture of the Portuguese-speaking countries. Through the language, you’ll expose yourself to the art, cinema, literature, music, cuisine and can even get familiar with concepts you can’t find in English. Thus, you can say that learning the language contributes to your cross-culture knowledge, as well as presents numerous opportunities for finding common ground with native speakers.
Here are a few ideas to get you started for beginner:
Find interesting podcasts. iTunes has a great collection of podcasts for the Brazilian region. Just browse and find topics that resonate with your interests. Podcasts are comfortable because you can listen to them during your daily commute, coffee break, or even at the gym.
Learn with the help of a dictionary. It’s essential to consult with a dictionary whenever you come across unknown Portuguese phrases or words. Try an online one if you find carrying a hard copy inconvenient.
Watch videos in Portuguese. Netflix has Brazilian & Portuguese movies you can watch with English or Portuguese subtitles. Alternatively, Youtube provides numerous channels for beginners & intermediate learners. Watching videos will help you pick up conversational cues really fast.
Read online magazines & books in Portuguese. Reading will help you boost your vocabulary with real-life language and even learn a couple of romantic Portuguese phrases.
Focus on speaking
Unlike reading and listening, speaking is an active part of language learning. You might ask yourself how you can engage in this essential activity when there is nobody in your vicinity who speaks Portuguese? There are a few ways to approach it like learning Portuguese online.
Try MeetUp to see if you can find native speakers or groups of aspiring students like you who are available to practice the language in your area.
To make a good start in Portuguese, you can try language apps like Duolingo or Pimsleur that let you train your pronunciation.
To achieve a proper conversational level in a short amount of time, try our tutoring service. This is a great way to find and practice with native European and Brazilian Portuguese speakers.
With Preply, you will have access to live interaction with a native speaker and educational content — all in one resource. Choose from the vast repository of tutors and learn the language from anywhere in the world.
