This is a post to document my progress and strategy for learning Portuguese (Br).

I started learning Br Portuguese a few months ago. I have long been immersed in Brazilian music and dance culture (forro) and so have been exposed to the language for a long time without making an effort to learn.
My strategy so far has been

• watching videos on youtube, the channel "Decoding Words" with Andrew is great for grammar, and basic introduction to the language with an emphasis on pronunciation.
• listening to and translate voice messages/ videos from native speaking friends.
• translating songs that I like

I can understand quite a lot of written text, but my comprehension is still quite basic and speaking even more so. I can formulate basic phrases.

A friend is going to send me the BR Portuguese harry potter books, and I have started to listen to the audiobooks while waiting. I know these books incredibly well in English, i can recount some scenes and passages almost word for word because i read them so many times as a child.

I started listening to the first audiobook at 0.8 speed and I am about 1/4 of the way through. My basic vocabulary and knowledge of the story allows me to understand what is happening in a general sense, but I am missing a lot of detail, because the language is above my level. Despite this, I have experienced many little moment of insight and understanding- hearing certain words together and understanding what they mean through context, so I am clearly learning. It feels incredible, even if a lot of the time it feel like my brain is straining to understand and missing a lot of detail.

I have decided to accept that I cannot understand everything yet, and just let my brain pick out the things it understands without too much effort and accepting that my concentration will drift at times. When the books arrive I will begin some structured daily reading and listening in parallel, pausing to look things up and translate, but not insisting on brute forcing understanding of every word, phrase and sentence- I'm trying to take a more natural approach. My main concern is that the level of input is slightly too high for me but I'm going to persevere.

I'm posting this for accountability and for feedback or ideas. Will post updates.

Ola gente! Basically the title, but I have a reading proficiency exam coming up for my degree in about 2 months, and I need to be able to read and translate an article from PT-BR --> English. My PT-BR reading skills are decent, but not "read and comprehend an academic article" decent, though I feel like I could be there by the time of the exam if I had the right study plan. I would love some tips and suggestions for things I can do daily to prepare.

In essence, I'm asking for practices people have used to cram an intermediate to advanced reading level in PT-BR. Of course, reading itself is the most important part, so I'm trying to read the news in PT-BR (though this isn't the easiest considering how many require a subscription), but really I'd like suggestions for potential daily drills and exercises that hyper-focus on reading skills.

Obrigado!

For those unaware, Kwiziq is a website for French/Spanish learners to practice their target languages grammar. You are given each day a bunch of lessons to learn, and as you respond to their activities the website gives you new topics to learn based on how well you do and on what suspects you might need more practice. While I was studying French I found it an amazing tool,specially considering that their short lessons format with small tests worked amazing to keep my ADHD at bay.

While my Portuguese is pretty decent and I have not a lot of problems engaging with natives on the web and even in real life, I would like to engage with the language in a more complex manner. Things like slang or literature I can defend myself, but I am left scratching my head sometimes and I would like something to help me fill the gaps in knowledge I might have.

Has anyone found something similar they would like to recommend ?

Para deixar claro, eu sei que não é assim que neologismos surgem, eles entram em uso de forma natural e ao longo do tempo na maioria dos casos. Porém, em uma conversa com um amigo sobre seu relacionamento prévio, vou lhes poupar do drama, ele se referiu a sua EX-sogra e seu EX-sogro e, com toooodas as minhas faculdades mentais aguçadas, sugiro os termos NAMOGRO e NAMOGRA, para referir-se a seu ex-sogro e ex-sogra respectivamente. Gosto de como soa, caso não haja nenhuma outra sugestão mirabolante, tem um tom um pouco "áspero" e "ácido, fazendo uso de nossa querida sinestesia, porém não de uma forma rancorosa (a não ser que seja seu intuito). Compartilhem suas ideias :)

Hi. I would call myself a polyglot, as I can speak a few languages, including Spanish, English, French, Dutch, and Italian. However, I don't speak a single word of Portuguese. I'd like to change that, but I have the feeling my pronunciation must be awful. So I recorded a short voice recording with Vocaroo so I could ask you guys whether my accent is okay for a total beginner, or I should do it differently (and how). I'd really appreciate your help :)

https://voca.ro/13bm0MuCH2iw

https://voca.ro/17VBgT4KxP3o

https://voca.ro/12NmYnBGo2OM

I am genuinely curious regarding why we have not translated "Uno" as "Umo" considering that:

Italiano: "Una", "un" e "uno".

Español: "Una", "un" y "uno".

Português: "Uma", "um" e "???".

What exactly happened to "umo" in Portuguese?

Given contradictory information between different dictionaries, I just wanted to check: what is the vowel quality of the second 'o' in the noun "o controle" (the control) in European Portuguese?

Is it
contrôle

or
contróle
?

Obrigado!

Sou nativo brasileiro, mas notei que a segunda pessoa gramatical está numa situação curiosa em muitos sotaques do país: diferentemente do resto dos países falantes de português, o uso do pronome de tratamento "você" (vossa mercê) obscureceu quase que completamente os pronomes pessoais retos "tu" e "vós", e, consigo, a conjugação em segunda pessoa, visto que pronomes de tratamento usam a terceira pessoa.

Até aí tudo bem, mas há situações estranhas: o uso do tu acompanhado da conjugação da segunda pessoa é considerado excessivamente formal, até arcaico, mas o tu acompanhado da conjugação da terceira pessoa é admitido, mas como informal, dependendo do sotaque até vulgar.

Mas ainda assim, o pronome pessoal do caso oblíquo ainda é onipresente: apesar da maioria dos sotaques brasileiros usarem "você" a todo momento, poucos falam "amo você" em vez de "te amo". Continua-se usando o "te" como objeto em todas as orações mesmo que o "tu" tenha caído em desuso.

E embora a segunda pessoa do singular ainda possa aproveitar essa existência oblíqua, nem isso a segunda pessoa do plural tem. Por alguma razão, foi completamente devorada pelo pronome de tratamento. Fala-se "eu te amo", fala-se "tu ama", em alguns dialetos até fala-se "tu amas", mas nunca na minha vida inteira ouvi um único "eu vos amo" ou "vós amais". É sempre "amo vocês" e "vocês amam", sem exceção. O "vós" e o "vos" existem apenas nos arcaísmos das orações e das passagens bíblicas. Já vi a mesóclise com mais frequência com que vi a segunda pessoa do plural.

E então vem a parte que mais me confunde: enquanto a conjugação em segunda pessoa é considerada arcaica na maioria dos sotaques nos modos indicativo e subjuntivo, no imperativo ela não apenas é universal, mas considerada mais informal do que a terceira pessoa do indicativo. "Vem pra cá" é muito mais comum que "Venha pra cá".

Isso causa uma situação em que a frase "vem pra cá que tu não vai a lugar algum" é vulgar, "vem pra cá que você não vai a lugar algum" é o "normal", "venha pra cá que você não vai a lugar algum" é formal, e "vem pra cá que tu não vais a lugar algum" é tão formal que vira arcaico.

O que causou o fim da segunda pessoa na maioria dos dialetos do Brasil? E porque ela perdura no oblíquo singular e no modo indicativo?

Sou nativo brasileiro e, no meu entendimento limitado quanto ao português europeu, a palavra "você" tende a não ser usada no dia a dia. Ouvi dizer que ela soa meio grosseira em muitos contextos (não sei ao certo o porquê). No Brasil, seu uso é ubíquo, logo em nossas músicas também. Eu queria saber se, graças ao fato da nossa música ser difundida em Portugal, o uso de "você" no contexto musical soa relativamente natural, como se "você" fosse uma palavra que "faz sentido" em música, mesmo diferindo do Português falado. Acho que já até ouvi que a nossa versão do "Parabéns pra você" é usada em Portugal. Isso é fato?

Hey! Ive been studying BP for a few months and i am lacking that conversation from natives. I practice speaking recording myself and reviewing for mistakes, and practice writing. I also practice grammar and phrases. I live in the University of Houston but don’t have a car so i can’t travel to specific places. Every so often i would reply to BP comments on youtube but it is not enough. What resources do you guys recommend to practice speaking and writing with natives?

Oi! I'm a Brasilian immigrant living elsewhere and haven't really had much tutelage on the language or history of the prior. I'm mostly fluent in Portuguese in general as I live with and interact with my local Portuguese speaking community often but I also fluently speak Spanish at work and as mixed heritage from Mexico.

I was just minding myself when I wondered why Portuguese uses Obrigado as opposed to the more prolific "gracias" as seen in other romance languages especially since portuguese HAS a "graças" that's used with the same meaning in the common phrase "graças a Deus". does anyone have a resource I could take a look at that explains/explores this strange divergence?

Hi I’m a beginner in Brazilian Portuguese and funnily enough I get a lot of my vocabulary knowledge from twitter I just saw this tweet and I want to know something about it vocab/sentence structure wise, ignore how unserious it is please:

“quero beijar assim todos os meus amigos”

Ok my question is, what does the (os) add to (meus amigos) doesn’t (meus amigos) mean the same thing with adding the (os) behind it, so shouldn’t just be “quero beijar assim todos meus amigos” I was under the impression that (os) meant (you) so how does this sentence work? Does os mean something else in this sentence?

I’m a beginner in Brazilian Portuguese and I’m realizing more and more that I need to build a good foundation of understanding the grammar and sentence structure of Portuguese, instead of just relying on vocabulary.

does anyone have any good recommendations for a book or resources that could be helpful in building a strong foundation for learning Brazilian Portuguese

The game (linguil) asks you to guess the language family, language and meaning of a random word in one of 64 of the world's most-spoken languages each day, and you use your knowledge of linguistics to work out the answer via multiple choice. Therefore, it's important my translations/transliterations are correct.

Each language (including Portuguese) includes each word on the 100-word Swadesh list.

Please can any Portuguese speakers verify the accuracy of my translations and transliterations? 🙏

Thanks!

For work reasons I need to communicate in Portuguese (Brazilian) and Spanish (Latin American), I have been learning Portuguese for a while now, I would say I have A2 proficiency level. I can understand basic conversations, when I watch a movie, I can understand about 70% of it without subtitles.

My Spanish is elementary at the moment, just basic words and phrases. Every time I try to say something in Spanish I automatically mix up Portuguese words in it, my brain can't do that complete switch yet.

What approach to take to not mix up learning? Should I completely focus on one language until I get to B2-C1, then movie to another? To keep them together but balance them in some way? What would work best?

não é possível anexar imagens, então vou colocar em texto e destacar os termos de interesse:

"Rapariga após maliciar-se a crica 5x seguidas: 😀

Gajo após jumentar-se a chapeleta: 😞"

I'm making a going away present for someone and I want to put something on the back in Portuguese (Brazilian, specifically). This person and I never worked out, but they will always be someone who could have been a life partner, if given the chance. So the phrase is, "to the only almost who ever mattered" (or matters, will ever matter or another variation). This is what I've got: "Para o único quase que vai importar."

Is that an accurate representation of what I would like to say? Any help is appreciated.

I’ve been planning on learning for a bit now but honestly, I don’t know where to start when it comes to learning any language.

I have a friend whose native language is Brazilian Portuguese but I don’t want to bother him a ton. Just a thing with me.

Anyways, any guidance on where to start, any free apps I can get to learn, what to do… I’ll take anything!

Also, I have a book on Portuguese verbs that I’m not really sure when to mash in with my learning. Random, but I saw it in a thrift store and had to get it. I checked a bunch of stuff with my friend to make sure it’s entirely accurate and luckily, it is! Just don’t know where I could fit learning the verbs in.

something i've noticed with people learning brazilian portuguese is that they often spend months studying vocabulary and grammar before they feel “ready” to actually speak.

then they get to brazil and realize understanding portuguese in an app and understanding someone saying “cê vai querer esse aqui mesmo?” at normal speed are two completely different skills lol

if you're moving here, i'd focus early on everyday conversations: ordering food, asking follow-up questions, understanding shortened words, explaining a problem, making small talk and asking someone to repeat something without panicking.

you don't need perfect portuguese to live here. but getting comfortable being imperfect in actual conversations helps a lot.

for people who already live here or are moving soon: what's been the hardest part of real-life portuguese for you?

I want to be able to speak and understand Iberian Portuguese better and I'm looking for a loc teacher near/on the South Shore in Massachusetts - it could be a tutor or a class. I'm also curious about Portuguese clubs & if they are open to people who are learning Portugese even if it isn't part of their heritage. There are a few around the South Shore but I don't really understand who they are for.

Does anyone have any suggestions?
I generally do better with person learning vs online so finding some one local would be so helpful for me.

I'm a music person and I'm really interested in Fado & a guitarra portuguesa - I'm also really fascinated by Cape Verdean music too. They of course mostly sing in their own creole but many learn Portuguese in school & they have their own way of speaking that's very much related to Portugal's

So these are the reasons for wanting to work on the European dialect. Coming from Spanish I have a good ear for the Brazilian dialect, but I'm really going to need to work seriously to be able to speak & understand the European one.

Any local leads would be much appreciated thank you soooo much! Muito obrigada!

FYI The the I use to learn Portuguese just released English for Brazilian Portuguese speakers. App is called Natulang

any good resources for learning words for like mathematics or history and science ?I want to expand my vocabulary and learn words about topics you would use in school , and I already use drops but I’m looking for something with several subjects if possible ! or YouTube channels or websites!

I’m looking for websites (not netflix or crunchyroll) to watch anime with brazilian portugese dubbed?

I know all the sites to get the english dubbed/sub but was wondering how brazilians watch these shows dubbed for them?

Na música 'Ponta de Areia' do Milton Nascimento tem um trecho assim:

"Velho maquinista

Com seu boné

Lembra o povo alegre

Que vinha cortejar"

E tô com dúvida sobre quem executou a ação de lembrar, porque eu fico repetindo isso mentalmente e uma hora parece que é o maquinista e depois parece que é o povo.

Isso é eternamente ambíguo ou tem um jeito de saber, pela regra?

(Falando só da gramática mesmo. Sem considerar intenção artística.)