MrPete Newbie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4505 days ago 12 posts - 12 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Norwegian
| Message 1 of 6 27 August 2012 at 10:54pm | IP Logged |
Hey all! I am strongly considering starting up on Portuguese(Brazil, not Portugal) after
using LiveMocha as I have made some good friends in Brazil, and it would be really fun to
speak Portuguese with them, and they all are really eager to help, as well. But what are
some nice resources for it? I know there is Pimsleur but I would like to learn the
written well, too. Thank you in advance!
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iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5260 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French)
| Message 2 of 6 27 August 2012 at 11:23pm | IP Logged |
Free resources include: DLI (Defense Language Institute) Portuguese Basic Course- you want the basic course, not the "Headstart" which is tourist level Iberian Portuguese. FSI Portuguese Programatic. You should also check out @erikspen's On learning Brazilian Portuguese blog where he has other resources listed
Assimil does not have an English base course available but does have a French base course. I can't advise you on paid resources.
I used the DLI course for its drills but I already knew Spanish before I learned Portuguese so that's not a fair comparison to someone starting from scratch.
Bem-vindo à língua portuguesa
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Mae Trilingual Octoglot Pro Member Germany Joined 4989 days ago 299 posts - 499 votes Speaks: German*, SpanishC2*, Swiss-German*, FrenchC2, EnglishC2, ItalianB2, Dutch, Portuguese Studies: Russian, Swedish Personal Language Map
| Message 3 of 6 27 August 2012 at 11:31pm | IP Logged |
I can recommend "Street Smart Brazil" (the free part on Twitter and YT).
You can also have a look at BrazilPod from the University of Texas at Austin.
I also used the premium Busuu lessons (as a special Busuu-birthday-offer they were free).
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kujichagulia Senior Member Japan Joined 4845 days ago 1031 posts - 1571 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Portuguese
| Message 4 of 6 28 August 2012 at 4:20am | IP Logged |
Google a website called "Brazilian PodClass." They have an archive of dialog-based podcasts all for free, from beginner to intermediate to advanced. (I just started using this myself, so I don't know for sure how well it takes you from level to level.) You can even find the transcripts for the dialogs for free on the website. If you want the transcripts for the grammar explanations, however, you will have to pay.
The FSI course iguanamon mentioned has some writing exercises, I think, later on in the course, but it begins with speaking and pronunciation.
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iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5260 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French)
| Message 5 of 6 28 August 2012 at 1:16pm | IP Logged |
I forgot to mention my favorite podcast Café Brasil . This is not a slow speech, learners' podcast per se, but a native podcast with very clear spoken Brazilian Portuguese, interesting topics, great Brazilian music and a written transcript of everything. Each episode is about a half an hour and they are all archived as well for downloading.
Another good resource for listening/reading, though not Brazilian, is Deutsche Welle Learning By Ear/Aprender de ouvido. Why am I recommending a German website for Portuguese? Because this page has over 50 hours of spoken Portuguese with transcripts in relatively non-complicated language intended for Lusophone Africa. These are "radionovelas" or radio plays about varying topics with 10 10-12 minute episodes downloadable for free in mp3 and pdf format. Also, if you scroll down, you'll see that there is an English page where you can download the corresponding text in English for parallel texts- for free.
Now the Portuguese is not Brazilian. It's African, but very useful for learning. You'll get your accent and Brazilian specific usage from other resources. I'd start with Fábulas africanas and the English version is here: African Fables.
Brazil Pod, recommended by Mae, is a great resource with downloadable mp3's and pdf's. This first series is ostensibly for Spanish-speakers but you can simply ignore the Spanish and concentrate on the native Brazilian speakers. The second series- Conversa Brasileira- has strictly Portuguese and English in an amazing multimedia format but is even more for intermediate students of the language.
You are already ahead of the game by having online Brazilian contacts. Brazilians are some of the warmest and friendliest people I have ever met. They are your best resource to help you along the way once you've built up a good base. Just keep in mind that they've never had to learn Portuguese as a second language themselves. Boa sorte! If I can help further, please let me know.
Edited by iguanamon on 28 August 2012 at 1:52pm
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MrPete Newbie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4505 days ago 12 posts - 12 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Norwegian
| Message 6 of 6 28 August 2012 at 9:09pm | IP Logged |
Thanks all, I really appreciate it!
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