Discover the different ways Brazilians express “about” in Portuguese, from “regarding” to “approximately.” Getting a grasp on these expressions is a matter of learning them in-context and with good examples. 馃嚙馃嚪
Read more...No amount of “hacking” and optimizing the process of learning Portuguese will get you to fluency without first constructing a foundation. And that foundation has to be made of the most-used words and phrases. This base of vocabulary is the most important ingredient in the recipe for language acquisition. Once this solid base has been acquired, all pathways to learning the language are open.
Read more...This post is making me extremely hungry. Here’s the deal: once you know these you don’t have to bother to learn the Portuguese equivalents. No need to. They are already in use in the common vocabulary here. Just be sure to say these words with your best brazilian accent. We’ve gotten a native to record…
Read more...Using IA in Portuguese to express “was going to do” or, “could do” is one of the most powerful hacks that I know of.
Read more...Many Portuguese learners get tripped-up with the past tense. But there are some hacks that can get you speaking quickly. One of them is learning to use Portuguese participles. The past participle is just a verb conjugation that describes something that is over and done: written, said, cooked, closed etc. Learning the Portuguese participles is…
Read more...You already know that learning a Portuguese song helps your language learning. But, did you know that it in-fact, super-charges you? It does. Images & music sets your brain in a highly stimulated state — and that makes it record what is happening in a uniquely powerful way. Here is a fantastic song by Maria…
Read more...I hear from so many people that are either (a) unable to wean themselves from using subtitles, or (b) not taking advantage of the power of subtitles. There is actually a specific process for Learning Portuguese with subtitles, and it’s not that obvious. Using movies, tv shows and YouTube to teach you the language is…
Read more...In the previous post I presented some really solid, but basic conversation starters. Now it’s time for some Portuguese Sentences that are also very common, but more complex. These are for the intermediate-advanced level learner. Vamos nessa. Just as the previous post, these sentences are linked to Google translate, and if you click the speaker…
Read more...If you’ve already got some of the basics down and are looking for ways to get into a conversation, I’m going to give you a list of very common Portuguese sentences that you can use as openers. These are all simple, yet powerful and: interesting openers. This list will give you some great openers and…
Read more...Stephen Krashen presented his Theory of Second Language Acquisition back in the 1980鈥瞫. His work has been very influential and stood the test of time. It’s also heavily influenced our approach, the Semantica Method. Dr. Krashen, in his very popular little book Foreign Language Education the Easy Way says: 鈥淲e acquire language in only one…
Read more...The students that are on the road to speaking Portuguese fluently do several key things differently. I see these over and over again. They are so striking that I’m going to call them, The 3 habits of successful learners. These people are among the few that actually get to the ultimate goal: fluency. They ask…
Read more...When it comes to learning Portuguese, you need to do it all. You can’t just study vocab or practice sing-a-longs. Here’s what we recommend: Use flashcards to memorize core vocabulary. Watch video dialogs that are interesting and tell a story. Analyze what happened and what was said in the dialog. Practice pronouncing the most difficult…
Read more...We’re starting to post the first pronunciation videos! The first 10 lessons of A Virada now have the corresponding pron煤ncia training. They look just great. Luciana and Andre have done an amazing job at showing us the language in all it’s GLORY. This is like watching bees pollenate flowers in super-slow motion. Everything is there…
Read more...The airport is a great place to start practicing your Portuguese. Most airline staff are bilingual and will be very forgiving of your mistakes and accent. Just go for it and apologize later. Let’s do a typical check-in dialog: AGENTE: Bom dia senhor. Passaporte, por favor. PASSAGEIRO: Aqui est谩. Eu vou para Recife. AGENTE: O…
Read more...My wife just asked me to translate this from English to Portuguese. ‘What?’, I said. Turns out, ‘Juweet’ = ‘did you eat?’ Oh. And we say it all the time. True. It reminded me of the many, many confusing Portuguese language-transformations /convolutions that I hear every day. If you’re trying to get to an advanced…
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