sportpix

Not sure if there is a recognised basic cost for lessons but I've just communicated with a language school in Lagos which is hosting Portuguese lessons next month.

The lessons are spanned over 10 days - Monday to Friday for two weeks and at three hours per day with a 10-minute break between each hour. The total cost for the 10-day course comes out at 300 euros, or 30 euros an hour. I think there is some sort of text book which is charged extra, and obviously the lessons are on Zoom because of the pox.

A local friend says he thinks it's expensive and that 20 euro per hour would be nearer the mark. I'm keen to have a go and to try and learn as much of the language as my red wine-soaked brain will allow, but I don't want spend a fortune doing so when there is absolutely no guarantee that I will be able to learn what sounds like a difficult language.

300 euros would buy me six green fees at the local golf courses or approx 85 bottles of decent discounted red wine.

Tough call...

dingg

85 bottles wins my vote 🍷🍷

borisface

Not sure your sums work. 3hrs a day for 10 days is 30hrs tuition. 300 euro divided by 30hrs = 10 euro per hour, no?

sportpix

You might be right. The effects of the red probably getting in the way of my grey matter, and also my local friend's grey matter who suggested 30 euro an hour was OTT. I guess he was right... Still a toss up between the red and the lessons, however...

borisface

Ha ha! Maybe the Portuguese lessons might be a better investment - you don't need anymore red! Lol!

captainflack

Do they do maths courses online too

scot47

I spent most of my life learning and teaching languages. My advice is not to for a group or class. Do it as a one-to-one. More expensive, but more effective.

campos

I'd say it's OK at that rate, even if it's group not one-to-one (I assume so). You'd get to hear others from the group and compare yourself etc.

Fluffyhead

Learning a new language is supposed to be very good for the brain so could help counteract the effect of the red wine on your grey matter.
Also can be fun and something to help relieve the boredom of the pandemic.

Mac and Mabel

What language school is this, in case others might be interested?

sportpix

Centro de Linguas de Lagos

captainflack

My experience of learning languages (German, Chinese, Portuguese) is that small group classes are best, maybe 4-6 people, because it encourages conversation. And don't get a teacher who speaks any English in class. Because classes where the teacher speaks English will never get you fluent. If you have the safety net, you will ask questions in English and you will never be forced to speak Portuguese and in six months time or a year you will have learned lots of things, and be able to use absolutely none of it. Because trying to construct a question in Portuguese is difficult, trying to do it in English is easy. But training your brain to construct questions in Portuguese is exactly what you need to be doing if you are ever going to get fluent.

And going to class is not enough either. You need to use it outside of class, going out and speaking to people. Don't ever ask in a shop "do you speak English". Try your best in Portuguese, and often I find people will tolerate my bad Portuguese and talk to me rather than switch to English.

I see so many people try a bit, then give up because they don't think they will ever be able to speak a language. They believe that they are not clever enough, but it's nothing to do with being clever, that's only a fraction of it that helps. It's primarily about attitude and commitment.

When I first went to Taiwan, I remember meeting a western guy who was quite fluent in Chinese (at least he seemed so to me at the time), and I could speak nothing. I remarked that it looked difficult and I didn't think I ever could, and he pointed out to me that learning Chinese is not difficult. Basically everyone in China (a billion plus) speaks Chinese, even the stupid people. How can that be the case if it is difficult? I said that was because they learned when they were kids. But as he pointed out, that means that *even* the stupid kids in China can manage to speak Chinese.

And I always remembered this, you absolutely have the mental capacity to speak other languages, your brainpower is not the limiting factor. You need to force your brain into the habit of having to try to understand the language, and force it to have to try to put sentences together. And you do that by forcing yourself to speak it and listen to it. Not by talking in English to a Chinese teacher.

People who say they need a teacher to explain things to them in English are failing. Go and read up later in a book, if you really need to know the grammar. But try to learn like kids do, they don't learn rules, they are just immersed in it, and they pick it up because their brain is forced to make sense of things, and they are forced to speak and eventually they start to understand. And when they make mistakes, they get corrected, and eventually they improve. Kids learn by repetition so they instinctively know what sounds right and what sounds wrong. That doesn't come from knowing grammar rules, it comes from repetition and constant use.

Fluffyhead

When we went to beginner's Portuguese lessons run by 2 of our local towns the emphasis was almost totally on grammar. We got through several teachers in the years we went and it was always the same and it did make me afraid to speak unless I got the grammar wrong. These days I worry a bit less about that and more about pronunciation as that is key here. Portuguese is written as it is spoken with some rules on where the emphasis should be and the accents change the way something is said. Many times we have been looked at blankly because we didn't quite get the emphasis in the correct place - when we finally manage to communicate and the Pt person says the same word that we thought we were saying we can hardly hear the difference but our way of saying it was enough for them not to tune into it. Arghh!

You're right about getting out there and talking with people captainflack, although we experience the opposite - we ask in Portuguese and they immediately reply in English as they want to practice their English! Also these days it's difficult to talk with many people when we're not supposed to go out. However, all that will end one sweet day Oxalá.

scrubbedexpat142

Butting in from Hungary - but qualified as another in the red wine soaked brain category, and slowly learning Hungarian, I can tell you that after that course you're going to need a bottle or 2 to recover! Problem is, as already suggested, is that on completing the course you have to go out, straightaway, and use the language, constantly.

Rambling archer

Sportpix and Dingg - this should cheer you up then - you have landed "home" here in Portugal !!
Cheers