AliceCaroline

I have an excellent book "The language Lovers Guide to Learning Portuguese, Pronunciation and Grammar explained in plain English" by Russell Walker and Rafael Tavares.

The author has a web page and if you look under the Portuguese Courses section there is a list of free online courses.

Introduction

teejaydee

Please accept my apologies Ingles. You are quite correct, your link to Rafa's website is indeed for European Portuguese. I mis-read the contents of the website, saw mention of African Portuguese and jumped to the wrong conclusion .

Ingles

No problem at all ,thanks for your post.
keep well
Ingles

Dal Dy Dir

A lot of places in the UK now have significant Portuguese communties, just look one out and befriend a Portuguese person who may need help with some English.

An example here

BBC NEWS | UK | Wales | North East Wales | Pc appointed to aid ethnic groups

meiadeleite

You could give Duolingo a try as well, it's light and fun! (though I didn't check which variant of Portuguese they speak)

teejaydee

From the homepage: "On Duolingo, we'll teach you Brazilian Portuguese, but you'll also be understood in Portugal."

It would be helpful if a Portuguese speaker could briefly explain what differences exist between the two variants.

GeniB

Whoah there boys!! keep your 'cabella' on your 'Cabesa'

Your right Teejaydee It is important to learn the right sort of Portuguese for Portugal
.
There are numerous differences between Brazilian/African and standard Portuguese as spoken by the 'home' country...The words differ,the pronunciation is very different..

.So beware Lisbonites will not thank you to be addressed in Brazilian

Try Michel Thomas on iTunes..... good luck

vertigobike

Hi, All.

The difference between Portugal´s Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese in layman´s terms is more or less like this:

Portugal (Portuguese/original) --> Brazil (Portuguese/with accent and "local" words)
England (English/original) --> USA (English/with accent and "local" words)

..so just imagine it´s like the UK English vs. US English and you get the picture.

So as a brit will "look funny" to a yankee, a portuguese will also "look funny" to a brazilian - different words, different accent, different pronunciation, different "sounds"... yet, technnically the same language.

In my personal opinion, as a Portuguese I find it so much better to learn and understand an American rather than an Englishman (mouth more open US vs. mouth more closed UK, lighter accent US vs. harder accent UK, etc.); so as per logic I think a foreigner will also find brazilian portuguese better to learn and understand than the Portugal portuguese (Brazilians sound they´re singing when they speak vs. Portuguese are more "serious") - but opinions may vary.

Just beware of some great differences between PT portuguese and BR portuguese, like for example:

TRAIN --> comboio (PT) | trem (BR)
BUTCHER´S --> talho (PT) | açouge (BR)
GOALKEEPER --> guarda-redes (PT) | goleiro (BR)
FLUSH --> autoclismo (PT) | descarga (BR)
BRAKES --> travões (PT) | freios (BR)
BUS --> autocarro (PT) | ônibus (BR)
SUIT --> fato (PT) | terno (BR)
BATHROOM --> casa-de-banho (PT) | banheiro (BR)
SCREEN --> ecran (PT) | tela (BR)
COOL --> fixe (PT) | legal (BR)
PINT --> imperial or fino (PT) | chope (BR)
CUP --> chávena (PT) | xícara (BR)
TEAM --> equipa (PT) | time (BR)
FLIGHT ATTENDANT --> assistente-de-bordo (PT) | aeromoça (BR)
RIM --> jante (PT) | aro (BR)
TRAM --> eléctrico (PT) | bonde (BR)
GEARS --> mudanças (PT) | câmbio (BR)
CONCRETE --> betão (PT) | concreto (BR)
CORNER KICK (FOOTBALL) --> pontapé-de-canto (PT) | escanteio (BR)
FRIDGE --> frigorífico (PT) | geladeira (BR)
MILK BOTTLE (BABY) --> biberão (PT) | mamadeira (BR)
BROWN --> castanho (PT) | marrom (BR)
MOBILE --> telemóvel (PT) | celular (BR)
GRASS --> relva (PT) | grama (BR)
COMPUTER MOUSE --> rato (PT) | mouse (BR)
BREAKFAST --> pequeno-almoço (PT) | café da manhã (BR)
CONDOM --> preservativo (PT) | durex (BR)
POLICE STATION --> esquadra (PT) | delegacia (BR)
PANTIES --> cuecas (PT) | calcinha (BR)
SOCKS --> peúgas (PT) | meias masculinas (BR)
MENU --> ementa (PT) | cardápio (BR)
etc.

Also carefull with these brazilian words in Portugal:

"bico" means "odd job" in Brazil --> but "bico" in Portugal means BJ (odd job is "biscate" in Portugal)
"bombeiro" means "plumber" in Brazil --> but "bombeiro" in Portugal means "firefighter" (plumber is "canalizador" or "picheleiro" in Portugal)
"galera" means "gang" in Brazil --> but "galera" in Portugal means "boat" (gang is "turma" or "grupo" in Portugal)
"bala" means "candy" in Brazil --> but "bala" in Portugal means "bullet" (candy is "rebuçado" in Portugal)
"perua" means "van" in Brazil --> but "perua" in Portugal means "female turkey" (van is "carrinha" or "furgão" in Portugal)
etc.

... and with these Portuguese words in Brazil:
"rapariga" means "girl" in Portugal --> but a "rapariga" in Brazil is a prostitute
"bicha" means "queue" in Portugal --> but a "bicha" in Brazil is a homosexual
"puto" means "small boy" in Portugal --> but a "puto" in Brazil is a male prostitute
"camisola" means "sweater"/"jumper" in Portugal --> but a "camisola" in Brazil is a footballer´s jersey
"salpicão" means "big smoked chorizo" in Portugal --> but a "salpicão" in Brazil is a smoked chicken salad
"barbeiro" means "barber" in Portugal --> but a "barbeiro" in Brazil is a bad driver
"grelo" means "sprout" in Portugal --> but a "grelo" in Brazil is the female genitalia
"rola" means "dove" in Portugal --> but a "rola" in Brazil is the male genitalia
"punheta" means "raw cod shredded by hand" in Portugal --> but a "punheta" in Brazil is a hand job
etc.

I agree the best to learn Portuguese would be with a native portuguese person, face-to-face or via Skype; or, in alternative, some YouTube videos and online courses + books with lots of images to help.

Regards & Good Luck,
c a r l i t o s

toots sweet

From my experience,having spent time in Portugal and Brazil,the variations are like US versus UK english.The brazilian accent elongates the words and is softer(US),while in Portugal the language is short sharp like in UK(prefer Brazilian Portuguese to native portuguese).Bit like
the tomarto/tomAto difference.However when we were in brazil,they had no problems understanding us so the basics are probably quite close.

Ingles

As posted before :- Learn the basics & worry about the rest later.

gedscottish

To me listening to Brazlian Portuguese is almost like another langauge! Depending on the area of Brazil it seems, I really struggle to understand a lot of what they say. Saying that, have you heard anyone from the Açores speak?!

Lrose

Try Duo Lingo Some words may be Brazilian Portuguese but I have found it really helpful.