due to our previous thread we would like to know just how much portuguese you knew before coming to live in portugal.
was it none, very little, little, average, lots or fluent.
and how long have you been here and how much more have you learnt.
please answer honestly its just for fun.

just day to day greetings and shopping situations.

one regret that i did,nt learn more before we came!

OK - let's get some metrics here:-

On a scale of 0 - 5:-

Level 0 - can't even say Bom Dia properly and / or has no intention of changing this situation because - hey - I'm English and it's the universal language

Level 1 - very little - can say Bom Dia, Obrigado, se faz favor, vinho tinto / branco / verde / rose por favor, uma bica, numbers 1 -10, grand, pequeno, mais or menos etc., don't really do accents

Level 2 - little - can read a restaurant menu in Portuguese, ask for particular items in the supermarket, butcher etc., say any number, know days of the week, months, colours, how to recognise and respond to questions about your address, telephone number etc., know basic verbs like quer, ir, beber, ler, ser, ter, estar etc. in present, past and future plus a reasonable range of adjectives and adverbs, uses accents correctly (mostly), frequent use of "pode repetir" in conversation, ability to say hello / how are you to friends / neighbours and understand the essence of a response that's more than "ta bem"

Level 3 - average - can discuss (perhaps with some difficulty) problems with buildings, cars, official documents. Can synthesise an approximation to any general sentiment even if the Portuguese is not good in terms of subject - verb - object, genders, tenses, adjectives, adverbs etc. Can have a simple conversation using present, simple past, imperfect and future of most common verbs, understand most of the TV news, read newspapers etc.

Level 4 - lots - can converse in Portuguese without significant difficulty, although some more complex / technical / medical etc. terms may be difficult; occasionally consults dictionary; never has to ask "falar ingles"?, kind of equivalent to an "O"-Level / GCSE in Portuguese

Level 5 - fluent - no problems, even if your accent / dialect sounds weird

So, for us:-

November 2006 - arrived in Portugal - Level 0 BUT with
(a) reasonable French (which has helped quite a lot) and (b) good friends close by who speak very good Portuguese

Beginning 2007 - Level 1

March 2008 - Level 2 - 2.25

Looking to be Level 3 by end of 2008 and Level 4 after 5 years

Over to you . . .

in that case its now at 2-2. something, embarassingly just over 1 in june last year

3

Because I plan to live there and am therefore, bothering my arse to learn beforehand

What's your point?

Ouch! Sounds of a cage being rattled

Not sure there is a deep and meaningful point in A&J's OP, but that's quite common on this forum

Obrigado e boa tarde

let us get this right Derbyflan you do not actually live in portugal yet?

i see another thread coming

Correct.

And I'm learning Portuguese and have been ever since I decided that one day I will live there.

What's your point?

PS. Have you learnt how to spell Tavira yet?

Not really. I just get mildly irritated (almost 'thrush-like') by Brits who moan that English isn't learnt by everyone, just for their benefit.

Oh yes,I live near Tavira, its wonderful here!!
you must suffer from thrush often!!!never suffered from it myself but I have heard canastan is good for that!!

so as i can see it, you are sitting in the uk dreaming of portugal, but you have not got a clue on life here!! we all know that when you live in the realms of fantasy life is perfect and everything is easy! when you eventually come over to this beautiful country and discover how hard some things can be when they should be straight forward thats when you will learn things that are not taught in a classroom or read in a book, practical is always better than theory.

I hardly live in a fantasy world dear. To me, fantasy world is full of text speak and poor preparation. And as I've said, having lived abroad twice before, I know fully what to expect. It's all about research and that includes learning the language, before setting off for your life overseas. I can't believe that nobody here decided to move to Portugal on the Monday and were doing it by Tuesday.

[QUOTE=aaron and jo;6031552]Oh yes,I live near Tavira, its wonderful here!!
you must suffer from thrush often!!!never suffered from it myself but I have heard canastan is good for that!!

so as i can see it, you are sitting in the uk dreaming of portugal, but you have not got a clue on life here!! we all know that when you live in the realms of fantasy life is perfect and everything is easy! when you eventually come over to this beautiful country and discover how hard some things can be when they should be straight forward thats when you will learn things that are not taught in a classroom or read in a book, practical is always better than theory. [/QUOTE


Wish he would tell us where he lived or has lived in past.i can-not get my head some of his post.

out of interest what countries have you lived in?

Germany and Gib/Spain.