Question: “I want to learn to speak and read Portuguese; how hard will it be?”
[First off, let me acknowledge that any thoughts on this topic are quite subjective, and as a passionate fan of the Portuguese language, I am arguably biased. That being said, I have learned a lot of Portuguese and also several other languages, so I feel as though it is appropriate and perhaps useful to discuss the difficulty level of Brazilian Portuguese.]
Portuguese is a very ‘learn-able’ language. Grammatically speaking, Portuguese is demonstrably similar to Spanish, Italian and French, though there are some Brazilian colloquial tendencies that in my opinion make proficiency more attainable in Portuguese (see bullets below). Anyone who has learned even a little it of a Romance language will have a leg up on learning Portuguese.
In terms of vocabulary, the ’80/20′ rule is certainly applicable here, generally speaking; one can understand 80% of what is spoken by knowing about 20% of the language. This is the way languages work – the most common word is twice as common as the second-most common word, which is twice as common as the third-most common word and so on. [If you are interested in learning the most common and useful words and phrases in Portuguese go here.]
Speaking Portuguese can be tricky; some sounds, such as nasalized vowels, are not very common in English. Also the letter ‘R‘ has several different sounds, some oh which sound like an ‘H‘ in English. The French language happens to share all of these sounds, and perhaps it isn’t too much of a stretch to say that Brazilian Portuguese is about as hard to pronounce for an English speaker as French. I am learning a little French now, and my instinct is that perhaps French is a bit more difficult, but again that is entirely subjective.
So that leaves us with comprehension, or understanding what the heck is going on around you! When I first visited Brazil, I was confident that I would be able to get around. I has just spent some time in a Spanish-speaking country (known for its cigars) and had had no problem getting around and hanging out with locals; surely Portuguese would be within reach I thought! I got on the airplane and picked up the newspaper. “Oh yeah… this is just like Spanish,” I said to myself. Then I moved on to the safety materials, “definitely just like Spanish except with these funny accent marks and stuff.” Then, the flight attendant began to speak. In Portuguese. I understood nothing. During my first visit I was a bit lost.
I hasten to point out that I had not made any effort to study the language at this point. Shortly after beginning to study something magical happened: the sound I heard coming from people’s mouths started to register as words that I could see! You have to learn all the sounds of a language before you can start to “see” the words when they are spoken. Portuguese is a beautiful, tonally-rich, sing-songy language with a unique cadence and an identifiable lilt. Once you get into the groove so to speak, it is very satisfying to listen to indeed.
Here’s the fun part: what makes Portuguese easierto learn than other Romance languages!
- You don’t need to learn the second person. The ‘tu’ form is rarely used in most parts of Brazil, and half the time you hear it, it is in conjunction with the ‘você’ form of the verb being used, as in “Tu sabe?” Most teachers don’t bother teaching the second person. This point alone will save you 1/3 of the verb forms you need to learn!!!
- You can use ‘a gente’ instead of ‘nos.’ Instead of using the 1st person plural ending, you can fake it by using the 3rd person singular. So to get ‘up and running’ with the language, all you really need is the eu, the ele/ela/você and the eles/elas/vocês forms. Ta da!
- Most common conversations are very similar. Small talk is easy; if you’ve heard a few different brief friendly conversations, you’ve heard ’em all.
- Brazilians love that you are trying to learn their languageand will typically bend over backwards to help you out. A patient native speaker is really the only way to become proficient at a high level, and Brazilians (in my experience and that of my friends) are just fantastic in this regard.
So now you know a little bit about what to expect. I encourage you to dive in if you haven’t already; Speaking Portuguese is well within reach.
Most of the readers of this blog are actively trying to learn Portuguese at some level. If you’re looking for other powerful resources to help you learn Portuguese free, you should check out Byki Express. It leverages the fact that adults learn foreign languages differently than children, by first building a reservoir of word and phrase vocabulary. The more items you have, the more able you are to use your foreign language. Check it out!
Comments:
Zhungarian:
I am Brazilian and I tell you: Portuguese is not more difficult thant any other Latin language.
The problem is quite simple: it was “made difficult” by a bunch of jesuits and grammarians so as to better divide the society into those who “know” the language, and the rest.
Portuguese “seems” to have lots of rules, but in fact we have as many rules than any other Latin language. The point is that grammarians make it difficult. It is profitable for them to do that. When selecting people for a job, you can turn out the majority of people.
Now things are changing because of the linguistic approach of the language, when the most importat is to communicate properly, more than using the correct form of a preposition or a pronoun.
I know Portuguse quite well. And I have studied other langugaes as well. Be sure, Portuguese is not that difficult.
Difficult is to cope with the lack of good books to teach it properly, as Spanish, Italian or French do.
Good luck!
Zhungarian:
Just another word about Brazilian Portuguese: our vocabulary is far richer than that from Portugal, because of the influence from indian and african societies in our country.
As to pronunciation, that from Rio is terrible, hard to understand. I am from Rio and I can tell you that. The words are pronounced as if they dragged the final parts nasaling them all.
For instance, “E aí?” (Hi!), instead of being pronounced /i: ai:/, is pronounced /i:n ãi:nnn/
Pronunciation from the South of Brazil is clearer.
Michael:
Hello. First off I would like to say I love all languages, but especially the Romance. I live in San Diego, CA. and have plenty of experience with Spanish. I learned quite a bit just listening and trying to conversate with people here, and could get by with Spanglish and hand gestures sometimes. I must say in my opinion from the major Romance languages that Spanish is by far the easiest. Portuguese is alot harder to learn than Spanish. The different pronunciations of letters alone is tricky. The R can have an H sound, be almost silent, and then have a light breathy sound all in one spoken sentence. Very similar pronunciation to French in my opinion. I have been learning for almost 7 months steady, and sometimes get a little frustrated at times. This is my first language that is being learned properly, as far as grammar, sentence structure, etc. The pronunciation of letters and words can vary too depending on what part of Brazil the person is from ( I have a friend from Paraiba). I have to say that I am getting alot better speaking and understanding the language as of late. My next goal is to perfect Spanish, which will be a breeze! since studying Portuguese. I want to learn every Romance language after this. SO. In my opinion, from easiest to hardest. 1. Spanish 2. Italian 3. Portuguese 4. French. Can’t comment on Romanian. Thanks for reading my rambling. Good luck with your learning!! 🙂
Penélope:
@Michael Good luck to you as well, Michael. 🙂
I find Portuguese easier than Spanish, partly because I have several good Brazilian friends, and partly because there are slightly fewer verb forms to memorize (but both languages have an insane number of tenses!)
Best of luck pronouncing those “R’s” and conjugating those verbs.
Audax:
NÃO É VERDADE QUE O PORTUGUÊS DO BRASIL SEJA DIFÍCIL. O PROBLEMA ESTA NO FATO DE SE ENSINAR NA ESCOLA UM LÍNGUA QUE NÃO CORRESPONDE À REALIDADE FALADA. A LÍNGUA POTUGUESA SE MODIFICOU ENORMEMENTE QUANDO FOI INTRODUZIDA NO BRASIL. PRIMEIRO PELOS PRÓPRIOS PORTUGUESES QUE AQUI CHEGARAM, QUE ERAM EM SUA MAIORIA COLONOS POBRES NAO ALFABETIZADOS E TROUXERAM CONSIGO TRAÇOS LÍNGUISTICOS QUE JA ESTAVAM EVOLUINDO EM PORTUGAL. ( É POSSIVEL ENCONTRAR AINDA HOJE EM TODOS OS DIALETOS BRASILEIROS TRAÇOS DO PORTUGUÊS FALADO NAQUELA ÉPOCA DAS GRANDES NAVEGAÇÕES PORTUGUESAS) DEPOIS OS POVOS NATIVOS, OS ÍNDIOS TAMBÉM CONTRIBUÍRAM PARA CONFIGURAR OS DIALETOS BRASILEIROS EM SEU LÉXICO. TANTO QUE HOUVE UM PERIODO EM QUE OS IDIOMAS INDIGENAS TUPÍ E, DEPOIS, O NHENGATU FORAM AS LÍNGUAS DOMINANTES NAS COLÔNIAS BRASILEIRAS, FALADOS INCLUSIVE PELOS COLONOS. ISSO ATÉ A IMPOSIÇÃO DO PORTUGUÊS PELO MARQUÊS DE POMBAL NO SECULO XVIII. E LOGO, OS ESCRAVOS QUE TROUXERAM SUA CULTURA E SUAS LINGUAS, ENRIQUECENDO O PORTUGUES BRASILEIRO COM MUITAS PALAVRAS DE ORIGEM AFRICANA. E, POR ÚLTIMO OS IMIGRANTES, UMA MISCELANIA DE POVOS DOS QUATRO CANTOS DO MUNDO QUE AJUDARAM A CRIAR A LÍNGUA BRASILEIRA. ACREDITO SERIAMENTE QUE O QUE SE FALA NO BRASIL NAO DEVE SER CHAMADO DE PORTUGUES. O NOSSO POVO CONSTRUIU UMA CULTURA RIQUISSIMA QUE POR SER TÃO PARTICULAR REFLETE NOSSA IDENTIDADE E EXIGE QUE SEJA MANIFESTA POR UMA LÍNGUA PRÓPRIA. VERIFICAR E ACEITAR A VERDADEIRA REALIDADE DA LÍNGUA FALADA PELOS BRASILEIROS É ASSUMIR A PROPRIA IDENTIDADE CULTURAL, SEM SE SENTIR INFERIORIZADO DIANTE DE OUTRAS CULTURAS. ESSA LÍNGUA PORTUGUESA QUE ATRIBUEM AOS BRASILEIROS SÓ TEM MESMO FORÇA NA ESCRITA PORQUE NA ORALIDADE ELA NUNCA SE MANIFESTA. OS BRASILEIROS QUE AFIRMAM QUE BRASIL E PORTUGAL POSSUEM O MESMO IDIOMA SO LEVAM EM CONSIDERAÇÃO A LÍNGUA ESCRITA. UM FATO CURIOSO PRA VOCÊS: OS FILMES PORTUGUESES QUE RARAMENTE SÃO EXIBIDOS NO BRASIL DEVEM SER LEGENDADOS, OS BRASILEIROS TÊM DIFICULDADES EM ENTENDER O QUE OS FALANTES DE PORTUGAL DIZEM. DUVIDO QUE O MESMO OCORRA ENTRE INGLESES E AMERICANOS. CURIOSAMENTE QUANDO SE FALA EM DIFERENÇAS LINGÜÍSTICAS ENTRE BRASILEIROS E PORTUGUESES SÓ SÃO REFERIDAS AS DIFERENÇAS FONÉTICAS E LEXICAIS. NÃO SE TOCA NAS DIFERENÇAS MORFOSINTÁTICAS E SEMANTICAS. COMO SE ESSAS NÃO EXISTISSEM. ACREDITO QUE ESSA OMISSÃO SEJA UMA FORMA DE ESCONDER OS ASPECTOS QUE PODEM FAZER COM QUE PASSE A SE CONSIDERAR O IDIOMA FALADO PELOS BRASILEIROS COMO UMA LÍNGUA DISTINTA. A MORFOSINTAXE É UM ASPECTO ESTRUTURAL QUE VARIA MUITO DE LÍNGUA PRA LÍNGUA. ESSA ATITUDE É MANIFESTA TANTO POR BRASILEIROS COMO POR PORTUGUESES. OS BRASILEIROS NO CASO FAZEM,TALVEZ, POR COMPLEXO DE INFERIORIDADE , OU MEDO DE ROMPER OS LAÇOS QUE OS UNEM A UMA CIVILIZAÇAO EUROPEIA, É O VELHO EUROCENTRISMO ASSIMILADO PELOS COLONIZADOS. OS PORTUGUESES, POR SUA VEZ, PARECEM FICAR EM DÚVIDA SE DISCRIMINAM OU ACEITAM AS PARTICULARIDADES DA LÍNGUA FALADA PELOS BRASILEIROS. A DÚVIDA SE DEVE EM PARTE NO MEDO DE QUE A LÍNGUA DOS BRASILEIROS PENETRE E SE TORNE DOMINANTE NA SUA PROPRIA SOCIEDADE E EM PARTE NA QUIMERA PORTUGUESA DE PROMOVER A CPLP, UMA ASSOCIAÇAO SEMELHANTE A COMUNIDADE BRITANICA DAS NAÇÕES, QUE SERVE PRA MANTER AS EX-COLONIAS DE PORTUGAL SOB SUA INFLUENCIA POLITICA E ECONOMICA.
BEM, RESUMINDO, PODEMOS DIZER QUE NO BRASIL SE ENSINA NAS ESCOLAS A GRAMÁTICA DA LÍNGUA FALADA EM PORTUGAL, MAS A LÍNGUA FALADA PELOS BRASILEIROS É TOTALMENTE DIFERENTE! DAÍ QUE PODEMOS DEDUZIR QUE A LÍNGUA DOS BRASILEIROS É UMA OUTRA LÍNGUA. AQUELES ESTRANGEIROS QUE QUEIRAM COMPROVAR O QUE EU DIGO VENHAM AO BRASIL E VEJAM COMO O NOSSO MODO DE FALAR É DIFERENTE EM RELAÇAO A PORTUGAL. DIFERENTE NAO A PONTO DE SER CLASSIFICADO COMO UM DIALETO DO IDIOMA PORTUGUES, MAS SIM COMO UMA LÍNGUA PARTICULAR.UMA LÍNGUA QUE POSSUI SEUS PROPRIOS DIALETOS! VENHAM E PRESTEM ATENÇAO NOS FALARES DAS DIFERENTES REGIÕES E VOCES VERÃO QUE O QUE EU DIGO É ALGO PERTINENTE!
John:
I will learn Brazilian Portuguese over the one from Portugal any day.
I do not care for Portugal as a country, or its people. I had nothing but bad experiences. Even your European neighbors hate your guts!
On the other hand, Brazil is a gem. Beautiful and friendly people.
André:
Hello there!
I’m native brazilian and I will be happy to help some peoples about portuguese.
I’ve been learning english since february, and I think that I need help as well.
So…who has patient to explain me something about english, I will be able to explain something in portuguese.
My english is not fluent but we can find a way to talk. (I may drawing somethings..lol)
I loved this post and I’m happy knowing that some people like our language.
My email is for contact is andrebmedeiros82@gmail.com
[ ]’S
Some:
Just for the record:
Portuguese Portugal (PT-PT) and Portuguese Brazil (PT-BR) are almost equal. In Portugal people watch Brazil shows normally, even kids can, with no special preparation. Just a couple of words are excusive brazilian and others are not, very few and not important for the newly begginer. The biggest difference is the accent. Brazil tends to be have easier sounds (more “party” accent).
In Africa (Angola and Mozambique), portuguese is the main language, but with PT-PT accent. Brazil is the exception. All of these countries are ex-colonies.
Vladimir:
Soon computer softwares will solve all language and communication problems. Look on Google
Welcome to XXI century!!!
I was in Brazil twice. I do love this country,
I want to live and work there. I do want and I will learn “Brazilian” language 😉
By the way, I already can speak on perfect Swiss, European, Canadian and Australian…
Thiago:
Hi everyone!
Will, i am brazilian and i live in rio de janeiro. so, if you are learning portuguese, i think i can help.
my msn: tthiago07@hotmail.com
I’m always online in 5 hours time schedules of the U.S. capital
Learn Portuguese:
Hi I am from Brazil.
Do you want learn Portuguese ?
Talk to me !
Daniel:
I’ll honestly never understand why there’s so much bad blood and pride between Portugal and Brazil. I’m portuguese and I’ve always looked to Brazil as a brother country, as I have many brazilian friends whom I never had any kind of problems related to language and/or culture differences. I really believe that people needs to get over the past history and just accept that we are very similar and stop this nonsense comparison, as our two kinds of portuguese evolved in completely different ways (which doesn’t have to be bad). Now, my two cents:
1) I do agree that Portuguese (PT or BR) is hard. Yes, I do have a complex/rich grammar and yes, many people aren’t capable to speak the rich, eloquent portuguese. I disagree however, with the ones who say that Brazilian is richer than EP. At top, I would say that they’re at the same level, although with different words.
2) Brazilian, in my opinion, it’s easier to learn, because like the original poster said, it’s more sing-songy and groovy. Us portuguese speak in a very linear way that changes with different voice tones and that tends to become hard to understand to foreigners
3) Although I understand Brazilian quite well, most because of the soap operas on our TV, I still find it difficult to understand sometimes, like when I watched Tropa de Elite 2. Knowing the two languages/dialects, I find the Brazilian slang quite funny, not to say “stupid” (without offense), but that’s because, well, I’m portuguese and our slang is WAY different.
4) As for the people, I do agree also that brazilians are much more friendly and have a happier vibe. On the other hand, we tend to me more cold and cynical.
5) And for last, the one thing that bugs me the most is the attempt to “unify” PT-BR and PT-PT. We are very proud of our language in the same way as brazilians are with their, and with little effort we can understand each others, so why the fuck change it?
peace
Zhungarian Alatau:
Brazilian Portuguese has its vowels fully pronounced, while Continental Portuguese has developed a much tougher way of pronouncing the words. That’s why sometimes people feel the Brazilian Portuguese softer, sweeter. Some linguistis think that Brazilian Portuguese is kind of ancient Portuguese, keeping some features from the old Portuguese from some centuries ago. The maintanance of the pronouncing of vowels even where they should not appear (like “pneu” or “advogado”) is another feature that intrigues linguists, because the “normal” development of a language involves the removal of unstressed syllables.
Mariana:
Oh yeah, we speak the vowels. Sometimes we speak them so much that they make us sound lazy. Especially when it comes to us, “cariocas”. We have a very open accent, very long vowel pronunciation. We articulate the vowels a lot and put a lot of strength on the consonants.
I used to date an american who told me several times that, if he had to make a paralel between brazilian portuguese and american english, trying to match the “carioca” accent to the english from one of the american regions, we would be like the New Yorkers. That would mean we have an agressive accent.
On the other hand, if you go to Belém, in the state of Pará (North of Brazil, in the middle of the Amazonia), they sound much more european. Not only because of their accent, but also because they use “tu” with the right conjugation, (“tu fizeste”, instead of “tu fez”). They have more close vowel pronunciation.
And yes, we, brazilians, have an IMPOSSIBLE TIME trying to understand EP. First, as said here before, we’re almost never in touch with it. Second, as said here before too, portuguese people “eat” the endings of the words and many vowels in the middle of them. And I couldn’t help laughing real hard when I read someone saying something about the succession of SHHHH SHHHH sounds… xD This is so true and whenever I try to sort of get out of my portuguese-speaker perspective and hear the language, I get kind of embaraced about how funny we must sound so many times…
But, people, our “R” that shouds like “H” and our “S” that sounds like “SH” is a regional issue. If you go to São Paulo and order for a mishhhhto-quente at a diner, they will make fun of you (in a kind way), cause they speak the regular S sound, the soothing one. And the word “verdade” (meaning Truth), which in Rio sounds like “H” in the city of São Paulo (the city!!) sounds like the “R” from spanish and italian. AND… if you go to the interior of the state of São Paulo, they will pronunce the “R” JUST LIKE an american, as if they had a potato inside their mouths. It’s the cutest thing. =)
Making a link between portuguese and other romance languages, it’s worth saying that reading all of them is probably easy for pretty much all of their speakers. At least that’s how I feel. Reading french is piece of cake. Now go on and try to SPEAK it. Then try not to hate it, which will be even harder… ¬¬
Interesting to know that so many people consider the brazilian general accent a step further to get the grip of other languages. Never thought about that before.
Mariana:
But Hey, Juliana F… Don’t thank the portuguese for colonizing Brazil, please! xD
The DUTCH should have taken over Brazil and kicked the portuguese’s asses after settling down in the Northeast and we would have, probably, a much more organized country! haha
Portugal came here to extract, not to take care of the “child”. They came to make a mess and they did. Thanks Portugal, for abandoning your child since the very beginning! And for killing the indians!!! I just hope the Tupinambá ate some of you before they perished, let’s be fair! xD
(KIDDING, for god’s sake!)
But listen, ALL THE PORTUGUESE PEOPLE HERE, I have nothing against your country for real, nor your people. Just wish we, brazilian women, weren’t seen as whores over there. I’d rather be seen as a cannibal. =P
Daniel:
Just to make a point, we (portuguese) don’t generally see brazilian women as whores. The thing is, much of the immigrant women (brazilian, ucranian, etc) here are really whores, as in they receive money for sex, so when someone says that the brazilian women are all whores they are refering to the ones that are here. When that’s not the case… it’s just a matter of different mentalities, you have to agree that you brazilians have a much more open mentality as opposed to us, which is very good imo 🙂
Mariana:
I’m very aware of the brazilian whores in Europe. It’s just sad that because of them, we, good brazilian women with nothing more than an open mind, end up being frowned upon. My best friend lived in Portugal for a while and he told me he was shocked about that. =/
Higor Fidelis:
Olá, escrevo em portugues para quem quiser já começar a treinar ! lol
Meu nome é Higor e sou Brasileiro.
Fico muito envergonhado quando surge algum artigo a respeito da lingua portuguesa e várias pessoas ficam se atacando, dizendo qual é a lingua mais completa, quem a domina mais e qual a mais bonita.
Concordo com o elemento lá em cima que escreveu tudo em letras garrafais que a lingua Brasileira não pode ser considerada um Tipo de Portugues, mas uma lingua à parte. Existem diversos dialetos aqui, mas é algo que poucos sabem já que a mídia Brasileira
( e o mundo), se foca somente em dois: O carioca ( do Rio de Janeiro) e o Paulista
(de São Paulo). Talvez seja por isso que a idéia de dialetos no Brasil não seja levada tão a sério. Mas deveria! Pois a partir do momento que existe um dialeto para uma lingua
é visivel que houve alguma evolução por parte desta…bom eu creio nisso lol
Querido autor: Achei muito interessante seu texto! porém , não é muito interessante encorajar os futuros portuguese speakers a utilizar as maneiras erradas de conjugação de verbos: o NÓS deve ser usado tanto para falar quanto para escrever, e o AGENTE pode ser usado somente para falar. Aprender desse jeito pode gerar muitos vícios, então é melhor aprender o certo e sofrer um pouco do que aprender o errado com facilidade e não conseguir se comunicar com uma grande parcela das pessoas que falam o português.
Espero não ter ofendido ninguém e que minha crítica tenha sido construtiva! ^^
Higor Fidelis:
If someone needs Some Help in Portuguese just call me:
fidelis.higor@gmail.com
I will be glad to help you!
And you will be wiser learning a pretty and rich language Like Portuguese.
Even if it is European or Brazilian, pretty anyway!
Alan Knowles:
Brasilian PT is easier for English speakers to learn because of the more open accent and fuller pronunciation of the words. Spelling is phonetic. From my experience, PT is one of the easiest languages, perhaps only beaten by Italian (but there are far more folk speaking PT world wide).
However, you need to remember that the language has assimulated are a lot of Tupi/Guarani words. And yes, there are a lot of different accents in Brasil. It is a big place. Think of NY/TX/WI (but Brasil is bigger).
Give it three months here and you will be reasonably fluent. After three years you will still be making some mistales though. That is natural. Even with fluent UK/US English speakers, there are words and expressions that require looking up when they cross the pond.
And I have managed to make myself understood in Angola and (with care) Portugal. (Don’t refer to the taximan as ‘Moço’ in a friendly way. And vice versa – don’t say a girlfriend is a ‘rapariga’ in Brasil.)
The argument about how they perceive Brasilian lasses in Portugal as whores – and Portuguese guys in Brasil as idiots – is due to the dross that drifts across the Atlantic both ways.
Boa sorte.
Alan
Mr True:
Caríssimos, não digam que o português do Brasil é melhor ou pior que o português europeu. Pois, na minha opinião, tal não é verdade! Muitos dos que dizem saber português escrevem com muitos erros gramaticais e ortográficos (basta ler algumas das mensagens aqui publicadas!). Além disso, tenho muitos amigos brasileiros que já me disseram que tiveram que vir para Portugal para aprender a falar português correctamente. Para terminar, não se esqueçam que quando se começou a falar português no Brasil, já em Portugal era falado há 500 anos….
Higor:
Que engraçado: esse texto sobre portugues foi feito em 2007 e ainda existe discussão a respeito disso!
Concordo em partes com o que o “Mr True” disse,tem muita gente aqui no Brasil que fala Lingua Portuguesa mas não fala nem escreve corretamente, mas devemos levar em conta que o Brasil um país em desenvolvimento que ainda possui 13,9 milhões de analfabetos…claro que existe muita gente que opta não aprender mais sobre a língua…mas pelo que eu vi, não tem ninguem falando que o BRpt é melhor que o EUpt…por favor hein!
O Portugues já foi por muito tempo um Latim mal falado, e agora é uma língua completa, o portugues do Brasil já deixou de ser um Portugues mal falado, todos sabemos que é diferente, mas dizer que uma lingua é melhor que outra eu já acho ridículo 😛
Erik Sartor:
Hey there,
I’m from Brazil and I wanna help who want to train the POrtuguese and practice my bed English to 😛
FACEBOOK: Erik Sexto Sartor
@Rickyiedewo
Erik Sartor:
Quanto ao que fora comentado pelos meu colegas brasileiros e Portugueses,
Nao creio que exista uma forma certa de se falar o portugues (quando falamos do portugues latino ou europeu)
Literalmente, o portugues europeu nao e o certo a ser falado no Brasil, assim como nao ha como falar que o portugues latino (Brasil) e o certo a ser falado.
Primeiro: Portugal e Brasil sao paises distintos; ambos falam portugues, porem cada qual tem suas expressoes diomaticas, sotaques e dialetos adiquiridos por influencias de outros paises;
segundo:Vamos estudaar um pouquinho de historia? Ha 511 anos, o Brasil ja possuia falantes do portugues colonia. 500 anos antes? tecnicamente, o Brasil foi declarado “descoberto” pela terra mae, por causa do tratado de Tordesilhas, mas o Brasil fora descoberto muito antes! Se formos levar em consideracao “o que veio primeiro” , deveriamos todos falar latin(m)
terceiro: o portugues e um dos idiomas mais carregados de “estrangeirismo” : abajur, algema, hamburger, guitarra…. sem falar nas palavras nativas ddo pais; mandioca, pe, guarana, itapevi etceteras.
Para finalizar, nao ha certo ou errado; cada qual com o seu.
OBSERVACOES:
1. Perdoem a falta de acenttuacao, meu teclado nao possui acentos tipicos da lingua portuguesa.
2. sair do Brasil para aprender a falar o porttuges culto com o PT. europeu, nao me pparece ser uma boa ideia. JA disse que sao historias e referencias distintas..
3. PNEUMOULTRAMICROSCOPICOSSILICOVULCANICONIOTICO e a maior palalavra da lingua portuguesa quue eu conheco.
4. Segundo a nova reforma ortografica unificadora “correCto” esta errado. o certo e “correto”
(depois falam que o brasileeiros nao sabem escrever) 🙂
5. as lletras repettiddas sao para satirizar
obrigado
Carlos:
Portuguese is difficult because vowels have different sounds acoording with wurd, or even in the same word, like english. Consonant in the end the words pronounce like vowels, as in “sal” s-a-u, “mel” “leve” le-vi. Without speak of the pronoune of “r”, complex grammar, irregualar verbs, idiomatic expressions…
Jorge LB:
Hello, fellows!
I’m brazilian too! I wanna just train my english skills (and french too, although i’m a begginer in french). If you wanna come to Brazil, at State of Pernambuco, just send a message. I can help you to improve your portuguese language skills for free, since i can train my english too.
Add me in facebook: http://facebook.com/jlunabraga
Jackie:
First off, I’d like to thank you for posting this article. I am from the USA, but have just recently moved to São Paulo to live with my husband (who is a native). I stumbled across this blog in my search for something to supplement my Rosetta Stone courses, and I have found it very helpful. I am encouraged by the post above, as I learned Spanish many years ago, and often find myself frustrated trying to get the pronunciation of words correct – the vowel sounds are so different! I had concluded that Brazilian Portuguese sounds a lot like speaking Spanish with a French-Italian accent while intoxicated – and it’s great to know my suspicions are not far off.
As far those arguing about which “Portuguese” is superior, everyone involved in the argument sounds a bit like the British and their irks with the American English language. Get over it. Every country will have their own variations, as they embrace their own mix of culture unique to their area. There is no “superior” language. Language has been evolving for millennia, and will continue to evolve. It’s part of being human.
I visited the Museum of the Portuguese Language in Brazil, and it was a wonderful thing to behold – a country honoring the roots of its language, and explaining how other languages were absorbed and adopted to create the words they use today. I think more countries should create a Museum like this. It gives you a true appreciation for the amazing adaptability of humanity.
ed:
Hello all, I’m from the U.S. born and raised and it’s nice to see I’m not the only one trying to learn the beautiful language called Portuguese. I must say though, as both a English and Spanish speaker, reading Brazilian Portuguese comes quite easy to me. Now, maybe this is so because I was raised in a bi-lingual home of Spanish and English and can read and write Spanish (Mexican Spanish, if that makes sense). I read some Brazilian Portuguese here and there and I get it, I comprehend the words and the meaning of the sentence as a whole and can translate to both English and Spanish. On the other hand, if someone talks to me in Brazilian Portuguese or any other Portuguese as a matter of fact, I get totally lost! I might catch a word or two here and there but for the most part I don’t understand the person. Most of it, in my opinion, has to do largely with the accent they have and the pronunciation of there words. In either case, I think I have an advantage of knowing a Romance Language, Spanish, prior to studying and learning Portuguese.
Anderson:
Hi Guys
I’m brazilian. I wanna just train my english. I can help you to with your portuguese language.
Let`s pratice!
My MSN: anderson.jpa@gmail.com
Gabriel Fonseca:
I’m Brazilian from Bahia and I totally agree with the author. Some of my fellow countrymen have said that they think Brazilian Portuguese is a hard language to learn… well, I think there’s a bit of confusion in here: conversational Portuguese is indeed a very, very easy language to learn, just as the text states. Though, rigorous written Portuguese following all its rules (something Brazilians rarelly do, except for some very formal situations) is just as hard as any other romance language.
Mabruno:
I guess it depends on what variety of Portuguese you want to learn.
The formal written language in Brazil, as used for example in national newspapers, is pretty close to standard European Portuguese (more so now after the 2009 spelling reform) and, generally speaking, is rather difficult. Most native Brazilians actually have trouble writing in the standard language (known as “norma culta”), even though it is supposed to be taught in schools, and only a few highly-educated Brazilians, normally graduates of top public universities, may claim that they truly master it.
The educated colloquial language, spoken by the upper middle-class in the major metro areas, especially near or at the Atlantic coast, is on the other hand the “de facto” spoken Brazilian Portuguese standard and the language variety you are most likely to learn as non-native foreign student. It differs somewhat from the formal written language, but not dramatically, and, although it is gramatically simpler than, let’s say, Castilian Spanish or French, it is still rather tough for English speakers in particular.
Finally, the so-called “Brazilian popular vernacular” (or “língua popular” in Portuguese) is the language spoken by the majority of the Brazilian population, especially low-income groups and rural/small-town folks. It differs substantially both from the formal written standard and the educated colloquial speech of the upper middle-class. In particular, the popular vernacular is gramatically much simpler, with a marked tendency to regularization and loss of nominal and verbal inflections. In fact, it differs for example from European Portuguese as spoken in Portugal as much as Afrikaans (spoken in South Africa and now a separate standard language) differs from Dutch (from which Afrikaans evolved).
Oscar Marques:
A tip for those who want to learn Portuguese! You have to really know the reason of learning !
Brazilian Portuguese is the most popular worldwide, and almost everything that is done in Portuguese from Brazil (mostly)
is how to learn American English (are popular) and many Latino people, choose U.S. English, so I can see the influences of tvs, books, music !
I really think more understandable to hear Portuguese of Brazil ! is slower and has more contrast than one word to another !
SKYPE – oscarnegrinny
MSN – oscar.negrinny@live.com
Sheila Silva:
Someone mentioned the Portuguese in certain social classes ! The truth is that when you want to practice Portuguese, they will try to speak Portuguese more common.
In the case of social classes, is moved by the presence or absence of slang. But in general is not very different!
“No,” there are many many ready-made phrases in Portuguese (idiomatic terms), I mean you can create your terms, or words, without a lot of rules ! (Can be strange) but it will usually be understood.
Perhaps the biggest difficulty is the grammar of many rules. I really think that a foreigner should study the english tenses and the words male and female. Once you have a good vocabulary can be free to create sentences.
And we realize that when a foreigner does not speak well, we tried the simplest possible.
Anderson:
Realmente o Português Brasileiro é como o Inglês Americano, porém os Brasieiros tem um sério problema com as conjugações dos verbos e excesso de gírias. O Português de Portugal é um Português mais correto, mas bem falado como o Inglês Britânico.
(Brazilian Portuguese is really like American English, but the Brazilians have a serious problem with the conjugations of verbs and excessive slang. The Portuguese of Portugal is more correct, more well spoken, as is the British English.)
Rodrigo Almeida:
The best way at my view is to learn 2 max 3 words a day.
Only the grammar is difficult, much more than english where we have only present, past and future.
But usually foreigners that come to Brazil, learn how to spoken quite fast!
Ive 3 words to learn, check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbBql6jC0-A
Ms Coop:
How hard is to learn Portuguese? I think it will depend on how old you are and where you are. I am Brazilian. I came to U.S. to learn English (ESL) when I was 32 years old. It took for me 2 years to feel comfortable speaking this language. My son was 6 y/o when he went to Brazil (to visit) after 2 weeks he was able to say 3 words sentence. My husband when he was 18y/o, he Spent 2 Years (to work) in Brazil and he was able to speak very good Portuguese in 6 month. In the end of his trip he was fluent in this language. For us we were very motivated to learn a second language. It took longer for the older and took less time for the younger.
So I do not think it is hard to learn Portuguese. It just take time.
I have a conference room. If you need help learning Portuguese contact me at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/MsCoop/149239935130652?ref=ts
Paulo:
hello there. I´m Paul. I’m a native Brazilian and I just love learning languages… I´m not that good in english, but I’m trying very hard… I also speak spanish and I’m learning french… Is portuguese difficult? At times…. because is quite different the way we write to the way we speak… for example, as it was stated in the text we say “a gente vai ao mercado” but we should write “nós vamos ao mercado”, conjugated properly, and many other expressions “cadê você?” is the same of “onde está você?”… and it depends on the region, the pronunciation and the words will be quite different too!! The southern region has such a difficult pronunciation, sometimes difficult even for brazilian speakers!! But if you try hard, you’ll see it’s easier to speak than writing. If you have any doubt about portuguese, just send me an e-mail and I’ll gladly reply…(paulo.h.csantos@hotmail.com) Thanks and Hugs… Paul
Max:
I am Brazilian and Portuguese (2 nationalities) and I disagree when someone says that people from Portugal speak or write portuguese more correct than Brazilians. I have some portuguese friends in the internet who write very very bad Portuguese language, with lots of mistakes.
As a English student, I would like to compare, how difficult is learning Portuguese and English. The biggest problem in English is the pronunciation, because the sound of letters, practically, has no rules. In Portuguese, we don´t have this problem, because the sound of the letters has very clear rules. However, in Portuguese, most objects have gender and it is a big problem for foreigns speakers. English is smart and easier about it, because objects have no gender in this language. Conclusion: Every languages have easy and hard things to learn!
Filigold:
European Portuguese is harder than Brazilian. The fact is, in Portugal the language is still closer to the traditional Portuguese that it once was. Because of all the influences surrounding Brazil, the language has broadened and become more international so easier to understand than European Portuguese. Also in Portugal 9 times out of 10 the verb will be conjugated in its traditional form while in Brazil that is not true.
I shall also add that Portuguese is much more of a “complete” language than Spanish. I am from Lisbon, living in London for 10 years and studying Spanish and the more I study it the more “flaws” I find and te lack of vocabulary. I will give just a few examples if this. The word breath in Portuguese can be “Fôlego, respiração, hálito” while in Spanish you are missing “fôlego” which you use when you are out of breath. The word for meal in Spanish is “comida” which in Portuguese means “food” and the word used for meal is “refeição”.
Samuel de Araújo Assunção:
Hi, my name is Samuel and I’m brazillian. I don’t speak English very weel, but I’m trying learning it. Não penso que o português seja facil mas ele tambem não é dificil de se aprender. Maybe I can teach portuguese for you and you could teach me learn English. If you wanna contact me on Facebok: Samuel Yehudi de Araújo Assunção. Or my email: samueldearaujoassuncao@gmail.com. Paz seja convosco.
MrTrue:
O problema do português falado no Brasil é muito simples: os brasileiros não aplicam correctamente a gramática. Quem o diz são os principais linguistas brasileiros.
Por exemplo, é muito comum não respeitarem o número: “os MEU amigo”, vejamos também o exemplo dado neste site: “Tu sabe?”. A forma correcta (em Portugal e no Brasil) é “Tu sabeS?”
Além disso, no Brasil há o péssimo hábito de inventar palavras. Às vezes, nem os meus amigos brasileiros sabem o que estas querem dizer…
O português no Brasil não evoluiu, foi destruído (são os intelectuais brasileiros quem o afirmam!). Quando se começou a falar português no Brasil, em Portugal o mesmo era falado há quase 500 anos.
Para concluir, a nós, que falamos português, que importam as pequenas diferenças se conseguimos comunicar?
Brian:
This is why I love Brazilians so much. Look at all of the Brazilians posting their contact information on here just to help us learn their language. I want to learn conversational Brazil Portuguese so I can communicate with our loving neighbors to our south. I’ve never really studied a language besides the 2 years of Spanish in High-school. Where do I start? I want to be able to communicate and from what I have heard before there is a lot that you don’t need to learn in order to have casual conversation. Any book or website recommendations that are good, that will leave out what you don’t really need to learn?
Juliette:
English is my first language but my father was Portuguese so I can speak perfect Portuguese and also my husband is Brazilian so I can give you a balanced view. I can assure you there are many myths related to the differences between the language spoken in Portugal and Brazil. There’s a difference in accents for sure but the language is the same apart from some regional words. What’s right or what’s wrong is exactly the same in both countries. Portugal’s way of speaking can sound archaic to a common brazilian but a cultured brazilian person won’t share this view. Please don’t think that the colloquial Portuguese spoken on the streets in Brazil is the same you will find in Brazilian books, schools or in professional communication. When we want to learn a language we must strive to learn it properly and be careful when choosing a teacher. Many Brazilians abroad boast they can teach their language but very few really know their grammar and many have a very limited vocabulary.
Roger:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Irgq_fxc40
HEy guys….Im making some videos teaching Portuguese, its really useful!
Im just starting my channel…please like & subscribe !
Rita:
I’m sorry, but the Portuguese grammar is like 40 times harder than the English one. Every person is different, I am an European Portuguese (from Portugal, obviously) and it hurts me reading that Portuguese don’t use the second person, because in Portuguese and other ex-colonies the 2nd person is the one you use the most. Plus, if you want to know portuguese very well then I suggest learning the European way because the Brazilian make so many grammar mistakes like “A gente”, that doesn’t exist. It’s like asking for an analphabetic person to teach you how to write (no offense to Brazilian people) but since the language was born in Europe, the Portuguese European is the most correct. Also, in my opinion, Portuguese is harder to learn than Spanish.
edmilson:
essa dificuldade na aprendizagem da lingua portuguesa é relativa, pois, para latinos, português não será tão difícil, enquanto que, para os não-latinos, sentirão muita dificuldade
Paola:
Hello native English speakers,
I can help you to learn Brazilian portuguese and European portuguese, for free, since I can train my english with you. I am from Brazil, but I live in Portugal. I don’t speak (and write) english very well, but I am studing this beautiful language. If you want talk to me by Skype, my name is “paolabc2.lucena”. My email is “paolabc2.lucena@gmail.com” and my facebook is https://www.facebook.com/Paola.Lucena.Santos
Thank for your atention.
See you soon!!!
Tobias:
Just a note to the Rita’s post…
European portuguese is not the most correct, both brazilian and european portuguese are correct, and both make mistakes as well.
What Rita sad about “a gente”, for exemple, is wrong… “gente” is just like “people” for you natives, it means a plural for person.., however, in portuguese, “gente” is a singular word wich reffers to a plural meaning, but it’s conjugated like a singular word, that’s the reason for “a gente vai”.
about the lack of the second person, that’s right that in brazil people dont care so much about this while they are speaking, but in writting it’s wrong if you dont use the apropriate pronoum, and the second person is included.
Our portuguese is as good as the one from portugal, however we have a big educacional crisis, that’s the reason why we hsave a high percentual level of analphabetcs…
I enjoy sharing my knowledge about portuguese too, i’m learning french now… so if is someone interested in trade knowledges, email me : tobiassz6@gmail.com
Rafael Soro:
I am so thankful for this post. I really need help in learning Portuguese be it PP PB. I am already in the process of learning Spanish since its logical to learn it first because I am from the Philippines and Spanish was our second language before the Americans introduced their own to be our second language. Despite of it all we still use some Spanish terms but in a more American way. I know it doesn’t make sense thus the need to relearn the language Spanish.
Here goes the encounter for my fascination of Portuguese. Story goes this way, … I stumbled upon a movie a short Brazilian movie where i was curious because for a minute I thought at first it was in Spanish but the sounded more like French sometimes Italian, the pronunciation and the enunciation of the words was so lovely that I was convinced it was really beautiful. Searched more listen to it more and wow its Portuguese. Its very romantic to hear the words like that, so I am determined to learn the language more than ever.
I am fluent in English and in Tagalog I cannot recon which of the two is my second language. My first language though is “Visayan” or “Bisya” which is more of a Malay and Spanish Language Mix very informal as it is a native language that does not follow any grammar rules of a Malayan language rather it follows Spanish rules but some how that rules are thrown away when engaged in a conversation. As i said its very informal. But I am very good at it.
I hope i could learn the language as fast as a child would and am really thankful for this post.
Portugal Orgulhoso:
A todos! A nós, portugueses, tantos nos faz que os brasileiros queiram ou não queiram falar bem a língua, gostem ou não gostem do português de Portugal!!! É indiferente, acreditem. Não há ninguém mais orgulhoso do seu país do que um português e nós falamos e falaremos sempre, com muito orgulho, o português da grande nação portuguesa. E isso não muda. Os brasileiros que se habituem à ideia, porque é assim e assim será. Por mais que estrebuchem, não vão adiantar nada, só se cansam. Isto para responder aos brasileiros ignorantes. Quantos aos brasileiros cultos e educados, que eu felizmente conheço muitos (e sou amigo deles), não levem a sério estas guerras de garotos complexados e ignorantes, porque as diferenças só enriquecem o que é semelhante. Obrigado e viva Portugal!