If you’ve set out to teach yourself Portuguese, then your intent is probably to speak like locals do, navigate your way through town, and hold a conversation with a stranger while taking public transportation. You need something more thorough than a phrasebook, but not quite as hefty as a college course book. That’s where Colloquial Portuguese comes in handy. The book will give you a solid base for speaking and understanding basic, everyday Portuguese.
The book starts out by explaining basic rules of pronunciation. The layout of this section isn’t all that easy on the eyes – lack of spacing between letters makes it difficult to look at specific letters quickly – but it will make do. To really get the pronunciation of each letter, you will need to spend some time listening to the audio CD.
"If you’ve set out to teach yourself Portuguese, then your intent is probably to speak like locals do, navigate your way through town, and hold a conversation with a stranger while taking public transportation...that’s where Colloquial Portuguese comes in handy."
There’s nothing too unique about the format of each chapter, either. But you know what they say,” if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” That philosophy holds true with the Colloquial Portuguese book; it’s nothing revolutionary in the way of language learning, but it’s straight to the point and you’ll learn something new with each chapter. First, you’ll hear and read a dialogue in Portuguese. You’ll do your best to make sense of it. Then, you’ll get frustrated because, duh, you don’t yet speak Portuguese, so you need to read the English translation. Then, you’ll probably flip the page back and forth and try to figure out which Portuguese word means what in English. And surprisingly, you’ll be able to figure it out. Then, you’ll do a few exercises; charts, multiple choice questions, translation, and that sort of thing. You’ll learn a few phrases inspired by the dialogue. Then, you’ll move on to yet another dialogue, learn some grammar, do some more exercises, and become a little more confident in your Portuguese speaking skills.
The topics covered in the book are pretty standard. You’ll learn typical niceties in the “Hello, how are you?” chapter, and how to talk about your most recent vacation in the “I like to travel” chapter. Other chapters include “Shall we meet later?”, “The weekend”, “I don’t feel well…” and many others. By the end of the book, you’ll have a fairly good base that will enable you to have short, topical conversations with people in your everyday life. As is the problem with most teach yourself courses, you may lag behind in spoken Portuguese, but if you’re dedicated to learning the language you’re speaking level will get up to speed in no time.
Overall, Colloquial Portuguese is a good choice for anyone who wants to start learning basic Portuguese without making too big of a financial commitment. This course book is also perfect for independent learners who don’t have access to Portuguese speaking teachers and want to learn the basics before heading off on a trip to Portugal or Brazil.
