A Portuguese Progress Report

Just like in high school, I’m learning to use a lot less tongue and focus more on the movements of my mouth. This is one the major pronunciation differences between Spanish and Portuguese, and I’m starting to pick it up.

I still have a heavy Spanish accent and often use Spanish to fill in for Portuguese words I don’t know, but Portuguese is slowly but surely taking over.

At the end of March, I finished a four week course at Casa do Caminho in Ipanema, which really helped with grammar,  pronunciation and a variety of verb tenses (past, future, conditional, etc).

Unlike the first Spanish to Portuguese class I took, these were English to Portuguese lessons that allowed me to break down and organize the language structure a bit more.

As you can see from the end of the video, I’ve been using four major resources to learn Portuguese until now but from here on out, I’ll be focusing primarily on speaking and improving my accent and vocabulary through conversational practice.

Hopefully by the time the World Cup comes along, my Portuguese will be good enough to celebrate like a townie!

Within the video I wanted to add a few basic phrases/questions that everyone should learn and understand before coming to Brazil for the World Cup, Olympics or otherwise.

These are the most used phrases and greetings that will help you get started learning Portuguese.

If you’re thinking about taking Portuguese classes here in Rio, I’m a big fan of Casa do Caminho because they have a very social approach to their operations, both in and around Rio.

They offer tours and activities for students every day of the week here in Rio, and outside the city, they help sponsor local children to “live their dreams” by providing them with travel and educational opportunities. That’s what it’s all about!

Gareth

My name is Gareth Leonard, a Marketing Director turned World Traveler with a passion for slow, meaningful travel. I have been traveling the world full-time for the past 9+ years and document it all on Instagram and YouTube. Come join me!