Best tips and tricks to learn the Portuguese language
With approximately 215 to 220 million native speakers and 50 million second-language speakers, Portuguese has approximately 270 million total speakers. It is usually listed as the sixth-most spoken language and the third-most spoken European language in the world in terms of native speakers.It is part of the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia and the County of Portugal and has kept some Celtic phonology and its lexicon. A Portuguese-speaking person or nation is referred to as “Lusophone” (lusófono). As the result of expansion during colonial times, a cultural presence of Portuguese and Portuguese creole speakers are also found around the world.
So how should you study?
Start by improving your listening skills with multiple online resources such as talk shows, French news, audiobooks to name a few! News in Slow French presents a weekly news discussion in slow French. It’s a subscription service, but you can listen to the introductions to each episode for free. Put YouTube to its best use and stream French radio stations! Watch French films with English subtitles and English films with French subtitles to accelerate your learning. Learn with songs, podcasts and anything that you can lay your hands on to get maximum of some spare time.
Here is how you can do things differently to accelerate your learning.
Study consistently but don’t lead yourself to burnout! Set realistic measurable short and long term goals! Start with spoken French if the idea is to learn for business or travel! Don’t be scared to try and make mistakes. We all do it. Why let that deter or embarrass you?! Remember self-studying is NOT meant for everybody! Identify your unique style of learning that helps you ace the language. Identify French genuine and fake cognates. Learn basic phrases, connector words, conversation builders that will help you communicate and express yourself through smaller sentences. Maintain a journal of new phrases that will help you build your first conversation and not just interesting or complex words. Keep a French dictionary handy.
Read aloud to clear your pronunciation. Avoid writing in your head. Find a conversation partner on HelloTalk, Tandem, iTalki to practice speaking with and seeking feedback. Watch out for fake online French learning tools! Sign up for an intensive course. It would really help you master French! Restrict translating French words/phrases into English when you are just new! As you progress, move away from it consciously. Use Spaced Repetition System apps like Anki and Memrise for flashcards. Start by reading children’s storybooks. Children’s stories can be a great place to start trying to read in French. Stories designed for children and young adults are likely to use simpler language and more straightforward ideas than texts designed for adults. Choose commonly used words to start a conversation rather than tougher ones that don’t find a way into day-to-day usage! Try and link French words/ phrases to images and visual situations, not words in your native language or English!
Do study grammar with grammar-based software or textbook after a while. I suggest Rocket French or Duolingo, to achieve the same. Study a language every day in short intervals or for about 2-4 hours, as much as you can spare. The same goes for French too. Studying regularly, for a short time, helps dramatically than trying to do it all in one sitting over weekends! Practice without a blink. There’s no escape from practice and no shortcuts. Engage in constant review to measure your progress – repetition is the key!
Finally,
Portuguese is a Romance language originating in the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Being the most widely spoken language in South America and all of the Southern Hemisphere, it is also the second-most spoken language, after Spanish, in Latin America, one of the 10 most spoken languages in Africa, and is an official language of the European Union, Mercosur, the Organization of American States, the Economic Community of West African States, the African Union, and the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, an international organization made up of all of the world’s officially Lusophone nations.
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