Portuguese is one of the world’s most important languages today. It is not only the world’s sixth most widely spoken, but also presents itself on almost all the continents. The fact that people believe Portuguese is spoken only in Portugal is a popular misunderstanding. On the contrary, Brazil is the largest Portuguese speaking nation, larger than Portugal and even larger than all other Portuguese speaking countries combined together! It’s the official language in nine different countries: Angola, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, Cape Verde, Brazil, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea and Timor-Leste. In addition, the Chinese autonomous territory of Macau also uses Portuguese as an official language.
Let’s now see if it’s truly worth taking a crash course in Portuguese classes.
Portuguese is one of the most popular romantic languages across the globe. Its popularity can be credited to many benefits that this language offers to those who learn it. Along with that, Portuguese is accompanied by a beautiful culture and exceptionally famous cuisine. In my personal opinion, no language should be learnt with the help of a crash course, especially a language as beautiful as Portuguese.
Crash courses do not truly teach you much. They simply teach you a few pointers to simply survive an emergency situation. Crash courses are essentially just useful to those who have to travel to a country that seems to speak that language in a hurry. Crash courses Will help you reply in the most basic phrases possible and to the simplest questions possible. In this sense, crash courses only enable an individual to be able to understand emergency or important questions and reply to the same.
Basically, a crash course will never actually teach you the language of Portuguese in detail and neither will it help you hold or actively participate in any conversation with any individual. Crash course courses help you expand your knowledge in a very limited fashion. You will only gain the knowledge of the most commonly used phrases, common replies to very simple questions and the most basic vocabulary that will just help you survive a little bit in the said country. Ultimately, if you wish to learn the language in-depth and maybe even achieve proficiency in the language, then a crash course is not for you. Crash courses are meant for foreigners who need to travel to a country that speaks this language without the time to actually learn the language.
But it will not help you in any way to actually achieve a decent amount of fluency in the language of that matter, or even attempt competitive examinations in this language. In order to achieve fluency in Portuguese, you need to enrol on professional classes or look for a professional teacher or a guide who can help you learn this language in the best manner possible. In my opinion, you should opt for crash courses only if you have no other choice left and seem to face a lack of time. If you have enough time and are ready to contribute a genuine amount of effort, then learn the language in a more authentic manner.
Finally,
Given a large number of Portuguese speakers worldwide, and its spread across South America, Europe, Africa and Asia (it is the sixth language spreading on the world), the Portuguese language is growing quickly and has the potential to become a “international language of communication,” as UNESCO says.