What are some basic tips to learn Portuguese quickly?

Portuguese is a Romance language originating in the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. It is the sole official language of Portugal, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Brazil, while having co-official language status in East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, and Macau. Portuguese 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. With approximately 215 to 220 million native speakers and 50 million second-language speakers, Portuguese has approximately 270 million total speakers. In 1997, a comprehensive academic study ranked Portuguese as one of the 10 most influential languages in the world. 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.

While kids’ learning is intensely structured, orderly and ‘textbook driven’; learning gains an entirely new ‘meaning’ and ‘way to learn’ as we grow up! We no longer learn from textbooks or give weekly tests to prove our learning. We adopt both roles, of a learner and a teacher to ensure we learn! Thus, we consciously watch our learning like a teacher and improve it for ourselves. We also indulge and opt for multiple ways to help us with our learning. Why? Because there isn’t ONE single universal way to learn everything! To be proficient in Portuguese, we need to hunt for the best resources, from teachers to books, to online practise, and so on, because nothing is stacked up in one place for a learner to pick and walk off! 

In reality, a learner doesn’t use just one, but multiple tools to arm themselves up for the various learning heads; from learning the grammar, perfecting your pronunciation, to building your vocabulary.

Grammar is an intrinsic, unique element of each language, that frames rules for speaking and writing a language. It is the soul of a language and hence its not an easy thing to conquer! Thus it is never a good idea to start with the grammar of a language if you want to progress faster learning a language! You are likely to be thrown off-tangent trying to master a language if you choose to learn starting with its grammar because the results may not be encouraging enough for you feel to continue investing efforts! Especially when you’re slogging your way through verb endings and tenses! 

Your first part of learning should be something that will quickly give you the confidence to start speaking and understanding a bit of Portuguese. You don’t have to be perfect. You just need to get started and have some fun.

• Improve your listening skills with multiple online resources such as talk shows, Portuguese news, audiobooks to name a few! 
• Put YouTube to its best use and stream Portuguese radio stations!
• Watch Portuguese films with English subtitles and English films with Portuguese 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.
• Set realistic goals!
• Study consistently but don’t lead yourself to burnout!
• Identify your unique style of learning that helps you ace the language.
• Read aloud to clear your pronunciation 
• Find a conversation partner on HelloTalk, iTalki to practice speaking with and seeking feedback.
• 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!
• Watch out for fake online Portuguese learning tools!
• Sign up for an intensive course. It would really help you master Portuguese!
• Restrict translating Portuguese words/phrases into English to when you are just new! As you progress, move away from it consciously. 

• Avoid writing in your head.
• Use Spaced Repetition System apps like Anki and Memrise for flashcards.
• 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.
• Start by reading children’s storybooks. Children’s stories can be a great place to start trying to read in Portuguese. Stories designed for children and young adults are likely to use simpler language and more straightforward ideas than texts designed for adults.
• Keep a Portuguese dictionary handy.
• Prioritize. Start with spoken Portuguese if the idea is to learn for business or travel! 
• Choose commonly used words to start a conversation rather than tougher ones that don’t find a way into day-to-day usage!
• Try to link Portuguese 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 Portuguese or Duolingo 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 Portuguese 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!

Portuguese is usually listed as the sixth-most spoken language and the third-most spoken European language in the world in terms of native speakers. 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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