Learning Portuguese could be one of the best decisions you could have ever made! Let me help you know why?
Portugal, Brazil, and other former Portuguese colonies have about 250 million people who speak Portuguese. It is the eighth language spoken and the third most spoken in the world (after English and Portuguese). Portuguese, together with Spanish, French, Italian and Romanian, makes up one of the five modern Romanian languages. About 2000 years ago after undergoing modifications from the language spoken by the romanized pre-Roman people that originated from the Iberian Peninsula, Portuguese evolved as the modern-day Portuguese in what is now known as Spain( previously Galicia) and North Portugal. The standard Portuguese has been drawn up on the Lisbon dialect. The difference between Brazilian and European Portuguese is limited, but it has several significant differences in Brazilian and Portugal dialects.
Let’s now see what you can do if your Portuguese class is rather tough.
Don’t fool yourself into believing lectures and classroom discourses are enough!
As an individual aspiring to master any language, it is important to never forget the age-old notion that every student is required to study on their own apart from attending classes. We have all grown up listening to this from our elders and yet we always ignored it.
Self-studying is not optional.
It is important. But when learning a language, you simply cannot master language just by attending classes and listening to lectures but without any practising on your own. It is very important to dedicate a decent amount of effort along with time apart from your classes and all to master any language including learning Portuguese language.
Analyse yourself.
With that said, there are two different interpretations of this question. Firstly, if you find your Portuguese classes a little too tough to keep up with, you need to 1st analyse if you are thorough with your basics and if you are keeping up with what the teacher is telling you.
Try changing the teacher.
If you feel like you are pretty thorough with your basics but aren’t able to keep up with your teacher, then I suggest opting for a different class. It isn’t necessary that every teaching methodology works for every single student. It does not mean that the methodology used by the teacher is wrong; it only indicates that the methodology isn’t working with you.
Recognise your learning methodology.
Sometimes students have a different manner of absorbing information and a single teacher is unable to cater to this. But this does not mean that the methodology used by the teacher is wrong. It simply means the students and looks out for a different teacher who might help them out in this situation.
Get yourself up to the class mark if you are lagging behind.
Apart from this, if you feel like you aren’t 100% thorough with the basics and hence are unable to keep up with what the teacher is teaching you, then you need to focus on studying on your own as well.
Learning Portuguese or any other language isn’t a piece of cake. It’s going to need a lot of effort, dedication and time.
Obviously, as previously mentioned you cannot expect to master a language or become proficient in it by simply attending a few lectures or listening to a few classes. You are expected to also practise on your own, read on your own, speak on your own, write on your own and utilise any or every method which would help you practise the language on a daily basis. You are also expected to maintain notes and refer to these notes whenever you seem to be confused in regards to any aspect of the language. Apart from the classes, you can dedicate a specific amount of time per day where you simply practice the different aspects of the language or practice what has been taught in classes to you.