Learning to speak Portuguese

[Sherry]

My cousin contacted me yesterday, asking if I knew away for her to learn to speak Portuguese (Azores version). She found a "Portuguese for Dummies" , but it is the Brazilian Portuguese. Her parents never taught their children the language, just like my Mom. I've learned to read a lot of words from doing research but I can't speak it. She asked me to check and. See if anyone I knew could tell us how she could learn the language other than going to live in the Azores. She doesn't know of anyone in her area that speaks the language. I thought I'd ask this very helpful group for any suggestions? Thanks so much!
Sherry

[Cheri Mello]

You want Continental or European Portuguese. I would say that Azorean Portuguese has some type of accent. Kinda like in America, New Yorkers sound different than New England, the deep south, the Midwest, etc. The closest is European/Continental Portuguese.

I signed up for PracticePortuguese.com. It is continental/European. That's closer to Azorean than Brazilian. It's $12 a month and you can cancel at any time. I do their Learning Studio. There's a variety of activities. I've been doing it 10 months. Rosemarie Capodicci noticed a difference in me compared to a year ago. Personally, I feel like I've gone from a 2 yr old talk to maybe a 3 or 4 yr old. I'm not fluent and I over think and over analyze things. But I do see some progress in myself.

Sam Koester uses something different. She'll chime in here. I'd try both and pick the one that fits your learning style. We are all different as learners and students, so what makes sense to me may not be the best fit for you. Just try them out.
Cheri

On Sep 17, 2017 4:37 PM, "'Sherry' via Azores Genealogy" <azo...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

My cousin contacted me yesterday, asking if I knew away for her to learn to speak Portuguese (Azores version). She found a "Portuguese for Dummies" , but it is the Brazilian Portuguese. Her parents never taught their children the language, just like my Mom. I've learned to read a lot of words from doing research but I can't speak it. She asked me to check and. See if anyone I knew could tell us how she could learn the language other than going to live in the Azores. She doesn't know of anyone in her area that speaks the language. I thought I'd ask this very helpful group for any suggestions? Thanks so much!
Sherry

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[Cheryl Barnhurst]

Thank you Cheri! I knew posting to the group was a good idea! Thanks so much! I'll pass you suggestion along to my cousin. You are always such a great help! 

Take care,

Sherry

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[Susan Murphy]

I have taken lessons from Maria Oliveira who is from Sao Jorge.... She has CDs you can order;

http://www.marialanguages.com

I'd highly recommend checking what she has to offer!

Susan Vargas Murphy 

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On Sep 17, 2017, at 5:25 PM, Cheri Mello <gfsc...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Liz Migliori]

I agree. Have used her cassettes years ago. Great workbooks and all

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[Cheri Mello]

I used "Living Language Continental Portuguese" years ago (on cassette). I seem to to do better with PracticePortuguese.com. I did learn from the cassettes. I seemed to learn more from PracticePortuguese.com. BUT, that's the way I learn (and yes, the Practice Portuguese guys hear from me). So try them all and pick the one that "grabs" you. That is the one that will fit your learning style and where you will learn the most. Cheri

[Cheryl Barnhurst]

Thank you Susan! 

Sherry 

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[Susan Murphy]

You are welcome! One thing that is good about Maria is that you are definitely hearing an Azorean accent! 

Susan 

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[momma Goodwin]

I didn't realize there were different Portuguese dialects or what you call it. I've been using the Portuguese they offer on Busuu.com. Don't tell I've been learning the wrong Portuguese! Oy vey!

[Cheri Mello]

Yep, the busuu.com home page shows the Brazilian flag, not the Portuguese flag. Cheri

[Kelly]

I did a search and found an app with the Portugal flag. Hopefully I can reset. They seem similar.

On Sep 18, 2017 11:15 PM, "Cheri Mello" <gfsc...@gmail.com> wrote:

Yep, the busuu.com home page shows the Brazilian flag, not the Portuguese flag. Cheri

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[Cheri Mello]

Good morning is "Bom dia." In European Portuguese, it's "Bom dia." In Brazilian, it's "Bom G-ah." You say "G" then "ah." That's how you pronounce the leading "D" in Brazilian Portuguese. Cheri

[MaryAnn Santos]

In preparation for my first trip to Azores and Lisbon in 1994 I took a semester of intensive elementary Brazilian Portuguese at NYU. I didn't realize there would be a big difference between the languages of Brazil and Portugal but there are.

For one, the use of second person singular você but not tu is used in Brazil whereas both are used in Portugal with specific rules about when to use the familiar tu and when to use você. Also, pronunciation is very different. For example the word for aunt - tia - is pronounced "chia" in Brazil - not so in Portugal. On my first trip to Portugal everyone thought I was Brazilian - I didn't know how to conjugate verbs using tu so I just added an "ess" to the end of the verb for você. Instead of saying você quere (do you want) I'd say tu queres (but only to someone I was very familiar with) - it sometimes worked but irregular verbs in Portuguese are a real challenge. I certainly made a lot of mistakes!

Two years later I learned about a month-long culture and language summer program for "estrangeiros" at the University of Lisbon. Here's the link.

http://www.fcsh.unl.pt/clcp/verao/cursos.html

It wasn't that expensive and I was able to get funding from Instituto Camões. Here's the link.

(www.instituto-camoes.pt/activity/o-que-fazemos/aprender-portugues/bolsas-de-estudo)

If you can spend a month in Lisbon in July I would highly recommend this program.

MaryAnn

On Tue, Sep 19, 2017 at 12:19 AM, Cheri Mello <gfsc...@gmail.com> wrote:

Good morning is "Bom dia." In European Portuguese, it's "Bom dia." In Brazilian, it's "Bom G-ah." You say "G" then "ah." That's how you pronounce the leading "D" in Brazilian Portuguese. Cheri

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[cara...@aol.com]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions and information. My cousin is excited to get started trying to learn the language of our ancestors. I knew if I brought the question to the group I would get some good suggestions and I sure did! I love this group! Thanks for your help! Have a great day!

Sherry

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[E. Sharp]

I hate to say this...but I have been all over Portugal, 2 Azores islands and Brazil, Croatia and Italy, among others and spoke only English and somehow we understood each other everywhere. The only place we had a little problem was the small Croatian island in the Adriatic my family originally came from but a cousin from Sweden who was originally from the island accompanied us the week we were there. I did take a few months of Portuguese from a really nice woman from the Azores and had a lot of fun. I even cooked a Portuguese soup a recipe a friend shared with me to share with other classmates and learned to sing A Dias da Rosa. Such fun!!!!

"E"

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[John Vasconcelos]

My experience with the Portuguese Language is not typical of most Potuguese-Americans. I was born on a farm (literally in the farmhouse) in the Central Valley of California, son of Azorean immigrants from the Island of Flores. My father had immigrated in 1908 and my mother in 1928 about 5 years before I was born. Our everyday language was Portuguese so, in effect, Portuguese was my first language. My nearest playmate was a girl a few months older who lived about a quarter mile away whose father was Portuguese-American. I started picking up a little English with her but spoke little when I started school.

By the time I finished high school, I spoke little Portuguese, My parents spoke to me in Portuguese, I replied in English or "Portuglish". Then, a family of cousins immigrated from Flores. For the first time in years I had to speak Portuguese and it re-ignited my interest in the Portuguese Language. including the acquired ability to read and write simple letters.

Then after finishing grad school, I was offered a position in Brazil by an International Environmental Engineering firm. That was my introduction to Brazilian Portuguese. It was difficult at first but I eventually I got it aided by the fact that I met and married a "Brasileira".

I now speak Portuguese with an undefined accent. When I am in Portugal, people ask what part of Brazil I'm from and when in Brazil, they may ask where I'm from. Early on,  a Brazilian friend identified my accent as being an "Island" accent.

John Vasconcelos

 

[Kelly]

Wow John! Very interesting. I often wished my father learned from his father so he could teach me Portuguese! Unfortunately his father passed when he was only 12 yrs old.

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[MaryAnn Santos]

John,

That's a fascinating bit of personal history about speaking/learning Portuguese. Thank you for sharing!

MaryAnn