| Portuguese |
Indo-European:Romance |
Ð |
| For |
| Introduction
- ©www.micheloud.com |
Usefulness
definition |
Moderate, unless you
live in big Brazil or in Portugal. Here in Portugal people normally talk another
language, be it french (old educated people) or english (everyone under 35 speaks
it), or understands Spanish more or less. Ah, young people normally do not only
not speak French, they also hate it...almost everyone had French at school as
second foreign language. |
Beauty
Definition... |
The basic is that Brazilian and European
portuguese are very different to the ear. Saying which one is the most beautiful is a bad
idea, but each "accent" has its fans. Brazilian is clearer and has less
particular sounds. |
Chic factor
Definition... |
This depends on where you live. In
western Europe, most of the portuguese you will hear outside Portugal will be from
low-skilled immigrants. Speaking their language will surely make you popular among them
and some people will probably find speaking to your femme de ménage in
portuguese the ultimate of chic. Personnally, I find the nasal pronunciation of European
portuguese especially fascinating, as it almost totally veils the similiraty of the
language with spanish and makes it sound like a south slavic language. |
Speakers
Definition... |
About 160 million,
mainly in Brazil and Portugal. |
Countries
Definition... |
Portugal, Brazil,
Angola, Mozambique, cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, S. Tomé and Príncipe, East Timor. |
Regional
variations
Definition... |
Apart from the
differences between Portugal and Brazil, which is the main one, African accent is
recognisable, although it is close to the European one; in Portugal, people of the
different regions speak with slight variations, you will at least recognize the
accents of Porto and Alentejo. |
Travel
Definition... |
The main motivation for me to learn
portuguese would be a travel to Brazil. Being able to dwelve into the
immensity of that country and discover its people with the added advantage of being able
to talk to all the portuguese migrants in Europe would be a sufficient reason to learn. |
Culture
Definition... |
Brazilian music and a few great writer
(please help me on that topic !) |
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| Difficulty - ©www.micheloud.com |
Phonemes
Definition... |
rRelatively easy,
apart from the nasal diphthongs and their very hard L , which is a little harder than the
L pronounced by native people of Fribourg, Switzerland, in french.
|
Syntax
Definition... |
Very close to spanish, and thus from
other romance languages. |
Vocabulary
Definition... |
Very close to spanish, and thus from
other romance languages. |
Orthograph
Definition... |
Not so easy, says
Pedro, especially if compared to spanish. Portuguese has silent consonants, but once you
get their reason you will master it. For example, in acto (act), A is an open vowel,
C is silent, and the U is almost silent. The C is there so that the vowel is open. |
Overall
difficulty
Definition... |
I rate this language
as Ð, that is, very easy to learn, at least for speakers of other
romance languages. If you speak spanish, in my opinion all that is needed is about 3
months. |
Time needed
Definition... |
3 to 12 months. |
|
m |
| Learning
material - ©www.micheloud.com |
Books and
tapes
Definition... |
I would use either FSI
portuguese in 2 volumes (the only sources I know are NTIS and Audioforum,
but I don't know the difference) :
If you already speak spanish, you can try :
There's also a Pimsleur Speak and Read Essential
Portuguese, more expensive but also more modern. There is only one volume
for now, that you can use in your car without any books. You can buy them from Simon
and Schuster who bought Dr Pimsleur's business, but it's cheaper from Amazon :
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Schools
Definition... |
? |
Links
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