You've spent many hours reading up on the ancient history of the Roman Empire and have eventually decided to visit Portugal to see all the monuments and cultural heritage for yourself? Great idea, Portugal is a wonderful place and worth a visit, no doubt out about it!
The first thing you will notice on arrival is that people in Portugal speak "surprise" Portuguese! So it would be a good idea to at least get a grasp of what people are talking about. With the ability to speak Portuguese you will enjoy your stay so much more. Tour Guides at important archaeological sites usually speak English well, however if you approach them in their own language (don't worry about not speaking Portuguese perfectly and making mistakes) you will see a different, more positive attitude towards you.
A distinctive feature of Portuguese is that it preserved the stressed vowels of Vulgar Latin (Related Forum Thread: Provincial Vulgar Latin), which other Romance languages diphthongized; cf. Fr. pierre, Sp. piedra, Port. pedra, from Lat. petra; or Sp. fuego, It. fuoco, Port. fogo, from Lat. focum. Another characteristic of early Portuguese was the loss of intervocalic l and n, sometimes followed by the merger of the two surrounding vowels, or by the insertion of an epenthetic vowel between them: cf. Lat. salire, tenere, catena, Sp. salir, tener, cadena, Port. sair, ter, cadeia.
Portuguese is a fun language to learn and because there are many ways how to do it(by book, course, online, etc.) we thought it might be helpful to collect some interesting and useful information regarding how to learn the Portuguese language.
Learning Portuguese with Books
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| The Berlitz language-learning method means learning the Portuguese language completely naturally. The focus is on everyday dialogs, casual conversations, and also authentic personal and business situations to help acquire the basics of the portuguese language |
Contains over 1,000 useful sentences and phrases for travel or everyday living abroad: food, shopping, courtesy, hotels, travel, and other situations. Gives the English phrase, the equivalent, and a transliteration that can be read right off. |
An ideal supplement to classroom textbooks for students learning Portuguese. The frequently-used Portuguese verbs are presented alphabetically, one verb per page. Each verb is completely conjugated in all tenses with English translations. |
Needed for speaking and understanding Portuguese. Ideal for self-study or class use, by beginning students or in refresher courses. Emphasis is on explanation rather than rote memory, with inclusion of much phrase material for examples. |
Pictures labeled in the English and Portuguese language are grouped in such familiar categories as "Our House," "The Four Seasons," "In the City," "In the Ocean," "Colors" and more... It includes bilingual indexes with pronunciation guide. |
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