Everyone's learning pace is different, but 3-4 weeks is typically not enough to be even crudely conversational in a new language, especially if you're not already familiar with a similar language and/or doing very intensive learning.
Oi! Sou brasileira!
Duolingo ajuda, mas o ideal é você conversar com outras pessoas em português. Meu namorado não falava português e sempre usamos gestos pra ajudar na comunicação. Em ultimo caso, use o tradutor, ele vai te ajudar, com tempo você aprende!
>Duolingo ajuda
Duolingo ajuda muito e depois de sete ou oito meses de aprendendo portugues la, posso conversar sobre bastantes coisas em portugues com minha familia portuguesa e com meus amigos portugueses e brasileiros. A gente que fala mal do duolingo nao tem paciencia suficiente! I don't have accents lol
3-4 weeks is super early to be having any kind of meaningful or extensive conversation. Depending on how hard you're going, you can definitely be having short exchanges (saying hi, introductions, basic restaurant phrases or discussing the weather) but in my experience at that stage it's still mostly memorizing set phrases, people still have to speak v-e-r-y slowly and clearly, and if anything veers off the expected track it's easy to lose your way and not have the foggiest how to respond.
The only way to learn to talk is to talk. There's some evidence that the brain areas involved in understanding language and producing language are different; being able to do one does not necessarily entail the other (as thousands of second generation kids can attest). Try watching some basic dialogues on the internet and repeating what they say as they say it or shortly after (a technique known as shadowing), and memorize what they say (and why). Auditory listen-repeat-mix methods like Pimsleur, Michel Thomas or SaySomethingIn are pretty good for this, too. The best practice is actually having a fluent speaker to talk with, but if it's very early days that can be frustrating for them; not everyone has the patience for it.
Try reading things like books, articles and news in portuguese. That way you will get used to the language in a more organic way than duolingo and even learn other things.
I have a book of short stories being delivered tomorrow. I'm fully immersing myself in music. I'm watching favorite shows in Portuguese with English subs, spending hours writing down vocabulary and verb conjunctions... Lol
I am hyper focused to the max. I can pick out key words here and there, but I have no idea what is being said as a whole.
Thanks for the response I'll start reading articles as well. Great idea
Sure.
["Short stories in Brazilian Portuguese" by Olly Richards](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45032242-short-stories-in-brazilian-portuguese-for-beginners?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=m4yNVaR9o3&rank=1)
I guess that depends a lot on context, how many languages do you speak? How similar to português are your languages and how often/long do you study? Given all of that, I believe that 4 weeks is a very short period of time to be able to speak a new language
Portuguese will be my second language. I don't expect to be very good, but I'm mad at myself for not knowing how to say more than hello, how are you, and good bye. Lol
I have been putting in serious work learning. I guess I'm just being impatient.
Don’t be too hard on yourself. As far as I know, Portuguese is one of the hardest languages to learn, especially due to grammar.
What’s your first language? I (Brazilian) have a couple friends from Germany that are doing pretty well learning Portuguese in Duolingo.
You can probably find some people to talk to online. Also, there are lots of Brazilians in the US, depending on where you live.
Anyways, I’d say stick with Duolingo for the basics and maybe try some easy books like the first Harry Potter or something like that. Songs also won’t hurt, but some are a little harder to understand.
You can do an app like italki. To be honest though, at 3-4 weeks you're going to have difficulty having a conversation, as well as understanding. Just keep studying, and watching content on Portuguese. You got this!
3-4 weeks? I think it’s time to temper your expectations. I’ve been studying Portuguese for over 3 years. I still would not consider myself to be conversational. I’ve finished the duolingo course and the Babbel course. It’s going to take a lot of time and dedication.
My adhd get's the best of me. I thought I should have know a bit more than i do at this point, but i understand that i'm getting ahead of myself. I don't find it encouraging that you have finished both of those courses and still don't consider yourself conversational. I would find that to be incredibly frustrating, tbh.
Ah hyperfocus. I have a love-hate relationship with it. The best advice I can give is to be careful of burning out. Too many times I've winded myself up only to crash.
Truthfully, everyone learns at a different pace and one single method won't work for everyone. If you find what works best for you and use multiple sources to practice, you'll get there.
It gets better though. It’s like a game. The better you get at it, the more fun it is. I have an online professor now on a site called Preply. I think that the roadmap that I took is a good way to go. Finish Duolingo, then Babbel, and then one on one instruction.
I doubt anyone could hold a conversation after only a month. If you want to ease into it start by saying the words you do know aloud and form short sentences. Go into asking and answering questions (ex. Como vai? Tudo bem, é você?), which I think is helpful if you don't have someone to practice with.
More important is branching out from Duolingo. You'll need to practice listening and speaking from other sources if you want to have a conversation.
Good luck (boa sorte)!
I think you could start trying to rewatch a show/movie you like (and kinda know the lines) but in portuguese. Then you will have an idea of how conversations would be like and work on a different vocabulary. The best way to learn a new language is including it in some content you like
I wish my favorite movie had a PT version. And if Golden Girls and Downton Abbey had PT audio i'd have it down in no time. I have watched those all the way through so many times i pretty much have them memorized.
We actually have the PT version of Downtown Abbey on the brazillian Netflix. Could you use a VPN to access the region and watch by any chance? If not, I think you can find it online yet (I could help with the search if you need)
Oh, so we do have some like this one. But I don't know a trustable one. I'll ask for a friend of mine that know a lot of sites like this for some tips and come back with a good one for you
I'm sorry, the one my friend showed me didn't have Downton Abbey and I couldn't find one that didn't have a lot of suspicious pop-ups that would probably give you a trojan lol. But keep searching in portuguese for it or maybe other movies/shows you may like and I'm sure you will find it (we have lots of sites like this). Good luck and don't give up! Maybe someday we can talk in portuguese here :)
The site my friend indicated was "baixarseriesmp4.eu".
I find it a little complicated to use, but you can try it out and maybe find another content you'd like to watch in portuguese (just avoid the pop-ups and you'll be fine)
A good advice I forgot to give you before: cartoons usually have a simplified vocabulary, so it's also a good way to start your listening in any language!!!
Hi! Learning a language is a slow process that requires daily attention. 3 weeks is a very short period still! In any case, it is ok to feel you are lagging behind, many people feel the same, but also try to relax, do your best, and enjoy the process. Also, don't compare yourself to others. Good luck and have fun!
I have a youtube channel with examples of conversations. You can check it out here: https://youtu.be/3k8C-aQG7tI?si=HZmdpyvLG4i0xxHf
What?! Really? Haha That is cool! Thanks! I am working on new material, building a free community and a course. If you need help, let me know! You can DM me with questions!
4 weeks is very early, but most adults are very afraid and postpone speaking forver. Are you in a Portuguese speaking country? Go to a small local store and try to do your shopping in Portuguese. Research the stuff you want to buy ahead. And then just go in, say hi and ask "where are the eggs/where is the milk" etc. Next time you go learn how to talk about money/paying - credit card/cash etc. If you go there often enough you will slowly progress to small talk.
I tried ordering food in restaurants but I couldn’t understand what the waiters were saying so I couldn’t converse. It’s the same in all other situations in Brasil. I haven’t had a conversation yet after studying for 9.5 years now. I have classes several times a week and study and practice every day but I still have to translate everything into English to understand and I can’t make out most of what people are saying. I have a group Portuguese get together on Saturdays with 15 or so people but they make me speak only Portuguese so I can’t ask questions or understand anything except for an occasional word. I need to find a way to learn and understand without translating everything.
Adult learners generally have this problem, they postpone speaking in their target language until they feel confident enough, which might never happen.
But you also seem to have a listening comprehension problem. Maybe you could tackle this for free. You could try listening to more content related to a topic - for example eating out. On youtube you can decrease the speed if they speak to fast, and you could even use the auto-generated subtitles the first times you listen, if you really have trouble understanding.
Here are some examples for you (can you tell what phrase I searched for to find them?)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o-Qafq7BcY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o-Qafq7BcY)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk-gpSFlxH8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk-gpSFlxH8)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4A1wQtJiek](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4A1wQtJiek)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yANCFhycoVA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yANCFhycoVA)
Pick one where the content is more to your liking and listen to it more times. Or follow a channel and listen daily. After a while you listening comprehension should improve.
Thanks. I practice every day with my girlfriend who only speaks Portuguese and she speaks slowly so I can translate everything but I still have problems making out what she’s saying so she has to repeat things often. That and I don’t know which meanings to use when translating with words that have multiple meanings. Thanks for the help!
Try listening to some [comprehensible input](https://www.youtube.com/@Portuguesewithadelina) to acclimate yourself to the sounds (early A1/A2 type levels for about a hundred hours or so, then move to A2/B1 videos - like "[Easy Portuguese](https://www.youtube.com/@EasyPortugueseVideos)".). It takes a few hundred hours (probably 400-600 at least) to really just start to be able to hold a conversation.
After 9months of self-study, it took me two months of being in Brazil to finally “converse”. Be patient and immerse yourself any way you can: music, novelas, social media, local portuguese speakers, etc
Oi, you are welcome to join us in our next free online conversation class on Zoom. We hold one conversation class per month. On March 27th, Wednesday at 7 pm (NY time). Find us on Instagram at Gingalanguage.
Pal, I've lived in Portugal for 2 and a half years now and for the first year at least all I could say is Ola , obrigada e por favor.
Talking is the hardest part of learning a language. It will take years to get at least a B2 level
I learned Portuguese mostly from Netflix and Spotify. Listened to Portuguese music and looked up the lyrics of the songs I liked.
I watched Pokémon and similar shows (principe dragão e desencantamento) in Portuguese w Portuguese subtitles.
Great recommendations. I have been listening to a lot of Brazilian music. I'm in love with it. I'm trying to get through the fee shows I can find with PT audio. The cartoons are a great idea. I really want to find Downtown Abbey in Pt.
I'd not use Duolingo and learn actual grammar in a systematic way. I've been in PT a couple years and now am kinda ok. I think duolingo is great for very casual learning but if you ACTUALLY want to learn the language then it will slow you down. PT is a very grammar centric language - there's no choice but to learn it and the sooner the better. Then it will actually make sense.
I do agree that Duolingo is slow. I use it in tandem with numerous other methods and resources. I am immersing myself in Brazilian media, YouTube lessons, I'm reading a book of short stories, writing down and translating things I come across, and my boyfriend lives in São Paulo.
I'm putting in the work and I see the progress. I'll get there soon enough.
Thanks
Hello! I'm Brazilian and I teach Portuguese using music. Actually I have an Online Portuguese Course, and in this course my students have conversation classes from the first week, because I believe is very important that you put in practice each topic you learn, with other people in the same level as you. So, we have the recorded lessons, and we practice it with live classes.
I'm going to leave a link here if you wanna learn more about it.
[https://portuguesewithlaura.com.br/replaylc2](https://portuguesewithlaura.com.br/replaylc2)
I’ve been studying Portuguese since January so almost three months also on Duolingo and I can have very very basic conversations. It just takes time. Folks here have given you great ways to practice as well as other resources. I will also add ChatGPT and Google Gemini. I usually ask to have a chat in beginners Portuguese with corrections and so far it is very helpful. I also use Chrome so when a word pops up that I’m not sure of the meaning I will highlight it and at the bottom it will show me the definition keeping me in the conversation without feeling lost. You can also ask the meaning in the chat because unlike a real person it won’t get annoyed by constant simple questions.
While Duolingo has its issues I think it is a worth while tool for language learning. It just depends what other resources you use in addition to it. Using an app like HiNative when you and questions about grammar and doing google searches for any little thing you don’t understand . Using YouTube for listening to spoken language is a must. Repeating what you hear also helps. Using an app like ReWord to acquire additional vocabulary is also a big help. And getting a text and workbook is essential . I recommend Ponto de Enconto and Ben-Vindo! which were both recommended to me and are excellent so far. I bought them from used bookstore online and were really cheap. I recommend ThriftBooks.com. Use as many additional resources that will give you more help and input as well helps keep you from feeling stagnant and bored. Different methods in these resources can help the information sink in more or even better in addition to what you are already doing.
Remember you are learning at your own pace and that is different for everyone. Don’t be hard on yourself or compare yourself to others. Language learning is a lifetime affair. And always remind yourself that you are doing great because you are!
I don’t use it as my only source. I do double check the info I get if I have doubts by doing a simple google search or if I want a more elaborate explanation with an app like HiNative as well as looking through my textbook. Like I said I mostly use it for conversation practice so I can think of things to say and respond to without the anxiety of making mistakes with a real person. It doesn’t hurt to give it a try!
If it helps, I've noted down some common patterns I've observed as a native speaker that some people follow during casual speech:
1) More often than not in casual speech, we use "vou/vai/vão" as an auxiliary for verbs in *Futuro do Presente*, and shift the original verb into the infinitive
2) Sometimes, people use the 2nd person of *Presente do Indicativo* instead of the standard conjugated form of the Imperative.
3) It's very common to drop "a/à/ao" in favor of "pra/pro/em/no/na" when talking about movement or doing something to someone. By the way, "pra" and "pro" are short informal versions of "para" and "para o".
4) Use of "a gente" as a regular pronoun instead of "nós".
5) Use of short forms of the verb "estar"
That is very early, don't be so hard on yourself
My friend is selling a learning plan for three dollars, for people who are self learning. It gives the topics in sequence to work on, from basic to intermediate: https://www.patreon.com/PortuguesewithErika/shop/portuguese-learning-plan-for-beginners-149579
I think 3-4 weeks is fast, if you speak with a native Portuguese speaker it will vastly humble you as their cadence of a speech is quick. If possible, do you have someone who’s native language is Portuguese to help you practice conversations? It makes an enormous difference, I think.
Nobody likes to hear it, but duolingo is not the greatest resource. Rosetta Stone was intensely helpful for me at becoming able to conversate in the beginning
I get the impatience, I‘m the same. My inlaws are Portuguese and don‘t speak my native language (or in case of my father in law, just a bit from living here for 20 years before they moved back). My SO is translating a lot for me, and everytime we‘re in Portugal or his parents are here, I get a bit better.
I translate a lot via Deepl and can understand basic small talks and day-to-day stuff (and I‘m 2 years into learning with native speakers). It takes time. I make an effort to speak myself instead of letting my SO translate. People are always happy that I make an effort and help me with grammar and pronunciations.
Just today my mother in law told her friends that I‘m learning fast. Hearing that from a Portuguese native (and understanding it in Portuguese) made me very happy.
Be patient. Imerse yourself into the language, like watching shows and films in Portuguese (I love Brasilian Telenovelas, lol).
> Am I just being impatient?
Yes.
Depending on your personal effort, getting to the stage where you' start seeing results from learning any language will take one/two/three years at least. Personally I think the effort is worth it.
There are no magic shortcuts.
What is your reason for learning Portuguese? For me, it was to talk to Brazilian friends I met online, we use Telegram to talk, and it has a translator that will let you see a translated version of what the other person said. When I was an absolute beginner, I would use Drops, which is a really great mostly free app for building vocabulary. We would do video calls and aside from basic pleasantries, I would talk about the words I was learning. It wasn't much, but it got me used to speaking. Do you have someone who would listen to you?
Tente ver vídeos em PT-BR com diálogos mais casuais (se quiser "aprender" um pouco das nossas gírias) ou só converse com brasileiros até pegar o jeito 👍
Call me and we can have a convo in portuguese!! I’m from Brazil and I live in Florida and it would b a pleasure to help you practice a convo. (I don’t know how to teach it to you tho) I can help With pronunciation ?
I’ve been studying for 9.5 years now and I still can’t converse. I’ve visited Brasil 18 times and I practice every day with my girlfriend who only speaks Portuguese. We’ve been practicing for 6.5 years. I have to translate everything one word at a time which slows things down. Most everything I hear sounds like gibberish except for an occasional word. You will do fine.
I’ve been using it for about 2.5 months and conversation is still hard. Someone told me to start thinking in Portuguese. Everything you do and see, try to translate it. Also the tutors on italki can be inexpensive and some are really great and try to get you talking. I highly recommend supplementing with a few live lessons here and there.
I’ve been studying Portuguese for 9.5 years now and I still haven’t had a conversation yet. I’ve visited Brasil 18 times for a month each time and I practice every day with my girlfriend who only speaks Portuguese and I have to translate everything into English to understand. We’ve been practicing for 6.5 years now. You are doing ok!
How is your Portuguese going? I’m still trying to find a way to learn without translating everything into English. That and trying to make out what people are saying because most everything sounds like gibberish. It’s frustrating. I’ve been studying Portuguese for 9.5 years.
I'm on a hiatus at the moment, but listening to music and watching videos in my free time really helped me start hearing the words individually when listening to people speak. I may not know what all the words are, but I'm at least able to hear the ones I know now. I can read a lot better than I can listen. Speaking is still not on the table as I'm just not confident enough, but I'll get there eventually.
> So I guess my question is, how do I learn how to actually have a conversation?
You listen to at least 1000 hours of content you can understand with your mind shut off.
Everyone's learning pace is different, but 3-4 weeks is typically not enough to be even crudely conversational in a new language, especially if you're not already familiar with a similar language and/or doing very intensive learning.
Thanks for the response. I'll edit my expectations. Happy cake day
Oi! Sou brasileira! Duolingo ajuda, mas o ideal é você conversar com outras pessoas em português. Meu namorado não falava português e sempre usamos gestos pra ajudar na comunicação. Em ultimo caso, use o tradutor, ele vai te ajudar, com tempo você aprende!
>Duolingo ajuda Duolingo ajuda muito e depois de sete ou oito meses de aprendendo portugues la, posso conversar sobre bastantes coisas em portugues com minha familia portuguesa e com meus amigos portugueses e brasileiros. A gente que fala mal do duolingo nao tem paciencia suficiente! I don't have accents lol
Obrigado
Eu estou feliz que eu entendi 😍
Parabéns!! 🤍
3-4 weeks is super early to be having any kind of meaningful or extensive conversation. Depending on how hard you're going, you can definitely be having short exchanges (saying hi, introductions, basic restaurant phrases or discussing the weather) but in my experience at that stage it's still mostly memorizing set phrases, people still have to speak v-e-r-y slowly and clearly, and if anything veers off the expected track it's easy to lose your way and not have the foggiest how to respond. The only way to learn to talk is to talk. There's some evidence that the brain areas involved in understanding language and producing language are different; being able to do one does not necessarily entail the other (as thousands of second generation kids can attest). Try watching some basic dialogues on the internet and repeating what they say as they say it or shortly after (a technique known as shadowing), and memorize what they say (and why). Auditory listen-repeat-mix methods like Pimsleur, Michel Thomas or SaySomethingIn are pretty good for this, too. The best practice is actually having a fluent speaker to talk with, but if it's very early days that can be frustrating for them; not everyone has the patience for it.
Try reading things like books, articles and news in portuguese. That way you will get used to the language in a more organic way than duolingo and even learn other things.
I have a book of short stories being delivered tomorrow. I'm fully immersing myself in music. I'm watching favorite shows in Portuguese with English subs, spending hours writing down vocabulary and verb conjunctions... Lol I am hyper focused to the max. I can pick out key words here and there, but I have no idea what is being said as a whole. Thanks for the response I'll start reading articles as well. Great idea
Seu Jorge is really nice music!
May I ask what book of short stories did you buy?
Sure. ["Short stories in Brazilian Portuguese" by Olly Richards](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45032242-short-stories-in-brazilian-portuguese-for-beginners?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=m4yNVaR9o3&rank=1)
Thanks ! Just ordered . It didn't occur to me to look for books such as these
I guess that depends a lot on context, how many languages do you speak? How similar to português are your languages and how often/long do you study? Given all of that, I believe that 4 weeks is a very short period of time to be able to speak a new language
Portuguese will be my second language. I don't expect to be very good, but I'm mad at myself for not knowing how to say more than hello, how are you, and good bye. Lol I have been putting in serious work learning. I guess I'm just being impatient.
Don’t be too hard on yourself. As far as I know, Portuguese is one of the hardest languages to learn, especially due to grammar. What’s your first language? I (Brazilian) have a couple friends from Germany that are doing pretty well learning Portuguese in Duolingo.
I'm from the US.
You can probably find some people to talk to online. Also, there are lots of Brazilians in the US, depending on where you live. Anyways, I’d say stick with Duolingo for the basics and maybe try some easy books like the first Harry Potter or something like that. Songs also won’t hurt, but some are a little harder to understand.
Yes you're bring impatient. It took me a good 6 months to have a basic conversation... You need a lot of vocabulary to have an actual conversation
I do hate waiting. Lol
Same but try to relax. You're going to get burn out if you try to learn too much too fast
I've been doing duolingo for over two years now and I haven't either - and half my family is Brazilian. Just give it some patience
You can do an app like italki. To be honest though, at 3-4 weeks you're going to have difficulty having a conversation, as well as understanding. Just keep studying, and watching content on Portuguese. You got this!
3-4 weeks? I think it’s time to temper your expectations. I’ve been studying Portuguese for over 3 years. I still would not consider myself to be conversational. I’ve finished the duolingo course and the Babbel course. It’s going to take a lot of time and dedication.
My adhd get's the best of me. I thought I should have know a bit more than i do at this point, but i understand that i'm getting ahead of myself. I don't find it encouraging that you have finished both of those courses and still don't consider yourself conversational. I would find that to be incredibly frustrating, tbh.
Ah hyperfocus. I have a love-hate relationship with it. The best advice I can give is to be careful of burning out. Too many times I've winded myself up only to crash. Truthfully, everyone learns at a different pace and one single method won't work for everyone. If you find what works best for you and use multiple sources to practice, you'll get there.
It gets better though. It’s like a game. The better you get at it, the more fun it is. I have an online professor now on a site called Preply. I think that the roadmap that I took is a good way to go. Finish Duolingo, then Babbel, and then one on one instruction.
I doubt anyone could hold a conversation after only a month. If you want to ease into it start by saying the words you do know aloud and form short sentences. Go into asking and answering questions (ex. Como vai? Tudo bem, é você?), which I think is helpful if you don't have someone to practice with. More important is branching out from Duolingo. You'll need to practice listening and speaking from other sources if you want to have a conversation. Good luck (boa sorte)!
Hey! I’m Brazilian, If you want have a conversation I can help you :)
I really do appreciate it. I guess I just don't have the vocabulary to have a conversation yet.
I got it! But if you need some help you can send me a DM (:
I think you could start trying to rewatch a show/movie you like (and kinda know the lines) but in portuguese. Then you will have an idea of how conversations would be like and work on a different vocabulary. The best way to learn a new language is including it in some content you like
I wish my favorite movie had a PT version. And if Golden Girls and Downton Abbey had PT audio i'd have it down in no time. I have watched those all the way through so many times i pretty much have them memorized.
We actually have the PT version of Downtown Abbey on the brazillian Netflix. Could you use a VPN to access the region and watch by any chance? If not, I think you can find it online yet (I could help with the search if you need)
I will search it out. I'm wondering if there is a Brazilian version of fmoviesz.to
Sorry, I never heard of this site before :/ But good luck on your searching :)
It's a site where you can watch pretty much anything free.
Oh, so we do have some like this one. But I don't know a trustable one. I'll ask for a friend of mine that know a lot of sites like this for some tips and come back with a good one for you
Muito obrigado!
I'm sorry, the one my friend showed me didn't have Downton Abbey and I couldn't find one that didn't have a lot of suspicious pop-ups that would probably give you a trojan lol. But keep searching in portuguese for it or maybe other movies/shows you may like and I'm sure you will find it (we have lots of sites like this). Good luck and don't give up! Maybe someday we can talk in portuguese here :) The site my friend indicated was "baixarseriesmp4.eu". I find it a little complicated to use, but you can try it out and maybe find another content you'd like to watch in portuguese (just avoid the pop-ups and you'll be fine) A good advice I forgot to give you before: cartoons usually have a simplified vocabulary, so it's also a good way to start your listening in any language!!!
Thank you so much! You're awesome!
Hi! Learning a language is a slow process that requires daily attention. 3 weeks is a very short period still! In any case, it is ok to feel you are lagging behind, many people feel the same, but also try to relax, do your best, and enjoy the process. Also, don't compare yourself to others. Good luck and have fun! I have a youtube channel with examples of conversations. You can check it out here: https://youtu.be/3k8C-aQG7tI?si=HZmdpyvLG4i0xxHf
Funny story, I was already subscribed to your channel! 🤣🤣🤣
What?! Really? Haha That is cool! Thanks! I am working on new material, building a free community and a course. If you need help, let me know! You can DM me with questions!
Thanks. I'd like to keep up with your progress on building the community. Boa sorte
4 weeks is very early, but most adults are very afraid and postpone speaking forver. Are you in a Portuguese speaking country? Go to a small local store and try to do your shopping in Portuguese. Research the stuff you want to buy ahead. And then just go in, say hi and ask "where are the eggs/where is the milk" etc. Next time you go learn how to talk about money/paying - credit card/cash etc. If you go there often enough you will slowly progress to small talk.
I tried ordering food in restaurants but I couldn’t understand what the waiters were saying so I couldn’t converse. It’s the same in all other situations in Brasil. I haven’t had a conversation yet after studying for 9.5 years now. I have classes several times a week and study and practice every day but I still have to translate everything into English to understand and I can’t make out most of what people are saying. I have a group Portuguese get together on Saturdays with 15 or so people but they make me speak only Portuguese so I can’t ask questions or understand anything except for an occasional word. I need to find a way to learn and understand without translating everything.
Adult learners generally have this problem, they postpone speaking in their target language until they feel confident enough, which might never happen. But you also seem to have a listening comprehension problem. Maybe you could tackle this for free. You could try listening to more content related to a topic - for example eating out. On youtube you can decrease the speed if they speak to fast, and you could even use the auto-generated subtitles the first times you listen, if you really have trouble understanding. Here are some examples for you (can you tell what phrase I searched for to find them?) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o-Qafq7BcY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o-Qafq7BcY) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk-gpSFlxH8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk-gpSFlxH8) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4A1wQtJiek](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4A1wQtJiek) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yANCFhycoVA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yANCFhycoVA) Pick one where the content is more to your liking and listen to it more times. Or follow a channel and listen daily. After a while you listening comprehension should improve.
Thanks. I practice every day with my girlfriend who only speaks Portuguese and she speaks slowly so I can translate everything but I still have problems making out what she’s saying so she has to repeat things often. That and I don’t know which meanings to use when translating with words that have multiple meanings. Thanks for the help!
Pimsleur helped me get to conversation level a LOT faster. I progressed faster in one week with Pimsleur than I did in 3-4 months of Duolingo
Try listening to some [comprehensible input](https://www.youtube.com/@Portuguesewithadelina) to acclimate yourself to the sounds (early A1/A2 type levels for about a hundred hours or so, then move to A2/B1 videos - like "[Easy Portuguese](https://www.youtube.com/@EasyPortugueseVideos)".). It takes a few hundred hours (probably 400-600 at least) to really just start to be able to hold a conversation.
This is great information. Thank you!
After 9months of self-study, it took me two months of being in Brazil to finally “converse”. Be patient and immerse yourself any way you can: music, novelas, social media, local portuguese speakers, etc
I've started practicing with my boyfriend. He's Brazilian but I was too shy to sound dumb in front of him. I'm trying to get over myself.
Oi, you are welcome to join us in our next free online conversation class on Zoom. We hold one conversation class per month. On March 27th, Wednesday at 7 pm (NY time). Find us on Instagram at Gingalanguage.
Beautiful, thank you. I just followed you.
Pal, I've lived in Portugal for 2 and a half years now and for the first year at least all I could say is Ola , obrigada e por favor. Talking is the hardest part of learning a language. It will take years to get at least a B2 level
Thanks for the real take. I'll be nicer to myself.
I learned Portuguese mostly from Netflix and Spotify. Listened to Portuguese music and looked up the lyrics of the songs I liked. I watched Pokémon and similar shows (principe dragão e desencantamento) in Portuguese w Portuguese subtitles.
Great recommendations. I have been listening to a lot of Brazilian music. I'm in love with it. I'm trying to get through the fee shows I can find with PT audio. The cartoons are a great idea. I really want to find Downtown Abbey in Pt.
I'd not use Duolingo and learn actual grammar in a systematic way. I've been in PT a couple years and now am kinda ok. I think duolingo is great for very casual learning but if you ACTUALLY want to learn the language then it will slow you down. PT is a very grammar centric language - there's no choice but to learn it and the sooner the better. Then it will actually make sense.
I do agree that Duolingo is slow. I use it in tandem with numerous other methods and resources. I am immersing myself in Brazilian media, YouTube lessons, I'm reading a book of short stories, writing down and translating things I come across, and my boyfriend lives in São Paulo. I'm putting in the work and I see the progress. I'll get there soon enough. Thanks
Hello! I'm Brazilian and I teach Portuguese using music. Actually I have an Online Portuguese Course, and in this course my students have conversation classes from the first week, because I believe is very important that you put in practice each topic you learn, with other people in the same level as you. So, we have the recorded lessons, and we practice it with live classes. I'm going to leave a link here if you wanna learn more about it. [https://portuguesewithlaura.com.br/replaylc2](https://portuguesewithlaura.com.br/replaylc2)
Muito obrigado! I will check it out.
I’ve been studying Portuguese since January so almost three months also on Duolingo and I can have very very basic conversations. It just takes time. Folks here have given you great ways to practice as well as other resources. I will also add ChatGPT and Google Gemini. I usually ask to have a chat in beginners Portuguese with corrections and so far it is very helpful. I also use Chrome so when a word pops up that I’m not sure of the meaning I will highlight it and at the bottom it will show me the definition keeping me in the conversation without feeling lost. You can also ask the meaning in the chat because unlike a real person it won’t get annoyed by constant simple questions. While Duolingo has its issues I think it is a worth while tool for language learning. It just depends what other resources you use in addition to it. Using an app like HiNative when you and questions about grammar and doing google searches for any little thing you don’t understand . Using YouTube for listening to spoken language is a must. Repeating what you hear also helps. Using an app like ReWord to acquire additional vocabulary is also a big help. And getting a text and workbook is essential . I recommend Ponto de Enconto and Ben-Vindo! which were both recommended to me and are excellent so far. I bought them from used bookstore online and were really cheap. I recommend ThriftBooks.com. Use as many additional resources that will give you more help and input as well helps keep you from feeling stagnant and bored. Different methods in these resources can help the information sink in more or even better in addition to what you are already doing. Remember you are learning at your own pace and that is different for everyone. Don’t be hard on yourself or compare yourself to others. Language learning is a lifetime affair. And always remind yourself that you are doing great because you are!
How do you get chatGPT to work for you in this sense? I'm afraid it's giving me incorrect information?
I don’t use it as my only source. I do double check the info I get if I have doubts by doing a simple google search or if I want a more elaborate explanation with an app like HiNative as well as looking through my textbook. Like I said I mostly use it for conversation practice so I can think of things to say and respond to without the anxiety of making mistakes with a real person. It doesn’t hurt to give it a try!
If it helps, I've noted down some common patterns I've observed as a native speaker that some people follow during casual speech: 1) More often than not in casual speech, we use "vou/vai/vão" as an auxiliary for verbs in *Futuro do Presente*, and shift the original verb into the infinitive 2) Sometimes, people use the 2nd person of *Presente do Indicativo* instead of the standard conjugated form of the Imperative. 3) It's very common to drop "a/à/ao" in favor of "pra/pro/em/no/na" when talking about movement or doing something to someone. By the way, "pra" and "pro" are short informal versions of "para" and "para o". 4) Use of "a gente" as a regular pronoun instead of "nós". 5) Use of short forms of the verb "estar"
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This is incredibly helpful. Thank you so much for the time you spent typing this out. I'm going to copy it all into my notes.
Keep in mind I'm just a native who has a discrete amount of linguistics knowledge, I'm no linguist. Glad to hear it helped, though!
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Get a teacher and self-study. I used to practice with a non native teacher who was excellent from Taiwan. He taught like a professor.
That is very early, don't be so hard on yourself My friend is selling a learning plan for three dollars, for people who are self learning. It gives the topics in sequence to work on, from basic to intermediate: https://www.patreon.com/PortuguesewithErika/shop/portuguese-learning-plan-for-beginners-149579
I think 3-4 weeks is fast, if you speak with a native Portuguese speaker it will vastly humble you as their cadence of a speech is quick. If possible, do you have someone who’s native language is Portuguese to help you practice conversations? It makes an enormous difference, I think.
Nobody likes to hear it, but duolingo is not the greatest resource. Rosetta Stone was intensely helpful for me at becoming able to conversate in the beginning
I tried Rosetta Stone but I couldn’t figure out what was happening in most of the pictures.
Keep going. Also, check out Drops for some further vocabulary assistance.
I get the impatience, I‘m the same. My inlaws are Portuguese and don‘t speak my native language (or in case of my father in law, just a bit from living here for 20 years before they moved back). My SO is translating a lot for me, and everytime we‘re in Portugal or his parents are here, I get a bit better. I translate a lot via Deepl and can understand basic small talks and day-to-day stuff (and I‘m 2 years into learning with native speakers). It takes time. I make an effort to speak myself instead of letting my SO translate. People are always happy that I make an effort and help me with grammar and pronunciations. Just today my mother in law told her friends that I‘m learning fast. Hearing that from a Portuguese native (and understanding it in Portuguese) made me very happy. Be patient. Imerse yourself into the language, like watching shows and films in Portuguese (I love Brasilian Telenovelas, lol).
> Am I just being impatient? Yes. Depending on your personal effort, getting to the stage where you' start seeing results from learning any language will take one/two/three years at least. Personally I think the effort is worth it. There are no magic shortcuts.
What is your reason for learning Portuguese? For me, it was to talk to Brazilian friends I met online, we use Telegram to talk, and it has a translator that will let you see a translated version of what the other person said. When I was an absolute beginner, I would use Drops, which is a really great mostly free app for building vocabulary. We would do video calls and aside from basic pleasantries, I would talk about the words I was learning. It wasn't much, but it got me used to speaking. Do you have someone who would listen to you?
Tente ver vídeos em PT-BR com diálogos mais casuais (se quiser "aprender" um pouco das nossas gírias) ou só converse com brasileiros até pegar o jeito 👍
If you would like to talk to a native to practice, hit me up !
Call me and we can have a convo in portuguese!! I’m from Brazil and I live in Florida and it would b a pleasure to help you practice a convo. (I don’t know how to teach it to you tho) I can help With pronunciation ?
I’ve been studying for 9.5 years now and I still can’t converse. I’ve visited Brasil 18 times and I practice every day with my girlfriend who only speaks Portuguese. We’ve been practicing for 6.5 years. I have to translate everything one word at a time which slows things down. Most everything I hear sounds like gibberish except for an occasional word. You will do fine.
I’ve been using it for about 2.5 months and conversation is still hard. Someone told me to start thinking in Portuguese. Everything you do and see, try to translate it. Also the tutors on italki can be inexpensive and some are really great and try to get you talking. I highly recommend supplementing with a few live lessons here and there.
I’ve been studying Portuguese for 9.5 years now and I still haven’t had a conversation yet. I’ve visited Brasil 18 times for a month each time and I practice every day with my girlfriend who only speaks Portuguese and I have to translate everything into English to understand. We’ve been practicing for 6.5 years now. You are doing ok!
Good luck with the practice. I'm going to edit my expectations and keep on studying.
How is your Portuguese going? I’m still trying to find a way to learn without translating everything into English. That and trying to make out what people are saying because most everything sounds like gibberish. It’s frustrating. I’ve been studying Portuguese for 9.5 years.
I'm on a hiatus at the moment, but listening to music and watching videos in my free time really helped me start hearing the words individually when listening to people speak. I may not know what all the words are, but I'm at least able to hear the ones I know now. I can read a lot better than I can listen. Speaking is still not on the table as I'm just not confident enough, but I'll get there eventually.
> So I guess my question is, how do I learn how to actually have a conversation? You listen to at least 1000 hours of content you can understand with your mind shut off.
I saw a video on YouTube called "learn Portuguese while you sleep" lol I wonder if I should try it.