The Easiest and Fastest Way to Learn European Portuguese
Whether you want to travel, communicate with friends or colleagues, reconnect with family, or just understand more of what s going on in the world around you, learning European Portuguese will expand your horizons and immeasurably enrich your life.
The best part is that it doesn t have to be difficult or take years to master. Thirty minutes a day is all it takes, and we get you speaking right from the first day. Pimsleur courses use a scientifically-proven method that puts you in control of your learning. If you ve tried other language learning methods but found they simply didn t stick, then you owe it to yourself to give Pimsleur a try.
Why Pimsleur?
- Quick + Easy Only 30 minutes a day.
- Portable + Flexible Core lessons can be done anytime, anywhere, and easily fit into your busy life.
- Proven Method Works when other methods fail.
- Self-Paced Go fast or go slow it s up to you.
- Based in Science Developed using proven research on memory and learning.
- Cost-effective Less expensive than classes or immersion, and features all native speakers.
- Genius Triggers your brain s natural aptitude to learn.
- Works for everyone Recommended for ages 13 and above.
What s Included?
- 30, 30-minute audio lessons
- 83 minutes of reading instruction to provide you with an introduction to reading European Portuguese designed to teach you to sound out words with correct pronunciation and accent
- in total, 18 hours of audio, all featuring native speakers
- a Reading Booklet and a User s Guide
What You ll Learn
In the first 10 lessons, you ll cover the basics: saying hello, asking for or giving information, scheduling a meal or a meeting, asking for or giving basic directions, and much more. You ll be able to handle minimum courtesy requirements, understand much of what you hear, and be understood at a beginning level, but with near-native pronunciation skills.
In the next 10 lessons, you ll build on what you ve learned. Expand your menu, increase your scheduling abilities from general to specific, start to deal with currency and exchanging money, refine your conversations and add over a hundred new vocabulary items. You ll understand more of what you hear, and be able to participate with speech that is smoother and more confident.
In the final 10 lessons, you ll be speaking and understanding at an intermediate level. In this phase, more directions are given in the target language, which moves your learning to a whole new plane. Lessons include shopping, visiting friends, going to a restaurant, plans for the evening, car trips, and talking about family. You ll be able to speak comfortably about things that happened in the past and make plans for the future.
Reading Lessons begin in Lesson 11 to provide you with an introduction to reading European Portuguese. In addition, the combined Reading Lessons are included after Lesson 30. These Reading Lessons, which total about one hour, are designed to teach you to sound out words with correct pronunciation and accent.
A User's Guide is also included.
The Pimsleur Method
We make no secret of what makes this powerful method work so well. Paul Pimsleur spent his career researching and perfecting the precise elements anyone can use to learn a language quickly and easily. Here are a few of his secrets:
"The Principle of Anticipation"
In the nanosecond between a cue and your response, your brain has to work to come up with the right word. Having to do this boosts retention, and cements the word in your mind.
"Core Vocabulary"
Words, phrases, and sentences are selected for their usefulness in everyday conversation. We don t overwhelm you with too much, but steadily increase your ability with every lesson.
"Graduated Interval Recall"
Reminders of new words and structures come up at the exact interval for maximum retention and storage into your long-term memory.
"Organic Learning"
You work on multiple aspects of the language simultaneously. We integrate grammar, vocabulary, rhythm, melody, and intonation into every lesson, which allows you to experience the language as a living, expressive form of human culture.
"Learning in Context"
Research has shown that learning new words in context dramatically accelerates your ability to remember. Every scene in every Pimsleur lesson is set inside a conversation between two people. There are no drills, and no memorization necessary for success.
"Active Participation"
The Pimsleur Method + active learner participation = success. This method works with every language and every learner who follows it. You gain the power to recall and use what you know, and to add new words easily, exactly as you do in English.
The European Portuguese Language
Portuguese is spoken by about 170 million people, mainly in Portugal and the Portuguese Atlantic islands, Brazil, and Portugal's former overseas provinces in Africa and Asia. Pimsleur's European Portuguese teaches Portuguese as spoken in and around Lisbon. Learn European Portuguese today with Pimsleur.
Tech Talk
- CDs are formatted for playing in all CD players, including car players, and users can copy files for use in iTunes or Windows Media Player."