{"id":176598307,"date":"2024-04-03T13:02:37","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T20:02:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog-new\/?p=176598307"},"modified":"2025-05-19T11:24:40","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T18:24:40","slug":"how-hard-is-it-to-learn-portuguese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lingq.com\/blog\/how-hard-is-it-to-learn-portuguese\/","title":{"rendered":"How Hard is it to Learn Portuguese?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong. Portuguese is the most beautiful language in the world\u2026 to me, of course! <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have attempted to learn many languages but, when I met my beautiful future wife, who lives in southern Brazil, I decided to stick to it as much as I could and master the language.  I had a LingQ<\/a> account (an old one where I read about 20,000 words total), went through most of the Duolingo stories, and even hired a teacher and did several classes.  I felt pretty confident!  That is, I did until I actually moved to Brazil.  I didn\u2019t realize how wrong I was about my method until I actually had to use the language.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I got to Brazil, in the midst of the pandemic, in the Uber ride, I realized I had understood almost nothing of the conversation between the Uber driver and my wife.  We went to her mother\u2019s house\u2026 I understood even less of their conversations!  <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I started watching some Brazilian shows, I had to not only have subtitles but I realized that most people don\u2019t even speak the way they do on Duolingo Stories and I only understood about half of all the subtitles!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t realize a couple of key aspects behind the language that make it inherently difficult and requires a lot of action and sustained studying to fix.  What exactly should a learner of the language look out for when they begin studying?  I suffered through the process to get to the fluency<\/a> I have today after realizing these two difficulties: language change and accent differences.  <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Learn<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Language Change<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You know how Brazil was originally colonized by the European Portuguese?  When the Europeans arrived, there wasn\u2019t just a small stretch of empty land with no one there.  In fact, Brazil was occupied by several different native American groups, each with their own languages and all with their own particular pronunciation systems.<\/a>  <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Portuguese were incentivized by their government to intermingle and marry with the inhabitants.  When you marry somebody, you pick up their particular habits and start to become a bit more like them as the years go by.  Brazilian Portuguese is the offspring of those colonizers and the natives already there.  It blends much of the older pronunciation systems and the original Portuguese language.  So much so that, oftentimes, European Portuguese sounds completely foreign to Brazilian speakers.  In fact, according to some Brazilians I have talked to, it is almost unintelligible and, if you use European vocabulary, people may not even understand you at all.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"How
Different phrases between Brazil and Portugal.  I accidentally use \u201cgelado\u201d all the time, and my wife corrects me and says that it is \u201csorvete.\u201d  I had no idea until now that gelado was the European equivalent to the word!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I would be disingenuous in forgetting to mention the VERY large impact slavery had on the Portuguese language.  Millions and millions of Africans were brought to Brazil, and they brought many different languages with them!  The influence they had on Portuguese cannot be described in a mere article just as it would take an entire book!  Accent differences, vocabulary, dance, music… much of Brazilian culture itself depends on that influence it had.  Even though it was a terrible time in history, it is important to note Brazil would not be the same without it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

 <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Accent Differences<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

But that\u2019s not all!  You remember that there were MANY different native tribes?  Well, each group inhabited different parts of the land.  After this intermingling, and generations went by, the accent differences became more noticeable.  Each region, and sometimes each city, may speak an entirely different way.  That doesn\u2019t even count the massive immigration that has occurred since then as well!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s take Curitiba, the city where I live.  Very heavy central and Eastern European immigration had occurred in the past.  So much so that, unfortunately, their accent is completely different from others in the country.  They don\u2019t pronounce a lot of the fricatives that can be found in other accents.  Whereas other accents can be very guttural, Curitibanos pronounce a lot more letters than others.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This wouldn\u2019t be a problem EXCEPT there are very few Curitibano entertainers or programs to watch on YouTube.  In order to learn to understand someone, it is necessary to listen to them first.  Most of the entertainment and programs come from Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo so most of the programs you see have entirely different accents and intonations than other cities.  Oftentimes, in the more \u201ccountry\u201d accents you find, they don\u2019t even pronounce the s in \u201cmesmo\u201d or the s at the end of other words. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"How
Bolacha vs Biscotinho: two very different words for \u201ccookie\u201d but if you say Bolacha in one part of the country they will look at you very confused.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In fact, sometimes, they don\u2019t even pronounce the endings of words at all.  \u201cSorte\u201d means luck and has two syllables.  But many Brazilians in the North pronounce it \u201csort\u201d and pronounce the t like you would with the first t in \u201cunfortunately:\u201d with the tongue at the top of the mouth!  Imagine everybody pronouncing words differently and you will realize you are going to need A LOT more exposure to the language.  There are even accents that don\u2019t pronounce the r with the r sound you\u2019d find in English, and there are some who pronounce the r with a trilling sound that you\u2019d find in Spanish.  I felt, in the course of my studies, that, oftentimes, I would have to learn four or five ways to pronounce different words, which could be very frustrating!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How To Overcome It<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There is only one way of overcoming the difficulties and LingQ has been the perfect resource for it: study a lot of input.  I don\u2019t mean just a lot.  In order to get from understanding absolutely nothing to the point where I could be on a Brazilian podcast, and in SIX months, I took Steve Kaufmann\u2019s approach<\/a> of using LingQ to focus entirely on input.  I set a goal for myself to read 5000 words and listen to 2.5 hours of audio every single day.  <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I used LingQ for all six months and kept track of absolutely everything in those six months.  I managed to reach almost 1 million words read and 263 hours of listening practice.  I used YouTube<\/a>, Netflix, and novelas on GloboPlay (the Brazilian equivalent to Netflix) to fill in the gaps and get exposed to as many of the accents in the language I could.  Ironically, despite moving here, I still can\u2019t always understand the Curitiban accent but that\u2019s due to the pandemic and never really leaving the house.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Where I Started And How I Progressed<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As it is very important to start with content that you find both not too challenging but also interesting, I searched for content on YouTube that would let me improve my listening content: self-help videos!  It seems strange today that THAT is where I started, but I found them to be perfect for an A2 level!  I took the content and imported transcripts (using the extremely helpful browser extension available for Chrome<\/a>, Safari<\/a>, Firefox<\/a>) to LingQ, learned every word and then went back and listened to them again until I felt comfortable with the words and understood the full content of the videos.  I probably did this for the first 50 hours of listening practice that I did.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Eventually I came to the point where I didn\u2019t think I could make it.  But then at around the 30 hour mark, I found that I didn\u2019t need LingQ as much because I already knew so many of the words and could really start enjoying the videos rather than trying to learn every single word over and over.  I was getting the content without having to translate it.  It was a breath of fresh air and the first major milestone.  <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, I joined a 90-Day Challenge<\/a> where I would try to make as many LingQs as possible to beat everyone else.  It was exciting, of course, to really challenge myself to take on very heavy goals.  At the beginning, I started with 5000 words read every day.  At the early level, I would set new LingQ records almost every day!  I imported (through the extension again) dozens and dozens of articles by National Geographic Brasil, really building up my language core, making the articles, one-by-one, easier and easier to read.  At some points I would reach up to 20000 words a day, and, around Thanksgiving, I had hit nearly 40000 words a day!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"How<\/a>
As you can see, I took my studies VERY seriously!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The real challenge was finding increasingly complex material to try to attack the \u201clanguage difference\u201d and \u201caccent issue\u201d head on.  I found The Circle: Brazil<\/a> to be absolutely perfect for this.  Listening-wise, it is not super complex, but the actual vocabulary and range of accents\u2026 muito complexo!  These people are all put into this little apartment building where they interact only through text messages.  They would say soooo many different idioms in every episode I couldn\u2019t keep up!  I made hundreds of LingQs just from the series alone.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After mastering that material, I went a step further and started with Borges on Facebook!  You might know the people as \u201cPorta Dos Fundos\u201d on YouTube.  Complex comedy and idioms used in every episode.  It\u2019s wonderful!  Everyone has their own particular way of speaking and it really helped with the accent issue.  After watching this, I felt I was ready to start taking on shows without any subtitles.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

LingQ is my best friend and mentor, but sometimes you have to let go of your mother\u2019s hand to grow further!  I stopped using LingQ for importing videos and focused on just watching videos trying to make sure I can watch them without subtitles.  Sometimes, I\u2019ll import a particular challenging video and realize that I have few LingQs associated with it.  It\u2019s just really hard to understand.  The only way to grow that quality is to continue practicing without subtitles.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My journey with LingQ is far from over though!  Remember when I said I read NGB articles?  Yeah.  I graduated!  I now read entire novels through the LingQ app, oftentimes two or three novels at once if time allows.  I love Star Wars novels and science-fiction so I have read a few.  I believe this is a good way to really read extensively.  I even uploaded The Handmaid\u2019s Tale in English and I am reading that as well through the app, doing so with one of my students, discussing it in class.    <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though Portuguese is a difficult language, as I said before, after so much study of it and the regional differences, I find it to be the most diverse and beautiful language I have ever studied and I think you should definitely give it a try.  LingQ is the best app for doing this, with the ability to listen to the audio and follow along transcripts, and the data-driven approach that you can take with it, the way I did.  320 total hours of study do not lie.  LingQ works! Check out LingQ today to discover how to learn Portuguese<\/a> from content you love!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Simpson is the owner of TryLingual, and is a private language coach and English teacher currently living in Curitiba, Brazil.  He loves coxinha and churrasco and watching Brazilian novelas with his wife.  He thinks if a goofball like him can learn any Portuguese, so can you!<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don\u2019t get me wrong. Portuguese is the most beautiful language in the world\u2026 to me, of course!  I have attempted to learn many languages but, when I met my beautiful …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":176598316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[105],"class_list":["post-176598307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learning-portuguese","tag-english"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow Hard is it to Learn Portuguese? - The LingQ Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"You may have heard that it's a tough language to learn, but exactly how hard is it to learn Portuguese? Michael taught himself. 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