Can we learn Portuguese without going to classes?

Portuguese is a Romance language originating in the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. It is the sole official language of Portugal, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Brazil, while having co-official language status in East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, and Macau. A Portuguese-speaking person or nation is referred to as “Lusophone” (lusófono). As the result of expansion during colonial times, a cultural presence of Portuguese and Portuguese creole speakers are also found around the world. Portuguese is part of the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia and the County of Portugal and has kept some Celtic phonology and its lexicon. With approximately 215 to 220 million native speakers and 50 million second-language speakers, Portuguese has approximately 270 million total speakers. It is usually listed as the sixth-most spoken language and the third-most spoken European language in the world in terms of native speakers. Being the most widely spoken language in South America and all of the Southern Hemisphere, it is also the second-most spoken language, after Spanish, in Latin America, one of the 10 most spoken languages in Africa, and is an official language of the European Union, Mercosur, the Organization of American States, the Economic Community of West African States, the African Union, and the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, an international organization made up of all of the world’s officially Lusophone nations. In 1997, a comprehensive academic study ranked Portuguese as one of the 10 most influential languages in the world.

Many times learners find themselves in a situation where they don’t have access to Portuguese classes, teachers or even native Portuguese speakers! But that’s not the end of the world! There still are plenty of Portuguese media resources that can help a learner learn Portuguese. Most of these resources can be accessed for free or found for very cheap- online or in a library. Many resources are available even through subscriptions of streaming services like Netflix or Spotify, something you may already be paying for!

For long Books have been our good friends! Even today not everything is available in electronic media. This means there’s a whole range of literature written in Portuguese available to help a learner master the Portuguese language. There are thousands of Portuguese books that make great learning resources for beginner and intermediate Portuguese learners, from short story compilations like Comédias para Se Ler na Escola* and the easy-to-follow Bear comic series to longer, to more substantive reads like the more classic novels Os Maias and Ensaio Sobre a Cegueira.

Using books to learn Portuguese is a great way to sharpen your reading skills and to understand how the Portuguese language is used in a whole wide range of contexts, from historical fiction to fairy tales to personal essays to collections of short stories to nonfiction and everything in between. 

Keep a Portuguese dictionary handy.

Maintaining a language journal of unfamiliar Portuguese words, phrases and expressions help you build your vocabulary. Plus, you can get some extra speaking and Portuguese pronunciation practice by reading your collection aloud.

Learning Portuguese with Audio books, Audio clips, Podcasts, Music, Television shows, Talk shows, Portuguese News Channels, YouTube is a very effective way to start speaking and listening Portuguese language. With as many online Portuguese audio resources available that can teach one starting from the basics of Portuguese vocabulary and grammar to the most complex content of the language without needing to look at a page or a screen. These audio lessons are great for multitasking and learning passively, (many of them being free); one can listen to them in the car or in the background of another activity, like commuting to work, cooking dinner or taking a walk in your neighborhood. Portuguese podcasts like Todo Mundo Pod are great for beginners, and others like Durma Com Essa take a more in-depth look at Brazilian news and current events with Portuguese that’s more suitable for advanced learners. Listening to Portuguese songs can be a great learning method, too, especially if a group of lyrics is often repeated more than once, giving you plenty of opportunities to hear lyrics over and over. You can find many playlists of Portuguese songs on Spotify that are often organized by proficiency level, from beginner playlists to more advanced ones. But one must remember, that to really master a language, listening is not enough! You’ll have to supplement audio with ways to practice writing, reading, and speaking Portuguese, too.

Learning With Portuguese TV Shows And Portuguese Movies. Watching Portuguese movies and Portuguese TV shows is an excellent way to connect with the Portuguese language in a fun, engaging format. You can find a lot of good Portuguese-language content of all different genres and for all learning proficiency levels on streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime.

When you’re watching, you can choose to display subtitles in Portuguese for some extra reading practice. Try to avoid watching dubbed movies, as you won’t end up hearing any Portuguese! Watching gives you a chance to process what you’re hearing and you can record new words in your vocab journal and look them up for meanings in a dictionary. 

The goal of learning any language is to have real-life conversations with native speakers. So your language learning should be designed in a manner to get you to that goal in the best way possible. It’s important to dedicate the time and effort to practising with discipline, but outside of your own personal commitment, you’ve got to have technology that knows how to help you most effectively along the way. Luckily, an app called Babbel, designed by a team of language experts, educators, and designers offers a convenient whole spectrum of language learning — so you are guaranteed a top-quality Portuguese learning journey that’s capable, engaging, interactive, interesting, intensive and yes, even fun. It takes advantage of the concept of microlearning or bringing back information in short bursts to help you hold on to it better. I also recommend you browse through Multibhashi. Multibhashi is a Technology platform that imparts impactful content designed by its empanelled Linguist experts across major Indian languages imparted via Cloud LMS, Cloud telephony, Streaming Video, Realtime Chat, Experiential Learning, Gamification & Interactive evaluation leading to Adaptive Learning by the user. In November 2020, HolonIQ – an authority when it comes to performing and buddying EdTechs, announced its first annual India and South Asia EdTech 100 — a list of the 100 most promising education technology startups across the region from approximately 3000 EdTech teams based in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. And Multibhashi bagged a position in the top 100 Edtech companies in Asia and ONLY ONE FROM INDIA in the Language learning category to be part of HOLONIQ. Multibhashi offers pocket-friendly courses via customized online learning, that’s flexible and allows you to take classes at the convenience of your home, with qualified trainers that are certified Level B2 and above, with diverse experience, having helped thousands of learners who help you improve in the subject by consistently monitoring your progress through pre-assessment, mid-assessment and post-assessment.