Portuguese Helps and Aids

I thought it would be nice and helpful to create a list of Helps and Aids for your Portuguese learning needs.

Personally, I stand by ALL of these links and have been collecting them for years.  Rest assured that they will bring you high value.

Bookmark this page for your reference and convenience as it will be continually updated.  Have fun!

Disclosure:  Although many of the below links are free some are affiliates, and at no additional cost to you.  I will earn a small commission if you decide to make a purchase.  Please understand that I have experience with these companies and stand by them – they are very helpful and useful.  I don’t recommend them because of the small commission I make.  Please do not spend any of your hard earned $$ on these products if you don’t feel that they will help you achieve your goals.

Online Portuguese Course

There are tons out there, but I recommend getting one that will benefit you with as little investment as possible (don’t fork out $350!) with as much return as possible.  This is because a language program will give you a good foundation but not make you fluent.

Rocket Portuguese - “Learn Portuguese Online”  – a great program at a great price.  Comparable to the best yet costs about a third the amount.

Language Books

If you are more into books and less into “online learning” (Like Rocket Portuguese), then here are some great tools:

Falar Ler Escrever - If you are determined to learn by books and not courses, this is your best shot. Pretty much the only book used to teach Portuguese to foreigners

Falar Ler Escrever Workbook - This is the workbook that accompanies the above.

501 Portuguese Verbs – Covers all the conjugations of major verbs – great book and great for referencing (I still use it).

Essential Portuguese Grammar - A great grammar guide, will teach you proper grammar from a european perspective.

– Completely free site, has tons of pronunciation and helps. Be aware that the site is free so the overall quality is low (but hey, doesn’t cost ya anything!)

Meeting Brazilians

The main help in learning Portuguese is by meeting with other people who speak/learn it.

BrazilCupid - Dating and Personals.  If you are looking for Brazilian love, this is THE place to find it! 1000s of single Brazilians looking for international love.

– Wonderful site for finding groups near you where people meetup for cultural exchanges, language practice or just for fun!

– Lots of pages with everything from local groups to national language groups.

– another great site to find local meetups and groups

Reading Material

Current list of general reading material to get a grasp on the language

O Sapo Envergonhado - Good read for beginners about the embarrassed frog- has kindle edition

Zardólia, O Segredo do Oitavo Continente - Excellent kids book about “the Secret of the Eight Continent”, story told from Brazil.

Ensaio Sobre a Cegueira – “Blindness” (as it was translated to in English) Book written by a Brazilian Nobel Prize winner in literature

O Alquimista – “The Alchemist” World renowned Brazilian author, one of his best books – has kindle edition.

Music

Music is a great way to fill your ears with the language constantly

Ana Carolina – Dois Quartos 

Ivete Sangalo – Ivete Sangalo

Kid Abelha – Pega Vida 

Tribalistas – Tribalistas

Skank – Estandarte

Capital Inicial – 20 Grandes Sucessos do Capital Inicial

Jorge Vercillo – Como Diria Blavatsky

Djavan – Ária (Ao Vivo)

Zeca Pagodinho Ao Vivo – Zeca Pagodinho

Movies

An excellent way to practice Portuguese, will push you to understand what is being said!

 - Moving movie about a boy who loses his mother in Rio’s central station, but get’s taken care of by a complete stranger.

 - a story about life in the Rio Favelas (slums)

 - based on the Greek mythology but set in Carnival

  – my favorite Brazilian action movie, about the special Brazilian forces who battle crime in Favelas

 - the follow up to the first movie and just as good!

 - a doctor who becomes passionate about helping HIV/AIDS victims in a large Brazilian prison after hearing their stories

 - a similar movie to City of God but more accurate about life in favelas (slums).

 - about a boy who gets dropped off in a Jewish community while his parents go on “vacation”, during the communist dictatorship of Brazil in the 1970′s

Island of Flowers () – a moving short movie about life in a garbage dump

 - a family rides their bikes from the northeast Brazil to Rio in search of a good job and freedom

TV Shows

Like movies, a great way to push you to learn the language.  I followed a Brazilian soap opera (novela) from beginning to end (about 6 months), at the beginning I didn’t understand much but by the end of the novela, I understood everything!

– Biggest TV producer in Brazil, if you have a CPF number, you can sign up for premium services (or if you have a Brazilian friend with one) – use Google Translate to help

– Brazil’s 2nd biggest TV producer, tons of free videos and shows - use Google Translate to help

– Another large news/tv producer - use Google Translate to help

– Large TV channel - use Google Translate to help

Dictionaries and Translation

 - allows you to search and find things specifically within Brazil instead of worldwide.

– the best free translation tool out there, can translate entire websites.

 - good free dictionary

 - good for translating technical words/terms you can’t find translations for anywhere else.

 - an online Portuguese dictionary which will define Portuguese words in Portuguese (good stuff!)

– a free website that let’s you hear how many popular words are pronounced

Culinary

Good culinary links – so you can make me some good food!

Delicious Brazil – Portuguese/English cookbook with TONS of regional recipes, introduces you to the food culture while teaching you wonderful recipes – highly recommended!

– a hub for Brazilian recipes in English

With the help of some of the translation tools (especially Google Translate) you can get recipes from Brazil’s largest recipe sites:

 - huge recipe site from Globo

 - huge recipe site from UOL

 - Excellent independent recipe website

News

Staying up with news and current affairs in Brazil is a great way to push you to learn the langauge

– Largest national news site

– Large southern news site

– Great national news site

– Large national news site

Other

Use Google Translate and other language tools to help you understand these sites

– UOL’s travel guide

– another travel guide

 - Brazil tourism guide

– Brazil’s official Ministry of Tourism (Brazil’s official tourism ministry)

– Yahoo! Answers Brazil, excellent to ask and find specific Brazilian related answers.  I have used it many times in the past for research and answer.