Essential Guide To Learning Brazilian Portuguese Using Lingq
I’ve decided to make a definitive list of the best content on Lingq from Beginner 1 to Advanced 2. I did all the Brazilian Portuguese content on Lingq the first time from 2019 to 2020 (I skipped the European content but I'm doing it all now (2023) and then went off finding new stuff to add to the site. I wanted to make this so people can have a good perspective of what's important on the site in order to get the most out of it quicker. All the content is good in a way but there is alot or new articles and old books which are nice but dont help you in a speaking / understanding real speech way. The purpose of this guide is to get to understanding native speech quickly.
Course to understand grammar and how the language works:
I started off buying books (I went through about 10 or so in the beginning), I used apps like duolingo, i used other audio courses like Pimsleur (not a bad course but not as effective). Long story short, I've used a lot of courses and books and you can throw them all away because all you need is a free course made by the Government in the 60’s. It's called FSI Portuguese Programmatic Course . It is two volumes of gold, the best resource to learn Portuguese hands down. And it’s free. It starts with how to pronounce the language using English words as a reference and ends with complex uses of the subjunctive mood.
They made another course as well called FSI Brazilian Portuguese Fast Course it's ok but not necessary.
*I made a bunch of anki cards out the courses using the audio and dialogues if any one is interested*
I didn't add the dialogues from the first two volumes because I didn't use Lingq at that time. But the dialogues from Fast Course have been uploaded to Lingq.
The origins of this list come from this reddit post. I learned about lingq, anki, and the FSI course there. Also I'm only adding content which has the audio attached and you have to do no work (i.e. importing or adding audio)
Non Lingq Advice
-I know it's boring but anki. It's such a powerful tool to learn vocab and sentence mine. I highly recommend it. If you’re interested I can create a more indepth guide about that. Also I made tons of real audio anki cards if anyone is interested. I recommend looking into the resources to add real audio to your cards. And dont forget lingq has a function to export all your lingqs to anki.
-Italki or any app to practice speaking. It's pretty important to practice speaking and have corrections. Italki for me is great but you could also try using Tinder and changing your location or try to make friends in real life (you can also use dating apps for this if it has a language function.)
Mini Guide to Listening
You need to listen a fuck ton. Bottom line. I remember I started really being able to understand conversations with friends around 900 hours on Lingq. So yea you have to listen a lot.
I recommend something like this according to lingq level not course level
-Beginner 1 (~25-30 per Lingq lesson)
-Beginner 2 (~20-25)
-Intermediate 1(~15-20)
-Intermediate 2 (~12-15)
-Advanced 1 (~10-12)
-Advanced 2 (~8-10)
I know its boring and it's alot of listening but its what your ear needs.
Useful Dictionaries
-Priberam (This is best for common words, literature, news, stuff like that, sometimes for slang)
-Dicionário Informal (This is the best for slangs and regional words i.e. gaucho or nordeste, but i've been surprised in finding the meanings for words from old texts here)
-Dicio (Same as priberam, i used this when priberam fails for some reason, I don't like it cause it doesn't have so many meanings and it doesnt put figurative meanings which is useful)
-Context Reverso (This is good for throwing in phrases and see how they come out in english)
-Conjugator (This is good when you don't understand some conjugations you come across like tu, vos, or some subjunctive)
-When all else fails, google the word or phrase and put “significado, or “O que é….”
Guide
Beginner 1
-Intro Level Content (Duolingo Beginner Level)
-Brazilian First Words - Numbers 1-10
-Portuguese Alphabet Pronunciation
-Essential
-Língua da Gente | Brazilpod (This is the holy grail of content for beginners, I recommend listening to the whole podcast too, not just the dialogue)
-Meu diário (All of the content she uploaded is amazing)
-Portuguese Communication Exercises - Beginner
-Beginner Grammar-based Lessons
-Portuguese Conversations with Patricia LMA004
-Recommended
-Portuguese for beginners - Cultura brasileira e outros costumes.
-Brazilian Portuguese Storytelling (PortuguEase Podcast)
-Supplemental
-Who Is She (Unfortunately most of the lingq made content uses a lot of subjunctive and sometimes awkward phrasing which is why it's here. The use of subjunctive in Brazilian Portuguese isn't as strongly used as it's shown here, even though it's correct.
-Brazilian Portuguese First Words
-LingQ 101 - Getting Started (only If you absolutely want to read the how to of lingq, I don't like it because it uses verbs in the future like aprenderá, which is weird and pretentious in the day to day speech, you normally use that tense with maybe será, like porque será? Or será?)
Beginner 2
-Essential
-Tá Falado (This is the holy grail of content for beginners, I recommend listening to the whole podcast too, not just the dialogue)
-Recommended
-LingQ Mini Stories - Brazilian Portuguese
-Introdução pessoal em Português
-BrazilianPodClass Beginner (Portuguese only)
-Supplemental
-FSI Fast Course Vol.1 and 2 (there is some outdated references though, like cruzeiro as currency)
-Speaking Brazilian Language School
Gloss Brazilian Portuguese Level 1
Intermediate 1
-Essential
-Portuguese Communication Exercises - Intermediate A
-Portuguese Communication Exercises - Intermediate B
-Conversa Brasileira (look for the website too)
-A história de Siku, o urso polar
-Recommended
-Fala Gringo - Learn Brazilian Portuguese Podcast
-Portuguese Conversations with Patricia #2 LMA005
-Supplemental
-Gloss Brazilian Portuguese Level 1+
-Acentuação da língua portuguesa
-Copa do mundo de 2014 no Brasil.
Intermediate 2
-Essential
-Portuguese Communication Exercises - Advanced A
-Portuguese Communication Exercises - Advanced B
-Bruno Miranda (A sketch youtube channel with portuguese and slangs the way brazilians really talk)
-Recommended
-Supplemental
-Discussao sobre maconha livre está na mesa
Advanced 1
-Essential
-Porta Dos Fundos 2012 (This is what you're working towards. Porta dos fundos is exactly how brazilian people talk. Here you will learn everything about Brazilian culture. It is so full of slangs and colloquial things that you will never be taught in any book)
-Recommended
-Supplemental