Learn Portuguese

Ben-Vindo! Welcome! Here are some good reasons for learning the Portuguese language:

• Portuguese is currently the 6th most spoken language in the world
• Speaking the Portuguese language links you to at least 200 million native speakers (approx. 160 million in Brazil)
• Besides being spoken in Portugal and Brazil, Portuguese is also the official language of several new African republics
• Portuguese is easy to master for the English and the Spanish speaking

Which countries speak the Portuguese language?
The Portuguese language has approximately 210 million native speakers and is another important and beautiful latin american language. Do you know which countries speak this language?

Many will be surprised to learn this: Places that speak Portuguese include Andorra, Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Chinese S.A.R. of Macau, Mozambique, Portugal and São Tomé and Príncipe.

Some nice Portuguese songs (to listen, just CLICK on the song titles below)

Devolva-me (Return It To Me) by Adriana Calcanhoto

Eu Sei Que Vou Te Amar (I Know That I Love You) by Adriana Calcanhoto

Fico Assim Sem Você or Sou eu assim sem você! (That's How I Am Without You) by Adriana Calcanhoto

Vambora

Recado y Cara Valente by Maria Rita


If you like what you heard, bookmark this site and come back again for the lyrics (both in Portuguese and in English).

P/S: We will be adding more singers and songs to our list, so keep coming back for more! (Contact us if you would like to see your favourite songs listed here).

The written language
Similar to the Spanish language, Portuguese utilizes a modified version of the Latin alphabet. Diacritics include the acute accent (á,é,í,ó,ú), grave accent (à), circumflex (â, ê, ô), diaeresis (ü) in Brazil, tilde (ã,õ) and cedilla (ç).

For those who speak Spanish...
For those who SPEAK Spanish as their native language, it is fairly easy to learn Portuguese.

But those who have STUDIED Spanish may have to work hard for Portuguese has its own specific grammar, distinctive vocabulary, pronunciation and intonation.


Those who are beginning to study Portuguese should not be deluded by the similarity between the two languages. The differences are often subtle. Spanish speakers indeed have to make a concerted effort when learning Portuguese for there is the danger in their case of the development of a fossilized "intermediary" language called in Brazil "portunhol", a mixture of Spanish and Portuguese.

News in Portuguese
In 2005, Google launched two different editions of Google News: one for Brazil and one for Portugal. Google News gathers stories from more than 200 news sources in Portuguese worldwide, and automatically arranges them to present the most relevant news first. Google hopes to be able to help Brazilian and Portuguese readers (or those learning the language) stay informed about the issues that matter most to them.

Click here for Brazilian news.

Click here for news from Portugal.

Other interesting Portuguese resources

1. Click here to watch movies in Portuguese.

2. Click here to watch songs and music in Portuguese.


Need more information on the Portuguese language?    Type in your keywords in the box below and hit ENTER.

We will be updating the lists and recommending you more good resources regularly. Click here to bookmark our site and come back for more goodies :)