Very useful, February 5, 2004

SEE UPDATE IN 3RD PARAGRAPH. :)
I speak fairly good Spanish as a second language, and am preparing to spend a few weeks in Brazil this summer. With my Spanish background, I'm getting through this audio course fairly quickly. For each lesson, I first use the book and tape together to make sure I understand what they're saying. Then I listen to the tapes on the way to and from work, and sometimes before going to bed. I tend to focus on about 3 lessons at a time. Right now, I'm on 9, 10, and 11, and I'm starting to preview Lesson 12. I still go back and listen to earlier lessons, though. And I make flashcards for words I'm having trouble with.

It's hard for me to adjust to Portuguese pronunciation. (My mouth keeps wanting to pronounce it in Spanish.) I especially appreciate the fact that they model different Brazilian pronunciations (probably regional or simply differing from person to person). The progression of material is very logical. The content is quite practical, also. I have other Brazilian Portuguese audio & computer programs, but this program is the most helpful.

UPDATE July 2004: Okay, I'm back from Brazil now.

After working with this audio program for about 2 months, I got frustrated that I wasn't able to speak. (My Spanish kept interfering.) So I decided to change my attitude -- My new goal was just to UNDERSTAND what was being said to me in Brazil. So as I worked with this program, I focused mainly on auditory comprehension. Of course, I practiced my pronunciation while working with the program also.

Amazingly enough, this attitude shift not only decreased my frustration, but it proved to be effective. When I got to Brazil, I understood enough to be able to deal with taxis, restaurants, hotels, etc. But I also was able to make the shift from Spanish speaking to Portuguese within a few days. I was only there a little over 2 weeks, but few Brazilians could believe I knew so much "just using a book and tapes". (That amused me, but I was also happy to keep hearing that my Portuguese was decent.) I could carry on casual conversations fairly well, not just "tourist talk."

It helped a LOT that I spoke fairly good Spanish before working on Portuguese. The grammar and the vocabulary have a lot of similarities.

In Brazil, I used two speaking strategies: (1) using Portuguese I actually knew, and (2) using Spanish that might be similar to Portuguese (altering it at times according to some common patterns that I picked up from this audio program). In understanding what people were saying to me, these three strategies helped: (1) recognizing Portuguese I actually knew (which took some practice learning to actually recognize it in real life conversation),(2) guessing that words that sounded similar to Spanish words meant the same (or at least similar) in Portuguese, and (3) working my brain really hard to guess the meaning of everything else to fill in the gaps where I didn't know what a word or phrase meant. It was HARD WORK! My brain got tired. But it was also FUN to be able to move about fairly freely on my own.

And Brazilians were very patient with my Portuguese.

After returning from Brazil, I can still strongly recommend this audio program/book.

A very good course, April 29, 2003

I quite like this course for a number of reasons: the incremental approach; the realistic dialogues; the grammar notes and verb conjugations; the cultural points; and the letter writing. I am using it together with another course, Manuela Cook, Portuguese, book ISBN 0658015796, and with audio ISBN 065801580X. This is also a complete course with similar features, a very effective graded method, and coverage of Brazilian and European Portuguese. I would say that Living Language and Manuela Cook's courses are ideal partners. I am using the two in parallel and progressing steadily.

I'm only 7 chapters in, but am disappointed already.
My summary:
- The CD is worthless on its own (so far) as it is entirely in Portuguese with never a translation (you need the book in front of you as a reference).
- The book is very formal in teaching style, but so far not formal enough (for me). There is no explanation of word roots and conjugation. The translation is not literal, so it makes it harder to parse the phrases into their components. I feel that it helps you learn how to build sentences when you understand the components and how they fit - not just how to parrot phrases.
- There is no phonetic pronunciation in the text, so if you are unsure, you need to cue up the CD!

As well, some of the most important phonetic issues are ignored - like the ending of a word in 'te' is often pronounced 'che', 'm' has an 'n' sound (as in bem = 'ben'), d's are often given a swallowed 'g' sound, etc. And lastly - a minor issue - is there is a typo in the section about pronouncing the letters - saying the letter 'j' the same as the letter 'i' - instead of 'jota'.

Once again, I'm only 7 of 40 chapters in, but so far I am not impressed!

Not very interactive, April 7, 2004

I completed this course several months ago. It was O.K. as an introduction, but for me it was not the best way to learn a language. The program consists of reading grammar lessons, and listening to and repeating Portuguese words and sentences. I have found courses to be more helpful for learning a language if they are more interactive - requiring creatively writing and responding, and listening for comprehension - rather than just parroting sentences back. Be aware that the speakers on the CD have a very strong Rio accent. I have recently completed Sue Tyson-Ward's "Teach Yourself Brazilian Portuguese", and found it much more interactive and better for me for learning (even though it was poorly reviewed by others on Amazon).

best that i've found, June 21, 2003
Reviewer: A reader
you have got2get this! it's fast, easy and you'll be speaking Portuguese soon! It has you repeat sounds, and unless you have a short attention span (like me) the quizzes are really easy.

Great tool!!!, September 8, 2002

Speaking a foreign language is all about repeating sounds... this course will have you doing just that!! Get it!!!!!