For today’s interactive feature, I want to know if any US-based readers are taking formal Portuguese classes, and what you think about the classes.
The question is: do you take a Portuguese class at a language school or with a private tutor? Is it helpful? Is it worth the time and money?
Though I’ve never taken a class here in the US, I did take a class at Casa do Brasil in Buenos Aires, a language school dedicated entirely to the study of Brazilian Portuguese. The price was reasonable, since it was in pesos, which have a great exchange rate to the US dollar, though one semester wasn’t enough to make me feel confident about my language skills. Living in Brazil and being immersed in the language was the real key to becoming fluent.
What about you?
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I have taken classes in Portuguese at a small Southern California chain of language schools called “Language Door”. I thought it was worth it (8 weeks, one night a week, for around $200) because even though they were group classes, I never had more than three other students in my classes, and often fewer. The teacher was a native Brazilian who worked hard to get us speaking and understanding, hence conversing, from the beginning.
While I wouldn’t say it led to fluency, it was certainly a great addition to the Pimsleur CDs that I was using as well to study with. Repeating after CDs is good, but conversing is better.
In the future I am hoping to study college-level Portuguese as part of my Intercultural communication cirriculum, although the only school here in San Diego which offers it is San Diego State, which is a bit much of a drive for me and hard to get into. However, I am hoping to be able to cross-enroll there while registered at another school.
Rachel, I would love your recommendations for Portuguese languages schools in Rio or Salvador?
I don’t know about Salvador, but there are classes at Ibeu (an English school), and a lot of the English schools, as well as several universities, like PUC & UFF, though I haven’t heard about any particularly great course.
I did buy the Rosetta Stone set to learn to speak Portuguese, and will begin in home lessons this summer. The Rosetta Stone series is high quality but pricey. There are some others available, too, at: http://astore.amazon.com/portugueseproducts-20
So far I’ve been trying to use the Rosetta Stone but lack the patience. I have not been successful in finding any Brazilian Portuguese classes near me in Cleveland OH. My husband is a Carioca and all that I know I’ve learned from him. My sister in law said that in Rio there is a very affordable popular language school and the class that meets 3x a week. Not sure of the name though. What I noticed was the “immersion” and necessity really helped accelerate my Portuguese speaking when I was in Brazil for 3 weeks–it just felt so much more natural and less uncomfortable to try to talk there vs. here. I can’t wait to get back.
I take college-level Portuguese at the University of Tennessee, and I love it. Although I already knew quite a bit of the language before I started the first class, (due to self-teaching/staying in Rio for 5 weeks) I found the formal class setting to be very helpful. All of the Portuguese teachers at UT are native Brazilians, and they are really interested in helping their students to learn the language. Although I continue to self-teach outside of class, I felt that the beginning levels of classes helped to fine tune what I already knew. I’ll be taking a Portuguese conversation and composition class in the fall, and I am really looking forward to it. In my opinion, formal classes are the next best thing to immersion.
Hi. I’ve got no idea of Portuguese courses (not even here in Rio), but I found in internet some interesting ways to keep in touch with native speakers of foreign languages.
I think it’s quite interesting the e-Tandem method. [Eu acho que o método do e-Tandem é bem interessante.]
It basically this: [é basicamente assim:]
* you learn the language X and you are a native speaker of the language Y. [você aprende a língua X e sua língua nativa é a Y];
* So, you change emails with a person that is a native speaker of the language Y, and that is learning the language X [então, você troca emails com uma pessoa nativa da língua Y, e que está aprendendo a língua X];
* The idea is that you “teach” your penpal your language, while he/she “teaches” you his/her language [a ideia é que você ensina sua língua para o seu correspondente, enquanto ele(a) te ensina a dele(a)].
I’ve got a e-Tandem pen-pal. She writes part of the email in Portuguese and part in German (she is German), and I write part of the emails in Portuguese and try to write the other part in German. [Eu tenho uma correspondente e-Tandem. Ela escreve parte do email em português e parte em alemão (ela é alemã), e eu escrevo parte dos emails em português e tento escrever a outra parte em alemão.]
When she replies my emails, she keeps what I wrote at the end of her email and corrects anything in German that is wrong. And I do the same to her. [Quando ela retorna os meus emails, ela mantém o que eu escrevi no final do seu email e corrige qualquer coisa em alemão que eu tenha escrito errado].
For those who are [or is???] interested, it’s at http://www.slf.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/etandem/etindex-en.html
There’s also http://www.livemocha.com . Quite nice to keep in touch with native speakers.
I have taken Portuguese classes at the City University of New York Graduate Center. I like to use software and websites to supplement what I learn in class, but I wouldn’t be able to focus without a weekly class to attend. Also, having a real teacher who can explain things is a big help.
This is for Ty – I have taken classes at a language school in Salvador called Dialogo. Their website is http://www.portuguese-in-brazil.eu/eng/index.cfm They are also on facebook.
I went in 2006 for three weeks and 2008 for two. They have a homestay option, where you live with a family – that was wonderful. You can also stay in a hotel. They have group classes in the morning (the groups are very small) and you can take additional “cultural” classes (dance, music, cooking, capoeira) or go on excursions (museums, etc). You can also have intensive one-on-one lessons – I never did that.
The other place I’ve had my language training is here. I’m a teacher, and I work in a district that has a lot of ESOL students, and my school in particular has a lot of Brazilians. My district provides language classes. There are a couple of us who have continued to study past the first couple classes, and so our instructor is very good about tailoring our lessons for us. I’m very lucky.
Carol – I recently started using live mocha, and I love it – I recommend it for people looking to communicate with native speakers.
Thanks Rachel and Faye! I guess I’m right on target as I was looking at Dialogo in Salvador or IBEU in Rio. Now I just have to decide which city. Thanks for the input!
I have been speaking colloquial Brazilian Portuguese for 10 years with the communities in Massachusetts and am considered fluent by many, though will be taking my first college level courses at UMASS-Dartmouth, Center for Portuguese Studies this summer. I hope to improve my grammar as well as improve writing. I may decide to pursue a Masters. Brown University, University of Texas-Austin, as well as Middlebury College (VT) all offer some language courses if not degrees related to the study of Portuguese.
Alô, Rachel, tudo bem? Beleza, acordo!
Learning Portuguese with a teacher is a challenge in Texas. Currently I live in Houston, a city of more than 4 million with a Brazilian consulate. Still, you must make a great effort to study Portuguese here. In the past two years I have had FIVE language teachers. The first teacher was maravilhosa, at Rice Univ., from São Paulo. That course did not continue, very disappointing in the follow-up. I had another teacher there who was OK but Colombian not Brazilian at Rice.
Rice does not have adult education for Portuguese anymore, they don’t support it. Univ. of Houston nada. I have met lots of people, you can if you make the effort. Now I have a wonderful teacher, Carioca, with a solid teaching method at the Brazilian Arts Foundation in Houston. She has tutored me too.
I adore Portuguese. I adore a Lusofonia. I adore especially Brasil, meus amigos no Brasil, tudo.
If there is a way, you will find it. On the Internet, there are many resources, find them, follow your bliss em português.
Start with Brazilpod at the University of Texas at Austin.
http://tltc.la.utexas.edu/brazilpod/index.php
Boa sorte, a gente!
Hello to you,
I teach Brazilian Portuguese – Language and Culture in private classes. The courses are flexible and custom designed to meet each student schedule and objectives.
I am from Sao Paulo,br and live close to Atlanta, GA