This site contains both European and Brazilian Portuguese instruction. It also has a little bit about culture, grammar and some words and phrases. One great thing about the site, is that it teaches you how to read words, by teaching you rules of stress and accents.
Learn Portuguese With Rafa
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Mi Vida Loca
BBC's Mi Vida Loca is an interactive program that teaches you Spanish. The story comes to life and you are a part of it. You get to Madrid and are going to stay at a friend's house, while she is away, but instead of finding an empty house, you meet Merche, the owner's sister. Although at first you're off to a rocky start, she welcomes you and invites you out for food and show's you around. This game is very fun and the storyline is addicting. The camera is in first person point of view, so it's almost as if you're strolling along the streets of Madrid. The sights are amazing and as you walk along the streets, you learn a little bit about Spain's history, geography and culture. You have a language book with you, which contains a guide who teaches you grammar and the meanings of different phrases. At the end of the course, there is also a test to take to show how much you have learned. You learn greetings, how to buy metro tickets, food, and clothes and even how to ask for directions. This program can teach you how to survive in Spain without boring recitation or bookwork and the best part is that it's free. Check it out at http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/mividaloca/
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Learning Portuguese for Spanish Speakers
Here is a great page for converting Spanish to Portuguese: http://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/rules.html
I have also found reading in Portuguese to be be very easy, since I already know Spanish. I came across a very old book at the library entitled An Invitation To Portuguese, by Margarita Madrigal. This book was extremely easy to read, and also very helpful. It had themed chapters that taught you vocabulary words that were easily recognizable either by the context and/or from knowing Spanish. It also included grammar help and a short story at the end of the book. If you know other romance languages and you want to learn another language in that family, finding a book of this type will be very helpful, since you'll be able to understand a lot from the beginning, and eventually understand the patterns of the language.
I have also found reading in Portuguese to be be very easy, since I already know Spanish. I came across a very old book at the library entitled An Invitation To Portuguese, by Margarita Madrigal. This book was extremely easy to read, and also very helpful. It had themed chapters that taught you vocabulary words that were easily recognizable either by the context and/or from knowing Spanish. It also included grammar help and a short story at the end of the book. If you know other romance languages and you want to learn another language in that family, finding a book of this type will be very helpful, since you'll be able to understand a lot from the beginning, and eventually understand the patterns of the language.
Learning Vocabulary
Although learning vocabulary can be quite monotonous, you can make it interesting by choosing words you want to learn and you can also make your efforts more effective by grouping words together. You can create a theme each week, such as food, clothes, politics, society, etc. This will help you to create a bank of words that you can use for certain conversation topics, and it will also help you to reinforce what you're learning, since many of the words will be similar.
Another thing to try, is to memorize words for objects around your house. Pick a room in your house and memorize the room name, and the objects in it, such as living room, TV, sofa, chair, table, etc.
You can also create a list of cognates and learn those quickly. They even have resources online, like this list of Spanish-English cognates at Latin American Links.
Learning words that are already used in English from your target language is also an easy way to pick up new words that you might not have even realized, such as these words from French: rendez-vous, fait accomli and hors d'oeuvre.
The best way to learn words is to use them, so make your efforts count by practicing with a friend. Have a conversation where you try to use the new vocabulary words you're learning. It might seem silly, at first, but that can actually work in your favor. The more exaggerated your expressions or gestures are, the more memorable the conversation will be, along with the new words in it.
Another thing to try, is to memorize words for objects around your house. Pick a room in your house and memorize the room name, and the objects in it, such as living room, TV, sofa, chair, table, etc.
You can also create a list of cognates and learn those quickly. They even have resources online, like this list of Spanish-English cognates at Latin American Links.
Learning words that are already used in English from your target language is also an easy way to pick up new words that you might not have even realized, such as these words from French: rendez-vous, fait accomli and hors d'oeuvre.
The best way to learn words is to use them, so make your efforts count by practicing with a friend. Have a conversation where you try to use the new vocabulary words you're learning. It might seem silly, at first, but that can actually work in your favor. The more exaggerated your expressions or gestures are, the more memorable the conversation will be, along with the new words in it.
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