A practical reference guide to the most important aspects of modern European and Brazilian Portuguese, it presents a fresh and accessible description of the language combining and function-based grammar.
This book presents the elements of everyday Portuguese, stressing European Portuguese, but also giving information on Brazilian Portuguese. Covering grammatical topics, vocabulary, and practice sentence material, this book is a solid, well-organized approach to Portuguese that anyone interested in the language will find highly useful. Pronunciation is very clearly explained first, and it is followed by twenty-five well-proportioned, progressive lessons that cover all the main points of contemporary grammar: gender, present indicative, formation of plural, agreement and position of adjectives, definite and indefinite article, use of ser and estar, commands, personal pronouns, imperfect indicative, reflexive pronouns and reflexive verbs, present subjunctive, future and imperfect subjunctive, conditional, negatives, infinitive, pluperfect and perfect indicative, and much more. An Appendix gives conjugations of regular verbs, orthographic-changing verbs, radical-changing verbs, and irregular verbs, while a Portuguese-English Vocabulary, an English-Portuguese Vocabulary, and an Index complete the book. This book is suitable for self-study outside of class, for refresher, and for reference. It is particularly useful as a supplement to phrase and conversational study.
An essential, comprehensive guide for all who are interested in learning the Portuguese language and mastering its complexities, Portuguese: A Reference Manual supplements the phonetic and grammatical explanations offered in basic textbooks. While the Manual focuses on Brazilian Portuguese, it incorporates European Portuguese variants and thus provides a more complete description of the language. Accessible to non-linguists and novice language learners, as well as informative for instructors of Portuguese and specialists in other languages, this guide incorporates the Orthographic Accord (in effect since 2009–2010), which attempts to standardize Portuguese orthography. The Manual reflects the language as it is currently taught at both the undergraduate and graduate levels by providing detailed explanations of the sound and writing systems and the grammar of the principal Portuguese dialects. A reference guide rather than a textbook, the Manual also provides extensive verb charts, as well as comparisons of Portuguese with English and Spanish.
The book consists of Elementary and Pre-intermediate courses with parallel Portuguese-English texts. The author maintains learners' motivation with funny stories about real life situations such as meeting people, studying, job searches, working etc. The ALARM Method utilize natural human ability to remember words used in texts repeatedly and systematically. Each sentence was composed only with words explained in previous chapters. The second and the following chapters of the Elementary course have only about 30 new words each. The book is equipped with the audio tracks. The address of the home page of the book on the Internet, where audio files are available for listening and downloading, is listed at the beginning of the book on the copyright page.
"Olly's top-notch language-learning insights are right in line with the best of what we know from neuroscience and cognitive psychology about how to learn effectively. I love his work - and you will too!" - Barbara Oakley, PhD, Author of New York Times bestseller A Mind for Numbers An unmissable collection of eight unconventional and captivating short stories for young adult and adult learners of Brazilian Portuguese. Short Stories in Brazilian Portuguese for Beginners has been written especially for students from high-beginner to low-intermediate level, designed to give a sense of achievement, a feeling of progress and most importantly - enjoyment! Mapped to A2-B1 on the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for languages, these eight captivating stories are designed to give you a sense of achievement and a feeling of progress when reading. What does this book give you? - Eight stories in a variety of exciting genres, from science fiction and crime to history and thriller - making reading fun, while you learn a wide range of new vocabulary - Controlled language at your level to help you progress confidently - Realistic spoken dialogues, to help you learn conversational expressions and improve your speaking ability - Accessible grammar so you learn new structures naturally, in a stress-free way - Beautiful illustrations accompanying each story, to set the scene and support your understanding - Pleasure! Research shows that if you're enjoying reading in a foreign language, you won't experience the usual feelings of frustration - 'It's too hard!' 'I don't understand!' Carefully curated to make learning a new language easy, these stories include key features that will support and consolidate your progress, including: - A glossary for bolded words in each chapter - Full plot summary - A bilingual word list - Comprehension questions after each chapter. As a result, you will be able to focus on enjoying reading, delighting in your improved range of vocabulary and grasp of the language, without ever feeling overwhelmed. From science fiction to fantasy, to crime and thrillers, Short Stories in Brazilian Portuguese for Beginners will make learning Brazilian Portuguese easy and enjoyable.
The Way of The Linguist, A language learning odyssey. It is now a cliché that the world is a smaller place. We think nothing of jumping on a plane to travel to another country or continent. The most exotic locations are now destinations for mass tourism. Small business people are dealing across frontiers and language barriers like never before. The Internet brings different languages and cultures to our finger-tips. English, the hybrid language of an island at the western extremity of Europe seems to have an unrivalled position as an international medium of communication. But historically periods of cultural and economic domination have never lasted forever. Do we not lose something by relying on the wide spread use of English rather than discovering other languages and cultures? As citizens of this shrunken world, would we not be better off if we were able to speak a few languages other than our own? The answer is obviously yes. Certainly Steve Kaufmann thinks so, and in his busy life as a diplomat and businessman he managed to learn to speak nine languages fluently and observe first hand some of the dominant cultures of Europe and Asia. Why do not more people do the same? In his book The Way of The Linguist, A language learning odyssey, Steve offers some answers. Steve feels anyone can learn a language if they want to. He points out some of the obstacles that hold people back. Drawing on his adventures in Europe and Asia, as a student and businessman, he describes the rewards that come from knowing languages. He relates his evolution as a language learner, abroad and back in his native Canada and explains the kind of attitude that will enable others to achieve second language fluency. Many people have taken on the challenge of language learning but have been frustrated by their lack of success. This book offers detailed advice on the kind of study practices that will achieve language breakthroughs. Steve has developed a language learning system available online at: www.thelinguist.com.
This book is a study companion written in plain English, which explains the things that you need to know to be successful in learning Portuguese. No prior grammatical knowledge is assumed, and technical terms are explained clearly and progressively. Exercises are provided to help you consolidate what you have learned and build your Portuguese vocabulary. Although the main focus is on European Portuguese, Brazilian alternatives are also given. Among the many things covered in this book: How do you pronounce words in Portuguese? What do all those funny little squiggles mean? What exactly are verbs, adjectives, prepositions, and pronouns? How do you know when to use 'ser' and when to use 'estar'? How do you use the personal infinitive? How does the subjunctive work? If you don't know your diacritic from your diphthong, you've come to the right place!