Portuguese TV programs

Your Guide to Portugal Travel & Leisure
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Anyone have any good suggestions for Portuguese TV programs to watch which will help improve comprehension?

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This is pretty tough because Portugal is one of the countries in Europe that doesn’t frequently have subtitles available for TV programs.

That said, RTP Play has some shows which do have subtitles available. My favorite in terms of the level of dialogue being understandable is O Sábio, but the show itself is honestly pretty terrible (sorry if you like telenovelas – not a fan myself!). That said, if you want a lot of content, this is a treasure trove as they have 364 episodes available!

There’s a funny political comedy called Os Boys which also has subtitles, though the dialogue is much more difficult and there isn’t nearly as much content.

You can find some children’s TV shows on Netflix dubbed into European Portuguese. For example, Spongebob Squarepants is available on Netflix. The Portuguese do not like dubbing content aimed at adult audiences so you will typically only find children’s shows this way.

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I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I have watched many episodes of an animated children’s show on Netflix called “Charlie’s Colorforms City” dubbed in European Portuguese. (It’s a Canadian show, but you can change the language to Portuguese.) It’s very simple and repetitive, so it’s good for beginners. You can always tell from context what the characters are talking about, so you don’t need subtitles. Unlike some children’s shows, the language seems fairly natural instead of just being like “ohhhh
 ballooooooon
 wowww
 colors.”

When I’m watching other TV shows in English, I also turn on Portuguese subtitles. It may not help with the listening component, but I can at least get something out of it. Occasionally I will pause and try to repeat back in Portuguese what the character had just said, especially if it’s a phrase I think I would use in real life.

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Thanks for the suggestions. Other people have told me that cartoons are the best option (and the cartoons in Practice Portuguese really help). What I would really like is portuguese programs with portuguese subtitles as that is the support I need to understand the dialog. I tried switching subtitles on when watching Meo, but nothing happened. I used to to this when improving my French and had many happy evenings watching Fort Boyard in French.

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One downside of cartoons is that you don’t get the support of seeing a real person’s mouth, gestures, and facial expressions, and obviously the subject matter is not as relevant to an adult. But they are so much easier to find! I will definitely be on the look out for more Portuguese shows with reliable subtitles.

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I feel like Pixar films are a nice exception, since they seem to make them just as enjoyable for adults as for kids. Filmes em portuguĂȘs - #7 by joelrendall

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By the way, at least for those of who you live in Portugal, some Portuguese TV channels have what we call “teletexto”, with subtitles for those who are hearing impaired (or learning Portuguese!). It seems that our modern TV boxes and remotes have made it difficult to access this function, but it can/could be pretty convenient. Anyway, this thread is already full of great ideas :slight_smile:

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Yesss, I was looking into this a while back, and even installed an iOS app hoping I’d be able to follow along with RTP shows etc with subs. But I couldn’t figure it out, since the interface for that thing looks like it was designed in 1991 and I found myself in a loop clicking on things that brought be back to where I started. If any members have figured this out, would LOVE to hear about it!

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Yes, the interface is very, uh
 vintage, but not too difficult to use if you have someone guiding you. I don’t even know if my TV set supports it, I haven’t thought about it in years, hah. I need to check it out.

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Google Live Net TV Apk

this free app allows you to get pretty much Every Portuguese tv station
best to use xyz video player with it

e otimo!

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Its not for a TV, its a phone app (or tablet or PC)

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Yes, would definitely like to know how to get those subtitles to work

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I might ask this in a separate question because I honestly can’t figure out how to get legendas working on my TV here. Ideally I could save them for later and translate (I sort of know how to do this). But the actual process of getting them to even render, nope.

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(On RTP) I used to watch The Voice Portugal” but can no longer do so. It says it can’t be transmitted over the internet :disappointed:. However, I can still watch Linha da Frente. I like the shows that are “live” or close to it.

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It’s not a series, but I very much enjoyed the documentary “Show me Lisbon” on RTP, which is in Portuguese (despite the title) and has Portuguese subtitles available.

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Welcome to the forum, and good recommendation! :slight_smile:

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(I answered this question on the Netflix thread as well, but I thought it would help on this thread too).

I don’t know if you want to invest in a VPN, but I have one and watch The Voice Portugal religiously! I used to be able to watch The Voice without a VPN but then it was blocked. So, I bit the bullet and signed up for one. There are numerous choices and easy to install. I have Express VPN and it runs about 12$/month but there is a discount if you sign up for 6 months and 12 months at a time.

It works for Netflix and Portuguese tv channels. My daughter loves the ability to watch Netflix from other countries because they offer different shows than we have here in the United Stated.

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Acabei de concluir “O SĂĄbio” e estou a procurar uma nova sĂ©rie.
Infelizmente, todos os programas na RTP sĂŁo acompanhados com esta mensagem: “SEM DIREITOS DE TRANSMISSÃO ONLINE” - alguĂ©m pode me ajudar ou sugerir alguns programas que estĂŁo disponĂ­veis (com legendas, de preferĂȘncia)? :thinking:

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Hi All

Can anyone advise on a good PT TV series I can watch for learning with substitutes?

Ideally where it’s general normal speed and ideally a series where it’s not predominantly colloquial and slang ! Maybe I am asking for too much


I am very early intermediate.

Thanks

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@dbuachalla, I merged your post with this related topic, where hopefully someone will come in with good suggestions! Some other useful topics you might want to check: Do anyone know of any Portuguese programs on Netflix? and Filmes em portuguĂȘs