Understanding spoken Portuguese. Big problem

I have a personal hierarchy of listening in order of difficulty. In the car, I’ll listen to the Shorties on the Podcast and just let the Shorties scroll through, which I find the easiest listening challenge. It doesn’t matter, and probably helps, if you end up listening to the same ones over and over. If I want more of a challenge, I’ll listen to podcasts on RTP, such as 90 Segundos de Ciência, or Antena 2 Ciência; RTP has all sorts of podcasts, and the important thing is to find something that interests you.

When I get home, I’ll watch an RTP soap opera with Portuguese subtitles, either Os Nossos Dias, or O Sábio. I am now hooked on these soap operas, and look forward every evening to watching the next episode, (I suppose it’s my version of watching “The Office,” these have now become my comfort watch). There is also Por Do Sol, with subtitles in Portuguese, a comic parody of telenovelas, which borrows actors from the other two I mentioned.

Most challenging is to watch something without subtitles (sometimes I will turn it of on the telenovelas). Pronunciation seems clearest when it involves a professional speaker, such as Visita Guiada (many of which are subtitled as well) or the news. Then you can take it from there. I watched Barman because it was 6 short episodes

I’ve found this to be a relaxing and enjoyable way to work on comprehension, and I believe it is helping.

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