I’ve always been drawn to the Portuguese language because of it’s musicality and richness, and mostly because it connects me to a vibrant community of speakers. I wanted to learn Portuguese not just for the language, but to engage with people, share expressions, and feel part of a culture that’s full of warmth and expression. It’s hard to have that here in the US and I have a big time struggling with connecting with those out here, ever since I was a child. Being part of a community where I can keep practice, learn, and connect is really inspiring for me. A community that keeps me motivated
Traveling to Portugal.this summer. My native language is Spanish, so I figured Portuguese was similar enougb that it would be easier to learn than other languages. The grammar is very similar, but the sounds?!! Sooooo many phonemes!!
I used Duolingo at first That was mistake No. 1. It was Brazilian Portuguese, as many of you may know. The main effect was that I became expert at telling when someone was from that continent. Then, I used preply.com - they give you 1-1 lessons. I had a tutor that constantly missed her lessons, so in the end, I cancelled the lessons Then, I selected a tutor who was very good (technically) but eventually gave up on me as a hopeless case. I should say at this point that I have some problem with my hearing which is currently unresolved, but soon, I hope, will be. I was very discouraged by this experience, and have been looking round for alternative methods. As a result, I stumbled on Practice Portuguese. I must admit the tutor who rejected me on Preply may have had a point. I think I was using her more as a way of delaying doing the necessary hard work to learn a language. In desperation, I returned to Duolingo, which at least is fun, and I think that I am familiar enough with the gramatical and pronunciation differences to ignore them. As a result, I have been living in Portugal for 8 or 9 years and, although my vocabulary is reasonably “good”, when somebody speaks to me in Portuguese I tend to panic. I recently acquired a cleaner who doesn’t speak any English and discovered that I was able to have a rudimentary communication with her. Which I take intense satisfaction from, but ,from her point of view, I rarely talk to her.So, I have a forlorn hope that my hearing difficulties will soon be sorted out and that I can make real progress with Practice Portuguese
I have a question: according to my usual method of understanding the mechanics of this forum, my post has been “liked” approximately 483 times. Is this possible? Or am I missing the understanding of how this forum operates? To give an example - when I clicked “Top Replies” the founder had replied “boa pergunta” but I never wrote a question, only statements. Further down in the replies was someone called Rui, but I couldn’t make any sense se of his reply. Am I missing something? Maybe the “Top Answers” are not to my post, and the “likes” aren’t either. I am just trying to understand the mechanics of the system… very puzzled…
@noel , welcome and thanks for sharing your Portuguese journey with us!
What you see with the likes and top replies is a general overview of this thread, where multiple people have already posted or somehow participated (e.g. by reacting with likes) before you. You can see the amount of likes on an individual post on the lower right corner of the respective post, next to the heart icon.
I contacted my bank twice and the first time I saw “pending” next to the payment Then I contacted them by phone and they said the payment had gone through. So, which is true? When I click on “flashcards” I eventually get a screen asking me to become a Premium Member. Am I one or not, and where do you verify your standard of membership? I clicked on the N for Noel icon at the top, and on my profile icon and was expecting to see somewhere whether I was ‘premium” or not
@noel there may be some kind of issue with your payment. In order for our team to solve it as soon as possible, could you please follow this link and fill out the contact form?: Contact Us | Practice Portuguese
This will send a ticket straight to our internal support channel.
I moved to Portugal with my husband around a year and a half ago. He’s Portuguese which has been great as it’s obviously helped me navigate things. But I miss being able to chat to neighbours etc so I really want to learn. I’ve been learning with an online tutor for a year now and it’s going well but my confidence when speaking is terrible so I don’t speak very often still.
