I studied Spanish for 6 years when I was younger and had many native Spanish-speaking friends so it was easy to practice. I miss the intellectual challenge of conversing in another language. Then I studied French in college, and went to visit my daughter when she was living in France and was too intimidated to speak any French and felt so frustrated. Now that my daughter lives in Portugal and I plan on visiting her as soon as I possibly can, I want to make sure that I at least am able to understand some of what is being said and try to attempt to say at least some basic things in Portuguese. Then, after I began learning on PP, I realized how many similarities there are between Spanish/French and Portuguese, and I started getting the hang of it relatively easily, so that has motivated me to learn more and more. I love the language and I love the site!!!
Olá todos, eu não gostei nada de português, prefería espanhol, francês e italiano por o som e a pronúncia. Mas um amigo português insistía que português também era uma língua bonita e um dia eu aprendí algumas frases como sorpresa para ele. Desde então estou a estudar português! Comecei com Duolingo até que me pareceu chato, depois com Assimil e agora com PP (o melhor método!). Uma vez por semana encontro-me com um Português quem quer aprender alemão (moro em/na? Suíça) para falar meia ora português e meia ora alemão.
I have been in Porto and the north of Portugal on my own for two weeks a couple of years ago in order to see what I could understand in real life: NOTHING, at least the first two days. I was shocked and wanted to go home immediately. 
But slowly I could distinguish words and add the missing vowels in spoken Portuguese and got to like the language 
Since then I returned twice with my husband and I dream of going back on my own, if possible to stay with a family or help somewhere, so that I could improve my knowledge of this beautiful language.
Wow, you didn’t butcher it at all. I took the liberty of correcting some of it, just to help. Bem-vindo ao fórum e boa sorte com o teu estudo do português, que parece estar a correr muito bem!
@csflutist, I agree that good knowledge of Spanish, French or Italian can help make more sense out of Portuguese. At the same time, the number of false friends across all these languages increases exponentially! It can make for some very funny situations. Thank you for your kind words about our website, by the way!
@barbaraschenk, é muito bom poderes praticar com um falante nativo e conversar com ele! Acredito que vai ajudar a acelerar muito o teu progresso. A dificuldade em entender as pessoas no Porto e no restante norte pode ser também por causa das diferenças de sotaque e vocabulário (não sei qual será a pronúncia do teu parceiro de estudo), mas com o tempo, é possível habituares-te a qualquer pronúncia, desde que saibas com o que contar 
Bem vinda!
Thanks, that was helpful, and I have to admit that seeing the mouth really makes a difference.
I am still struggling on the quizzes though to tell the difference between the two even when I use the tortoise mode, perhaps it’s age and my hearing not as sharp as when I was younger. 
Ah, don’t put yourself down. It really is a struggle for many people, regardless of age!
Well, it is a fair question.
I visit friends in Portugal from time to time, so I feel it is necessary to be able to speak a little. It is wrong to expect all to speak English or any other language I know.
Portuguese are friendly people. I genuinely like them, but they are not particularly helpful in CORRECTING my wrong usage! So I have to make the extra effort myself.
I read quite a little Portuguese, but don;t understand it all. Pronunciation is not so hard. I just do it, right or wrong. It is either understood or not!
Writing Portuguese is not going to work well, as sentence structure is not taught. Rules are very elusive. One time sentence structure goes one way, another time another way, and usually there does not seem to be any logic there!
As far as UNDERSTANDING the spoken word is concerned, I do not understand the language at all. It is a very slurred language, spoken very rapidly, so unless it is spoken CLEARLY, I cannot comprehend it with any degree of satisfaction. Too many words sound like so many others, that confusion runs rampant.
But it is a challenge, and in spite of the difficulties, I am learning a little.
Thanks for sharing, @hscharnhorst, and welcome!
Ah, yes, this might happen, maybe because they feel that it wouldn’t be polite or that it could embarrass you. It might even be due to laziness. Maybe if you make it clear that you welcome any corrections because you really want to learn the language, they’ll help you out more.
I like this. At some point, we just have to go for it!
You are right, Joseph. One just has to try, regardless of the outcome. Personally I do not take offence. That is a bad way to go in anything. If one cannot accept legit criticism, it is hard to progress! So please correct anything I write. It is just fine! Thanks for replying.
Sure, @hscharnhorst, if I find you dabbling in Portuguese in your future posts, I’ll try to correct whatever’s necessary. I’ve been doing it for other members as well and I think everyone benefits 
Obrigado, Joseph. Eu tanto!
I did mean to say “I try!”
I find it very hard to use the right forms, and it is pretty much impossible. That’s why I seldom WRITE in Portuguese! Thanks for figuring it out for me!
Harald
No problem! Here to help
A couple of years ago I went to Lisbon to present a paper I’d written at an education conference. I learned some basic Portuguese phrases and some verbs/tenses that I thought were useful. I muddled through at stores and restaurants;) I fell in love with Lisboa and wanted to learn Português knowing that I would return. I will be landing in Lisboa in 8 days!!! I’m very excited to visit again. While I’m there, I’m taking an intensive language course.
Welcome, @Paige, both to the forum and (soon) to Lisboa! Hopefully, the weather forecast will be more promising by the time you land. After a few extra warm and sunny days, seems that rain is back this week 
Hi, Pat here, I’m a retired teacher of French and love languages, Portuguese intrigues me, it sounds attractive and yet it frustrates me. My French is good and i have achieved (on rare occasions) the Gold standard of French natives not realising I wasn’t french. My Portuguese is minimal but I’d like to change that.
Brief biographical details, an Irishman living in Morpeth, Nortumberland.
Welcome, @patmulholland!
This really is an accomplishment, congratulations. Is your knowledge of French helping you learn Portuguese faster/better?
Sim Joseph, In 2 obvious ways; numbers like ‘onze’, ‘quinze’ many words are so obvious in their french connections. Secondly, I know how a language works, tenses, constructions etc.
I wrote to Joel from Albufeira, it is such fun feeling, hearing Portuguese, I plan to keep going , however, the Gold Standard may be unattainable.
Pat
We bought a holiday home on the Algarve a few years ago and try to spend as long as we can there. Over the last few years I have really wanted to learn the language. One of the problems though is that on the Algarve there are very few people you come across who don’t speak English - and enjoy practising their English on us. Even when I try to order in Portuguese in restaurants they reply to me in English.
Travelling around the country I have tried to get by in Lisbon, Porto etc but would like to be able to try my novice level Portuguese out more near our home.
Learning has been tricky since, as many people have commented, many online resources are Brazilian Portuguese not European. I found PP a couple of years ago now and have found it my favourite learning resource. Thank you for all your efforts.
Very true! A lot of similar, if not identical, words and sentence structures Don’t worry about the gold standard, though, just make as much progress as you can.
@DianeS, English is like the Algarve’s second unofficial language. Don’t hesitate to insist on speaking Portuguese, if you need the practice. Easier said than done, I know… Also, thank you for your kind words!