4 Motivating TED Talks in Portuguese For Polishing Your Language Skills
Have you ever watched TED talks? If you have, did you find them useful and amusing?
7 minute read
Learning foreign languages has never been easier. With today’s technology and internet access from literally any place on the planet, every home is connected to the rest of the world, using PC or different mobile devices.
All around the world, more and more people use their smartphones for learning languages even if they still have access to classrooms.
And, if you want to learn Portuguese online for free, you are only a click away.
Whether you’ve decided to learn Portuguese because of your career or personal reasons, you will be delighted to hear that there are many resources to help you learn Portuguese for free.
How will you know which of the recourses for learning Portuguese are useful?
Which way can they help you start speaking Portuguese besides Portuguese tutors?
Apart from amusing Portuguese podcasts or movies, we will show you some other fun and yet quite useful recourses to learn Portuguese for free.
We are so lucky to live in this era because we have access to literally any language-learning resource, but we also have the privilege to learn the way we want to. So, keep on reading and find out some of the outstanding resources to learn Portuguese for free.
Portuguese For Beginners
Don’t let anyone convince you that learning a new language from zero is impossible and tedious. The following websites will prove you otherwise.
IE Languages
The IE Languages website is perfect for students to want to learn Brazilian Portuguese. The entire course for beginners is divided into two parts called Portuguese I and Portuguese II. One course includes 20 lessons.
Portuguese I is created for complete beginners. Topics are divided so that beginners can learn the alphabet, pronunciation, basic phrases, numbers, colors, and many other topics related to the elementary level of proficiency.
Portuguese II consists of little advanced parts of the beginner’s level, such as the present and future tense of regular and irregular verbs, verbs to come and to go, countries and nationalities, etc.
If you have a limited time to dedicate to learning Portuguese, this website is the right choice for you. An audio file follows every lesson and the vocabulary is read by a native Portuguese speaker. The authors of the website had in mind that this is a course for beginners, so you can find an English translation after every lesson, as well as short explanations, such as tips or information about Brazil at the end of the lesson.
LingoHut
For those who want to start learning Portuguese from scratch but don’t have much time to dedicate to it, this website is ideal. Many different topics are covered within 109 lessons.
Before every lesson, first, you have to learn the vocabulary. You are being introduced to the words and phrases used in the lesson and then repeated several times slowly to remember them.
The next step are flashcards. It is widely-known that flashcards are one of the most efficient tools that can help you in the learning process. Therefore, you memorize the vocabulary with flashcards.
The last part is the most exciting. You play games, four different games to be precise; a matching game, tic-tac-toe, a concentration game, and a listening game.
As you can notice, each lesson is divided into three parts that make you memorize all the words in a fun way. Lessons don’t take long, so you’ll need around 20 to 30 minutes to complete one lesson.
Mondly
Before signing up, you have to choose the language you speak and the language you want to learn. You have an option to choose between European or Brazilian Portuguese lessons. You also have to choose between beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. Once you chose, you are ready to start learning.
Six lessons from this website are free to use. You can learn the basic words and expressions, such as saying hello and goodbye, asking for the name, or talking about colors.
Under the Conversation section, you can record yourself repeating what the program tells you. This way, you practice pronouncing phrases and expressions from the lessons.
There is a Chatbox available, too. The bot asks you something and gives you the possible answers. Your task is to try to memorize as much as you can.
Everything is translated into English, so you can always check for the English explanations to make sure that you’ve understood it right.
Free Resources For Intermediate Students
When you reach an intermediate level of proficiency, you are half on the way to fluency.
In the following lines, you can find some free resources ideal for intermediate students.
Camões
It is divided into four main sections: A falar (Let’s talk), A ouvir (Let’s listen), A ler (Let’s read), and A brincar (Let’s play).
A falar part includes everything you need to start with your speaking skills.
The section is divided into three parts: pronunciation where you learn European Portuguese pronunciation, episodes with RTP program that considers errors and questions students have, and a conversation guide divided into different topics and translated to English and French.
A ouvir part is focused on helping you improve your listening skills.
This part is divided into three groups: for beginners, intermediate, and advanced language learners.
Beginners practice numbers and words, while intermediate Portuguese students listen to dialogues and answer whether statements are true or false.
As for advanced learners, they listen to short stories and do exercises.
If you want to learn to improve your reading skills and build your vocabulary with many words and expressions, A ler part consists of many stories from the short to the really long ones. After reading, you have exercises to do about the chapters you’ve read.
The last but not the least, A brincar, includes entertaining games divided by levels. It is perfect when you want to take a break from learning.
Learn Portuguese With Rafa
Here’s another website that is ideal for those who want to learn Portuguese fast.
On the site, you can find practically anything related to Portuguese.
When entering the site, you can find all the information you need on the left side of the home page, such as Brazilian culture, Portuguese words, word order, traditional recipes, and many more.
The creator of the site, Rafa, was thinking about everything. Whether you want to build your vocabulary, practice listening, and reading skills, or simply forget about learning and have fun while reading about culture or traditional recipes, everything is in one place.
Free Portuguese Resources For Advanced Students
Only a few steps and you will be there. Your path to fluency will pay off.
With these resources, you may speed things a little bit.
Conta me Tudo
When it comes to grammar, writing, or reading skills, advanced Portuguese learners are masters. They mainly tend to improve and reach out the so-wanted fluency is by upgrading their vocabulary by listening or reading complex things.
Conta me tudo is a podcast, which contains more than 130 episodes in Portuguese.
The host, David, every week, talks about different things that happen in real life and worldwide.
Episodes aren’t linked, so each episode can be listened to without knowing the previous one.
What is fascinating is that David talks about real people or people that are, for some reason, substantial. Stories about motherhood, journalism, or WCs are colored with humor.
After listening to several episodes, you will want to meet David and continue following his fascinating stories.
Zig Zag
Everyone loves cartoons, even the adults.
Besides its exciting, optimistic, and colorful tone, it is a great way to learn Portuguese, too.
Since advanced students mainly focus on upgrading their vocabulary, this site is worth visiting.
It is suitable for advanced students because everything is in Portuguese.
Cartoons help you easily understand the context even if you don’t understand the phrases quite well.
Besides cartoons, you can find games to play and to listen to the radio.
So, don’t miss the chance to feel like a kid again, and take a glance at the site.
Final Thoughts
Learning Portuguese doesn’t have to cost you a fortune. On the contrary, you can learn the language totally free!
And what’s even better is that there are many more resources and excellent methods to help you reach your goal. You don’t even have to leave the house.
However, remember that the aim of learning Portuguese is to be able to speak to other people. So, as much as you improve your listening, writing, or reading skills, it is essential to practice speaking skills with real people.
Portuguese tutors can help you anytime you want to practice the language and learn something more because you always have to learn something new.
