Learning Portuguese - Eu falo um pouco de Portugues

Dr. Paul Pimsleur, I like your method !

Soon enough after I found out that I was headed to Brazil in September for my Corporate Service Corps  deployment, I started looking around for Portuguese lessons. There were no convenient language schools near me, and I have had no success picking up a new language from text books. So I decided to give the "books on tape" method, as relentlessly promoted by Rosetta Stone at every single American airport terminal, a try.

I went to my friendly neighborhood public library and picked up the first (and only) audio CD there that promised to teach me Brazilian Portuguese. Pimsleur's Conversational Brazilian Portuguese came in an impressive box with 8 CDs, each with two roughly half-hour lessons - so 16 lessons in total. I popped the first one in my car CD player, and followed the instructions. Half an hour later, I knew how to say "I speak a little Portuguese" and a few other handy sentences.

 

As I completed my 12th lesson today, I realized that the Pimsleur approach, which stresses conversational skills, repetition and long-term memory, works beautifully for me. I am no stranger to languages - I speak 6 with some degree of fluency, and learned the most recent one (Danish) in my early 30s. I have also attended many French and German lessons, without anything sticking to my memory. So what worked with Pimsleur ? First of all, the complete absence of text books and any written stuff helped me concentrate on learning how to speak. The use of everyday situations and conversations from the very beginning helped. Repetition of words and sentences, with a frequency that tapered down as the lessons progressed, helped as well.

All told, I can now order a beer ("eu quero uma cerveja"),  ask directions to the bathroom ("onde fica o banheiro ? ") and buy things ("comprar coisas"). This won't get me very far in Brazil, I know, but hey, its a good start !

#ibmcsc brazil