Score:
1 2 3 4 5 6 (7) 8 9 10
“Four outta ten!”
Pros:
a ton of Portuguese vocabulary arranged by theme; colorful, glossy presentation full of images; each image corresponds to vocabulary words on the same page; topical arrangement (categories and subcategories) works perfectly and reflects language use in everyday life; precise selection of useful words; questions [...]
Jun
9
2010
9
2010
Oxford Picture Dictionary English/Brazilian Portuguese
Apr
20
2010
20
2010
Semantica Brazilian Portuguese Level 1
Semantica Method: Brazilian Portuguese is a conversational language course divided into 36 lessons. Uniquely, the “lessons” are all videos spread across 2 DVDs. The learning process involves watching a video series of filmed conversations and interactions between Brazilian Portuguese speakers. Like many audio methods, Semantica’s program doesn’t involve written exercises or significant amounts of reading. [...]
Mar
25
2010
25
2010
Pois não: Brazilian Portuguese Course for Spanish Speakers
In Pois não, Antônio Simões delivers a Portuguese course with a “basic reference grammar”. It’s different from your typical Portuguese course, as it targets learners who already speak Spanish. Although there are great differences between Spanish and Portuguese, the author capitalizes on the mass of similarities between these two Ibero-Italic languages to speed up the [...]
Feb
16
2010
16
2010
Instant Brazilian Portuguese Vocabulary Builder by Tom Means
Score:
1 2 3 (4) 5 6 7 8 9 10
“Four outta ten!”
Pros:
good exercises ask you to make word associations in Portuguese rather than in translation; good focus on Brazilian use & examples; phrases for certain words, and meaning hints for trickier words; audio tracks read select vocabulary & exercises out loud; helps students make connections [...]
Jan
26
2010
26
2010
Talking Brazilian: A Brazilian Portugese Pronunciation Workbook by Mario Perini
Talking Brazilian is a text book with 2 audio CDs by Mário Perini. The book aims to help learners pronounce, speak and read Brazilian Portuguese with native confidence. Like , this same author’s treatment of grammar, Talking Brazilian introduces students to the way Portuguese is actually spoken in Brazil instead of the standard formal language [...]
Jan
7
2010
7
2010
Modern Portuguese: A Reference Grammar by Mario Perini
Score:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 (9) 10
“Nine outta ten!”
Pros:
solid treatment of huge range of grammar and sentence structure topics; plenty of examples of real-life Brazilian Portuguese in use; author focuses on grammar as it’s used by native speakers in Brazil, unlike the standard language of even Brazilian Portuguese textbooks; well organized; great [...]
Dec
22
2009
22
2009
Portuguese: A Language Map by Kristine Kershul
Score:
1 2 3 4 (5) 6 7 8 9 10
“Five outta ten!”
Pros:
artistic and visual; good choice of survival phrases; clear division into topics; fold-out may attract some on-the-go travelers and language learners; stays basic and doesn’t go off on any tangents like travel tips or cultural notes (phrases only!)
Cons:
despite its visual appeal, visual learners would [...]
Dec
11
2009
11
2009
Portuguese Phrases For Dummies by Karen Keller
Score:
1 2 3 4 5 (6) 7 8 9 10
“Six outta ten!”
Pros:
decent coversage of phrases; lots of explanations about language and phrase use in Brazil; pronunciation guide; introduction to grammar; strong vocab index with page numbers; engaging text and formating; Portuguese phrases given in useful spurts rather than long lists
Cons:
Brazilian only (explicitly treats language usage [...]
Dec
11
2009
11
2009
Portuguese Memory Book by Harrison and Welker
Score:
1 (2) 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
“Two outta ten!”
Pros:
many of the memory jingles are clever; does a decent job of highlighting English words and word-parts that simulate pronunciation of Rio Carioca dialect
Cons:
pronunciation is Brazilian only; long list of vocabulary; no context for vocabulary; awkward technique for memorizing 500+ Portuguese words; no pacing [...]
Oct
7
2009
7
2009
Say It Right in Brazilian Portuguese: The Fastest Way to Correct Pronunciation by EPLS
Score:
1 2 3 4 (5) 6 7 8 9 10
“Five outta ten!”
Pros:
short, small travel phrasebook; decent organization; index and table of contents; a couple basic cultural and travel bullet points at each section; English-Portuguese vocabulary list; helpful, if not gimmicky, pronunciation key alongside all words for those readers that “get it”
Cons:
if you don’t get the [...]