Portuguese Language Learning Reviews

Score:
1 2 3 4 5 6 (7) 8 9 10
“Seven outta ten!”
Pros:
lots of Portuguese conversation topics; good exposure to grammar; complementary audio; solid grammar review at end of book; price
Cons:
presentation of grammar sometimes inadequate; longer vocabulary lists to memorize without context; basic and less effective exercises; cultural notes are mostly distractions

Ultimate Portuguese Beginner-Intermediate covers most imaginable daily conversation topics and nearly every aspect of basic Portuguese grammar in its 40 book lessons and eight hours of audio on CD.

Living Language imposes a standard format on its Ultimate series, so the layout of this course is similar to other Ultimate language courses: a dialogue, grammar, vocabulary list, exercises, cultural note, answers to exercises.

The dialogues fit the chapter topics – each one covers a snippet of mock real-life conversation, using progressively more difficult grammar, vocabulary and phrases as the units go on. The grammar notes that follow treat big-picture grammar topics (like how to use the verb “ter”) and conversation-driven ones (like sending letters, faxes and telegrams). Grammar, though, is presented in a one-off fashion, through individual words. You’ll learn all the imperfect forms of “pagar”, then all the forms of “gostar”, without being told that you’re learning the same endings for both. The sample usage sentences almost make up for this extra mental work.

Vocabulary lists mainly deal with terms introduced in the dialogue and related to the topic at hand. They can become long and cumbersome for your memory, though. These are followed by multiple-choice, matching or fill-in-the-blank exercises that mostly serve to tease your learning skills. The “Notas Culturais” (Cultural Notes) that end each lesson read similar to asides in travel books, and distract you from the course’s goals. Besides, how much do you care that “Barcelos, Portugal is famous for its pottery”?

The end of the book houses a short reference overview of Portuguese grammar, with thorough tables of pronouns, adjectives, regular verbs and conjugations of common irregular verbs. This is followed by sample written letters (ranging from business to friendly), short Portuguese-English and English-Portuguese vocabulary lists and an index.

The eight audio CDs contain two parts. The first one reads through the dialogues and the vocabulary lists, and is intended for side-by-side use with the book. The second part is a stand-alone audio series that covers all forty lessons in the course, including grammar sections, with English explanations and Portuguese examples. This last addition makes the course suitable for “on the go” learning.

All in all, I enjoyed Ultimate Portuguese’s conversational approach. Some of the drawbacks I pinpointed may seem like nitpicking to some, but others may be dissuaded from buying the course. The audio component and the overall lesson structure, combined with the useful grammar selections, make this a worthy recommendation in my opinion.