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- D13 // My Evergreen Toolkit for Learning Portuguese
D13 // My Evergreen Toolkit for Learning Portuguese
... or Any Other Language
Marcus Huels
June 17, 2024
For the past nine years, I have been practicing and learning Portuguese every day.
In 2015, I joined the Peace Corps and was assigned to a position in Mozambique, where I lived and worked for over two years. During that time, I lost the little bit of Spanish I had learned, which was supplanted by Portuguese as I had to use it daily.
Through that experience, I fell in love with language learning, particularly with the linguistic and grammatical nuances of Portuguese.
Since leaving Mozambique in 2017, I have practiced my Portuguese every day in some capacity. Here is a short list of some of the tools and tactics that I have used and highly recommend when learning a new language:
Books
Podcasts
Immersion & Conversation
All of these methods helped me immensely. But if I had to start all over again as a beginner, this is the simple list of resources and advice I wish I had for learning Portuguese:
Books & Magazines
Reading books in another language can be a great way to collect words and see how sentences are structured.
The first time I read Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone was in Portuguese. It was a slow process, navigating through all the words and conjugations I did not know. However, it was a great exercise in building a habit of understanding a story plot in another language.
While reading, I always keep a notepad next to me so that I can write down any words I don’t understand. Later, in my spare time, I Google the words and keep the definitions in my notepad to refer back to.
I have found that children’s books and topic-specific magazines can be a great way to build a language vocabulary. While traveling in Mexico and Brazil, I made sure to stop into bookstores and purchased several children’s books that have helped me immensely.
Podcasts
Making the leap from reading to conversing in another language is a huge chasm to cross. Learning how to interpret what native speakers are actually saying can be a challenge in itself. Luckily, we live in an age where audio shows and radio stations in a myriad of languages are right at our fingertips.
Here are a few of the podcast shows that I follow, both for their content and dialogue:
I encourage you to find a show where the content interests you. This will keep you engaged and provide a great intercultural learning opportunity to understand how people in other parts of the world think about particular topics.
Immersion & Conversation
By far the most valuable way to learn a language is through immersion.
If you are learning a language and working remotely, you should find an opportunity to spend an extended period in a country where that language is spoken.
For three months prior to my Peace Corps service, I was sent with my fellow trainees to a small town in southern Mozambique where each of us lived with a separate Mozambican family. Totally immersed in the language and culture, we were meant to learn the customs but also develop self-sufficiency in Portuguese to be productive, professional technicians.
While working remotely, I also did this in Brazil. I rented a shared flat and lived in Rio de Janeiro for three months.
This experience grew my language skills and my ability to thrive while living abroad.
Language learning has been a deeply personal and transformative journey for me.
It has not only expanded my ability to communicate but also enriched my understanding of different cultures and perspectives. Each step, from reading children's books to fully immersing myself in a foreign country, has contributed to my growth both personally and professionally.