Interview with a Portuguese Language Student

Name: Catalina
Studying: Spanish and Portuguese
Mother Tongue: English
Strongest Language: Portuguese
Future Plans: Travel, Charity/Missionary work and possibly Teaching

1. Why do you want to learn languages? I began learning Portuguese because I started attending a Portuguese speaking church and I wanted to communicate with my boyfriend’s family who are Brazilian. The benefits of learning Portuguese for job opportunities did not have anything to do with my decision to pick up the language.

2. How long have you been learning Portuguese? For just over three years although I didn't really have any guidance or support from teachers in the first two years. At the moment I can understand most Portuguese literature and have a conversation with a native Portuguese speaker about anything (within reason- nothing about science and stuff!) My pronunciation is one of my strengths. I have quite a good knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. But I need to improve on more formal Portuguese.

3. What kinds of resources helped you in your Learning? Going to church and listening to Portuguese throughout the services was a great help when I started learning. Speaking to Brazilians helped to improve my pronunciation and pick up vocabulary and grammar. It also helped with my confidence. The main thing that helped was that I was completely surrounded by Brazilians most of the time so learning was more real and practical. It was and still is a lot more fun that way. On the other hand I wish I had used more resources like grammar books to make sure I was speaking correctly. Now I spend more time reading and looking through books and guides rather than practicing my speaking.

4. How do you improve your Reading? Writing? Speaking? Listening? I improve my listening by watching the news in Portuguese and taking notes, and watching films.. I improve my reading by just practicing and making sure I understand what the text is about instead of focusing just on words that I don't know. I improve my writing by using synonyms and using new words.

5. What is the hardest part of learning Portuguese? The hardest thing in Portuguese is the difference between Portuguese from Portugal and from Brazil and the fact that the books are not always reliable on which word is used where. My advice would be to focus on your weakness because I was very happy (and still am) to chat to someone in Portuguese but I always put off writing something which meant my speaking is much better than my writing. Spend more time on the things you are least comfortable at doing. And hopefully you will get better at the weaknesses and you will be a more well rounded Portuguese speaker! Yeah but don't stress just have fun with it! =)