
Knowing Spanish can be particularly helpful, but he also warns of some important differences. If you know Spanish, especially Latin American variants, polyglot Benny Lewis has some great advice for you.
HOPEFULLY IN PORTUGUESE HOW TO
Great! This is a pretty big advantage! Not only are you familiar with what language learning techniques work for you, but you can also use your Romance language knowledge to leverage your Portuguese learning.įirst, you won’t be too intimidated by Portuguese grammar, since you already know how to make gender and number agreements, and memorize conjugations for different persons (there are only 4 in Portuguese, compared to 6 in most other Romance languages). So, if you’re lucky enough to have already learned one of these languages, you have a leg up on Portuguese. Portuguese, like Spanish, is an Ibero-Romance language. These are languages that developed on the Iberian Peninsula and that have Latin roots (like French, Italian, and Romanian). Reason #1: Because If You Know One Romance Language, You Know Them All (Well… Almost) Why do we consider the Portuguese language fairly easy to learn? In a nutshell, it’s similar to other Romance languages you might already know it’s a common language online, so there’s lots of learning material to choose from and Brazilian and Portuguese culture make learning in entertaining ways addictive! Now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s jump into our discussion. It does mean that you will likely have an easier time learning Portuguese than you would learning Japanese or Arabic, for example, since these two languages have much less in common with English. It doesn’t even mean it’ll be a piece of cake without those added obstacles. Is Portuguese easy to learn? Today we’re arguing that “learning Portuguese isn’t as hard as you think it is.” Keep in mind: even if a language is “easy” to learn, that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to pick it up in a few hours with your eyes closed and your hands tied behind your back. For example, their level of interest in the language’s culture, their opportunities for immersion and travel, their native language, and whether or not they know any other languages that might have some aspects in common. Why? Because many factors work together to determine how easy or difficult a person finds a given language.

(Portuguese didn’t make the cut, luckily for you!) Just between you and me, it’s quite a subjective list. We’ve written several articles about how easy or difficult certain languages are to learn, including one about the 10 hardest languages for English speakers. And some just find it “scary” or “hard.” Are you one of these people who has doubts that are keeping you from diving in? Hopefully these three reasons will dispel some myths about how hard the language actually is, and change your outlook.ģ Reasons Why the Portuguese Language is Easy – Or At Least Not as Hard to Learn as You Think Well, some people aren’t aware of just how important and influential of a language it is. Florida, one of the three main American destinations for Brazilian immigrants, had just three schools that taught the language in 2003!

How few, you might ask? According to one source, only 11 schools in the UK offer Portuguese as a foreign language option! And the situation isn’t much better in the US. So why is it that so few Americans and English students and adults are interested in learning the Portuguese language? According to this article, UNESCO says that “Portuguese is the language with the greatest potential to become the international language of Africa and South America.” Currently, Portuguese is the 5th most spoken language in the world! (We even compiled a list of 11 great reasons to learn Portuguese.) And Brazilian Portuguese is also an important language for business, as Brazil is South America’s biggest economic force.

Between the 2014 World Cup soccer championship and the 2016 Olympics, you might say that the Portuguese language has experienced somewhat of a boom in recent years! Portugal and Brazil are both beautiful and culturally rich tourist destinations.
