Advice for Self-Learning.

[Amethyst Wind]

Hi, I'm going to start learning to read/write/speak Brazilian Portuguese.

Right now I'm looking for reviews to try to find out which books would be good to use and which to avoid.

If anybody on here has any tips, not just about books but anything they think would be helpful, I'd appreciate it.

I'd like to get off to a good start so I don't have to unlearn anything later.

Thank you.

 

[IndomitableSam]

Visual/auditory learning is best for most people - try finding videos or children's books with big, bright pictures to help you. A lot of books will teach you the proper way to speak as opposed to the way people actually speak - this is pretty common for Japanese, actually, where you learn formal speech.

Maybe see if you can find some youtube videos done by regular people on how to speak Portuguese?

Also, reading and writing (I find) are much harder to learn. Figure out the way your mind works best - learn all at once so you can put a word to a picture to the pronunciation of a word (a la Rosetta Stone), or by learning speech first by listening to conversations? You may then be able to somewhat understand written words by sounding them out - the way children learn to read.

I don't have any recommendations for specific sites/books/systems... but those don't do any good until you decide how you want to learn. Why not see if your local cultural centre holds classes? Big enough cities usually have classes if not groups for most peoples. Or distance learning through a College or University might also be an option.