Talk Portuguese: The Ideal Course for Absolute Beginners (Talk Short Language Courses)

Rating:
Summary: Beginners yes ideal no
Review: I am bilingual in Portuguese and English and teach both languages. Looking at this course from both angles, English and Portuguese, I have decided not to use it with my students. The reasons below are those explained to them. I hope they can also help other learners by providing a wider awareness of what you get when you use this course.

In this course you will find an artificial, anglicised Portuguese. You are led to expect the waiter to ask you 'Estao prontos a pedir?', a literal translation of English 'Are you ready to order?' but the Portuguese usual question is 'Ja escolheram?' (Have you chosen?)

This anglicised Portuguese includes both unusual sentences and the wrong vocabulary. For 'The phone is not working' you are taught 'O telefone nao trabalha'. 'Trabalhar' means 'to work' in the sense of engaging in an activity, normally applied to people. For a machine, in the sense of being operational, the Portuguese word is 'funcionar'. You may not be understood when you use the wrong word, with the added difficulty in pronouncing Portuguese sound lh.

When you seek clarification using 'Pode falar devagar?' (Can you speak slowly?) as you are taught in this course, you are sounding rather abrupt. You need to add a Portuguese 'please' to make this acceptable.

The distortion of the Portuguese language applies to the way proper names are presented. 'Senhor' is given as a translation for Mr and 'Senhora' for 'Mrs/Miss/Ms. This simplistic solution is far from real practice. A native Portuguese speaker is unlikely to introduce himself as 'Sou o Semhor Reis', 'I am Mr Reis', as in this course. The usual way is to give first and last mane, and no title.

Titles are a source of great confusion in this course. Examples are 'O Senhor Doutor Engenheiro' and 'O Senhor Doutor Advogado'. Either you are Doutor or Engenheiro or Advogado!

In the area of politeness this course is too insensitive. You are told that 'Peco desculpa' means 'I am sorry', but you need to know that it is so only when an apology is meant. You are told that 'De nada' means 'You are welcome' but you need to know when this is the case. If you try to welcome a Portuguese friend with 'De nada' you may cause some hilarity.

Insensitivity also affects more down-to-earth matters. You are told to ask for the toilet with 'Onde e o lavabo?'. 'Lavabos'. not 'lavabo', is one of the ways of signposting the toilets, like Public Conveniences. In English, would you ask 'Where is the public convenience?'!!!!!

There are also mistakes of a different sort. A picture of a batch loaf is shown for a tin loaf (pao de forma) and 'peixe espada' is not swordfish (a comon error) but scabbard-fish.

Some exercises may not test anything, like 'Is Pedro a man's name or a woman's name?' Would you really think Pedro is a woman's name!!! Others are unrealistic. A visitor cannot remember the Portuguese word for wine but remembers this mouthful: 'Como se diz 'wine' em portugues?'(How do you say wine in Portuguese?)

Another shortcoming is that the course is centred in Lisbon. In contrast with the general simplistic approach, great detail is given to different types of coffee and milky coffee in Lisbon slang (bica, garoto, galao) which are not used everywhere in the country. There are other quaint features. Why not use the normal expression for Cheers! (Saude!)but the onomatopoeia Tchim!Tchim!

The taped material reflects the course book problems but the voices are not bad. Sad to say though that the recording is too fast for the absolute beginner.

Things get worse when you go on the Web. In some cases things even go wrong for both Portuguese and English. Take eg 'cheese and buiscuits (bolachas)'. Since when do we eat buiscuits instead of biscuits? By the way, 'bolachas' is only a type of biscuit. The word 'biscoitos' would have been a more direct translation.

Finaly we have the Brazilian afterthought. This course in European Portuguese and Lisbon slang has a last web page on 'Summer in Brazil'. Instead of this token gesture at the end, why not a more universal Portuguese in the whole course?

I wish I could agree with the subtitle to this book (an ideal course for absolute beginners) and its recommendation for a first level qualification, in the introduction. Sorry, I think they are both rather optimistic overstatements.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I bought this mainly because it had a high audio-minutes-to-price ratio, but wound up being really impressed with the overall quality. I would definitely try other courses in this series.

I've done book and tape courses for a few other languages, and this one had, a superior mix of grammar, phraseology, and useful vocab. The orientation is definitley toward travel, but there's enough basic non-travel material to let you carry on a simple conversation. The length of the units and the structure of the course as a whole make sense, too.

Complaints: The instructions are fussy: they want you to listen, read along, go back and listen, yada, yada. And like any tape course, all that rewinding gets annoying (Please, more good courses like this on CD!!!).

All in all, though, a well thought out and surprisingly effective course. This is continental portuguese, but given our experience in Portugal you won't need language ability in a touristed area (most Portugese you'll encounter speak English quite well), so sadly I give higher value to the course for its own sake rather than a traveler's need to use it.

Rating:
Summary: Course ok, on-line no
Review: This course is not bad, i mean the book and audio, also the Learning Zone video, but not the on-line materials. The course has the usual topics (food, shopping, etc, etc), it is easy to follow, good to get you started. It does not go very far, but it does not promise you it will. The Learning Zone does not add much but it is nice to watch, it helps. Then you go on the BBC website for more and things go wrong. The materials on-line do not relate well to the course. I asked a native speaker of Portuguese for help and i was told that what is on line has several mistakes and the Portuguese in these materials is quite poor all around. Perhaps that is why i couldn't make head and tail of these materials. I would have given the course four starts but the on-line poor extension brings it down to three or two. I am feeling generous and have given it three.

Rating:
Summary: No good for Brazil
Review: This is all very much for continental food in Europe, garoto, galao, you name it, and no good to use anywhere else. It is also in a funny Portuguese. I don't like it at all. There is much better.