Rating: 
Summary: A good book to help you learn the language in less time.
Review: This book helps you learn the language in less time because you'll only hear portugues. The book may have a few errors in translation and it doesn't teach you about the Portugues culture (but you can always use the net and other books to learn about the culture). Over all, it's a good book to help you learn the language w/Living Language.
Rating:
Summary: Good Start
Review: This book is ideal for someone who needs to learn some phrases really quickly. Within a couple of months, you can learn many phrases that are very useful. If you are planning a trip to Rio for a vacation, and want to go to places without totally disoriented, this is a good book for you. However, for those who really want to learn the language, it will leave you confused. The book is not designed to give you detailed explanations as to the phonetical system, nor the phonetical variations and exceptions that you hear on the tape. This book does a greate job of giving a traveler tools to communicate the necessities. If you want more, look elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: Good Start
Review: This course cannot be beat for the money. I have a Brazilian friend with whom I wanted to go to Rio for a vacation. I spent an hour a day on my lunch break for 1 month, listening to the tapes and following the coursebook, and I can understand quite a bit when spoken to, and I can speak enough to be understood (not so much to hold a casual conversation, but definitely enough for a trip). There are some "slang" differences between the book and the native tounge (so my friend told me), but that's to be expected in any language. For ... a little time over lunch breaks, you can't beat it.
Rating: 
Summary: Best bet for the money
Review: This course cannot be beat for the money. I have a Brazilian friend with whom I wanted to go to Rio for a vacation. I spent an hour a day on my lunch break for 1 month, listening to the tapes and following the coursebook, and I can understand quite a bit when spoken to, and I can speak enough to be understood (not so much to hold a casual conversation, but definitely enough for a trip). There are some "slang" differences between the book and the native tounge (so my friend told me), but that's to be expected in any language. For ... a little time over lunch breaks, you can't beat it.
Rating:
Summary: Best I Ever Received
Review: This is the best course I ever received! I received this as a gift and I totally recommend it to anyone wishing to learn Brazilian Portuguese. The pronounciation is crisp and I learned a lot from playing the tapes and reading the textbook. It has inspired me to learn the language further!
Rating: 
Summary: *Not* a good start.
Review: Yes, it is a basic intro to Portuguese, Brazilian style. However, if you are learning a language for the first time, it's usually good to warm up with the phoenetics first. This book doesn't, and as such is a poor first start.This book/ cassette combo starts off with the usual simple phrases and such, but neglects a solid tutorial in pronouncing dipthongs. For those of you who know or are learning Portuguese, you can relate: it isn't easy mastering the pronunciation of 'não', for example. Having a native speaker pronounce the alphabet and some sample dipthongs would've helped (forget the alphabet, they don't pronounce it at all). So, what happens is that you start off with "Good Morning" (Bom dia) and a handful of pages later, are expected to pronounce "O senhor, pode dizer-me, onde fica ha um bom restaurante?" with the rapidity and skill of a native. Nevermind that it doesn't slow down or break it into phrases. If you bought it and thought, "I must be stupid or something", you're not alone and you are definitely not stupid. I handed this to a native speaker with Brazilian fluency, and she agreed that the pacing was bizarre and unfair. This book/ cassette combination would probably be helpful to someone learning the language already, who might want to get a crash course in before going on a trip. A much better buy is the Foreign Service tapes, which take you from a pure beginner and drill you constantly on pronunciation and grammar. After only two tapes, my pronunciation was considered very good by native speakers, and my functional vocabulary skyrocketed.
Rating:
Summary: *Not* a good start.
Review: Yes, it is a basic intro to Portuguese, Brazilian style. However, if you are learning a language for the first time, it's usually good to warm up with the phoenetics first. This book doesn't, and as such is a poor first start. This book/ cassette combo starts off with the usual simple phrases and such, but neglects a solid tutorial in pronouncing dipthongs. For those of you who know or are learning Portuguese, you can relate: it isn't easy mastering the pronunciation of 'não', for example. Having a native speaker pronounce the alphabet and some sample dipthongs would've helped (forget the alphabet, they don't pronounce it at all). So, what happens is that you start off with "Good Morning" (Bom dia) and a handful of pages later, are expected to pronounce "O senhor, pode dizer-me, onde fica ha um bom restaurante?" with the rapidity and skill of a native. Nevermind that it doesn't slow down or break it into phrases. If you bought it and thought, "I must be stupid or something", you're not alone and you are definitely not stupid. I handed this to a native speaker with Brazilian fluency, and she agreed that the pacing was bizarre and unfair. This book/ cassette combination would probably be helpful to someone learning the language already, who might want to get a crash course in before going on a trip. A much better buy is the Foreign Service tapes, which take you from a pure beginner and drill you constantly on pronunciation and grammar. After only two tapes, my pronunciation was considered very good by native speakers, and my functional vocabulary skyrocketed.
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