New Language Project: Learn Portuguese
Interested in learning Portuguese?
Join me as I embark on my latest language project — learning Brazilian Portuguese!
Portuguese will be the 16th language I either am in the process of maintaining, learning, or using on a somewhat regular basis. Interested in finding out more about some of my past language projects? Find out what I did to learn Japanese, Persian, Korean, and more.
What’s the motivation for starting to learn Portuguese? Let’s get my motivation behind learning this language.
My New Language Project: Learn Portuguese
As you may know, I’m a professional musician. I work for an incredible company, Roland, as a part of an international team. Through my work, I collaborate on projects based in the Americas, and of the languages we work in — French, English, Spanish, and Portuguese — Portuguese is the only language I haven’t learned.
And so, it’s my new mission to take it on.
My Goal Learning Portuguese
Given that Portuguese is similar to several languages I already speak — French, Spanish, and Italian — it’s going to need quite a bit of love and attention so that I can avoid as much language interference as possible.
I’m going to focus on vocabulary acquisition early on, test out how effective language learning with just apps can be, and delay taking lessons in the language. This is different than what I’ve done the last several years and a similar return to what I might have done when I first embarked on my independent language learning journey.
The reason I’m doing this is to experiment with just how far I can get on my own, without diving straight into the speaking approach I’ve grown so used to. So be sure to follow along if you’re interested in seeing my results!
How I’m Going to Learn Portuguese
My Portuguese Language Learning Tools
Duolingo
To start building my vocabulary and foundation in the Persian language, I’ll study new words each day with Drops.
LingQ
I’m joining a Bootcamp a bit late (just over a week), but I plan on taking part in an Fi3M Bootcamp for the extra accountability and community while learning a language.
One of my favorite resources when starting to learn a new language is Pimsleur because it’s been a great way to get in both listening and speaking practice.
Memrise
My Language Learning Routine
My routine for learning Persian will look like this at the start of this project:
Every day:
- 5-15 minutes of vocabulary study with Drops and Memrise
- 15-30 minutes of video lessons with Duolingo and LingQ
- 30 minute Pimsleur lesson
Every week:
- Additional research and study as needed
My Initial Plans for My First Week of Learning Portuguese
In the first week of learning Portuguese, I’d like to accomplish the following:
- Learn around 100 words beyond the few I already know such as oi and obrigada
- Meet my daily study commitments on Drops, Memrise, Duolingo, and LingQ
My Updates
I’ll update you on my progress about once every two weeks either by blog post or by video. To keep everything in one place, you can always visit my language projects page.
Have any questions about this project? Let me know in the comments below! I’ll aim to answer them in my next update!
I also plan to make regular videos on Instagram and Youtube – so be sure to follow me there.
In the meantime, do you have any advice for me as a new Portuguese learner? Have any resource recommendations you couldn’t live without while learning the language? Let me know in the comments below! I look forward to hearing from you.
