Portuguese with Leo How to learn Portuguese more efficiently and effectively.

Ludovico Einaudi introduces his new album, “Underwater,” at the Coliseu dos Recreios on the 24th and Dream Theatre; the American progressive metal band visit Campo Pequeno on the 29th. On the same night, Canadian Devin Townsend brings his European Tour to Capitólio and then, on the 30th , Yung Blud brings his Life on Mars tour to Campo Pequeno. May brings a host of big bands and singers to Lisbon, with Altice Arena hosting The Scorpions on the 10th and Shawn Mendez on the 18th . Campo Pequeno hosts Yes, the 70’s English progressive rock band, on the 12th , Anjos on the 14th and the South African DJ Black Coffee on the 22nd. Five shows do the £Tour of the Coliseus” in this period, beginning with the UK’s Tindersticks playing with a full orchestra in Lisbon on the 13th and Porto on the 14th. The Norwegian indie folk band The Kings of Convenience plays Porto on the 16th and Lisbon on the 18th. Also, Brazilian singer Lenine plays Porto on the 20th and Lisboa on the 26th. Next, the classic dance show Gala D’Étoiles-World Dance is playing in Lisbon on the 20th and Porto on the 21st. The Ópera Spectacular Queen and Beethoven Tribute Show is in Lisbon on the 15th and Porto on the 29th . Dita Von Teese brings her Glamonatrix tour to the Coliseu dos Recreios on the 14th. May ends with the North Festival in Porto between the 26th and 28th (although) the line-up has yet to be confirmed. These dates are correct at the time of writing. Please check the venue, festival, or band websites to confirm dates and times nearer to the event. I am planning to go to many of these events—if you see me at one of them, please say “hi!”

Compiled by Brian Elliott, a Brit in central Lisboa.

You’ve been trying hard to learn Portuguese. You watch Portuguese movies and TV shows, you read Portuguese newspapers and magazines. But you still feel like your efforts are not paying off. How can you learn Portuguese more efficiently and effectively? First, let me assure you that, if you are doing all the things I mentioned above, you are on the right track! Being exposed to our target language is essential—it’s how babies learn their native languages. There’s simply no replacement for surrounding yourself with the language you’re looking to learn. But being exposed to the language is only half the story, as there are two main components to knowing a language: comprehension and production. When we listen to and read another language, we’re only developing our comprehension of the language, not our ability to produce speech or text in that language. So, if you’re already exposed to a good deal of Portuguese every day, you’re already doing a good job of improving your comprehension. I want to focus here, instead, on language production, and list three best practices to get you speaking Portuguese as quickly as possible. First: don’t be afraid to speak with mistakes. Being afraid to make mistakes keeps us from speaking. And if we don’t speak, we don’t get feedback, we don’t get practice, and we don’t improve. Second: learn the 1,000 most common words in Portuguese, which will cover most interactions. My advice: don’t rush it. Don’t try to learn 50 to 100 new words every day, only to forget them a week later. It’s best to learn fewer words each day, but to learn them well. For every new word, learn not just what it means, but also how it is pronounced and how it’s used in context. For a list of the 1,000 words, you can visit the “Resources” page on my website—portuguesewithleo.com. Hear how each word should be pronounced and see it used in context on Reverso Context.

Finally, record yourself telling a five-minute story that is relevant to you.

Ideally, it should be something that you can talk about in English without any preparation and that you will probably need to tell again, often. Perhaps the story of how and why you decided to come to Portugal, since it probably will be a recurring topic in your conversations with Portuguese people. After telling the story, listen to it … write it down … and look up every word you didn’t know how to say or sentence that you didn’t know how to structure. Then, repeat the same process of telling the story and checking the recordings twice more. This exercise will benefit you in many ways: it’s going to have you speaking and forming sentences in Portuguese, and compel you to learn relevant new vocabulary that you’ll likely use very often. Try doing this at least once a week with a different story each time. With humor and personality, Leo Coelho helps those with a basic facility in Portuguese to speak the language more confidently. Follow him at: http://www.youtube.com/PortugueseWithLeo.