Learn Portuguese: Listen to & Read Harry Potter in Portuguese

I’ve been on a Portuguese and Brazilian young-adult literature kick. Even though I am a lover of Brazilian and Portuguese literature, every once in a while it’s fun to read a book that is simple and doesn’t challenge my Portuguese vocabulary too much, and in the summer it’s nice to read some fantasy!

A great little library I work with in Massachusetts got  Como Treinar seu Dragão, Diário de um Banana, Harry Potter, and Crepúsculo (Twilight) for the Portuguese-speakers in its community.

I was a hold-out against the whole Harry Potter craze, until I started reading Harry Potter e a Pedra Filosofal (from Brazil); then I was hooked. I’m currently reading the third Diário de um Banana book (Diary of a wimpy kid). And I also love young adult books by Brazilian authors Ana Maria Machado, Jose Mauro Vasconselos, and my good friend Jo Duarte.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another really fun way to “read” in Portuguese is to listen to audio-books in Portuguese. If you have a long road-trip ahead, why not listen to Harry Potter in Portuguese along the way?

It’s fun to read familiar books in your second or third language, and children’s or young adult books are easy. That’s why the students I met at UMass Dartmouth’s Summer Portuguese Program were more interested in reading books like O Pequeno Principe (which is also fun to listen to) than Brazilian classics like Dom Casmurro.

So whether you’re looking for a fun book to read this summer or fall, or a fun book to read with children, I highly recommend Brazilian children’s literature and young adult books in translation, many of which have been translated into the European Portuguese and the Brazilian Portuguese. Reading Harry Potter or Diary of a Wimpy Kid in Portuguese is a great way to connect with younger readers and a fun way for grown-ups to maintain their own Portuguese language skills.

 

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