Learn Portuguese: Tools for Self-Teaching

Posted by Elena Como with Atlantico Books on September 1, 2011 · 4 Comments 

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from AJ
to Elena with Atlantico Books
date Wed, Aug 31, 2011 at 8:30 PM
subject Help with your catalog?

Portuguese students at Princeton

Portuguese students at Princeton

Hi Elena,
Can you recommend some books / CDs to:
1.  Learn Brazilian Portuguese (from beginner through intermediate / advanced levels) – grammar and pronunciation. I appreciate workbooks and practice books … but _only_ if there are answers published for any exercises since I am an adult self-learner with no classroom resources.
2.  Learn grammar (reference books)
 I am not fixated on them being Portuguese only, in all cases. I understand the benefit, but in the case of grammar books sometimes I like some English mixed in. If there are multiple books with particular strengths, I’d like to know about them. Thank you for suggestions. –AJ

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Elena Como & Atlantico Books at the Portuguese Language Feira do Livro (Book Fair) at UMass Dartmouth

Atlantico Books at the Portuguese Language Feira do Livro (Book Fair) at UMass Dartmouth

Hi AJ!
Thanks for your inquiries! There is a great grammar book that I learned Portuguese with, in English and Portuguese, Portuguese: An Essential Grammar. It has many examples and was written by a Portuguese professor I’ve met at conferences, Anna Klobucka. Another wonderful grammar book (all in Portuguese) is the very concise handbook, Portugues Descomplicado.

Since you are teaching yourself Portuguese, another idea is the DVD-series Brazilian Portuguese, Level 1, 2-DVD set. It is fun because it’s like a Brazilian telenovela, with language instruction and a fun storyline.

The Novo Avenida Brasil Book & CD set (3 levels) is all in Portuguese, but there are answer keys in the back for exercises, and the method is very good. It’s a newer edition of the books I learned from:
Novo Avenida Brasil 1 Book + CD
Novo Avenida Brasil 2 Book + CD
Novo Avenida Brasil 3 Book + CD

I like Novo Avenida Brasil a lot because it’s a complete set in each book: text, exercises, audio-CD. But if you just want to get started and use a good Brazilian textbook, I have small quantities of these Portuguese textbooks on-hand:
Brasil! Lingua e Cultura (in English & Portuguese)
Passagens – Portugues do Brasil para Estrangeiros Livro Texto
Sempre Amigos: Portugues para estranjeiros (Portuguese for school-children)
Tudo Bem? V1 Portugues para uma nova geracao (Portuguese for young-adults/adolescents)

A great challenge would be to read Missa do Galo e Outros Contos (classic Brazilian short-stories) while listening to the Missa do Galo e Outros Contos Audiobook (a Brazilian voice reading the first 3 stories).

Thank you and have a terrific day!
Take care,

Elena Como
Atlantico Book Importer, Inc.

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Filed under bilingual portuguese english, Book Imports, Ensino de português, Ensino e Aprendizagem de PLE, Foreign Books, Learn Portuguese, Portuguese Lessons, Portuguese Studies, Teach Portuguese, Teach Yourself Portuguese, Translating Portuguese to English · Tagged with books in portuguese, Brasil, Brazilian literature, Brazilian Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese for foreigners, Children's Books in Portuguese, Elena Como, Learn Brazilian Portuguese, Learn Portuguese: Tools for Self-Teaching, MUITO PRAZER - FALE O PORTUGUES DO BRASIL + 2 CDS DE AUDIO, Portuguese Bookstore, Portuguese Bookstore NYC, Portuguese Downloads, Portuguese Language, portuguese lesson, self-taught portuguese

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4 Responses to “Learn Portuguese: Tools for Self-Teaching”
  1. Jonathan says:
    September 1, 2011 at 4:26 pm

    I am in the same situation, AJ. I started with Teach Yourself Portuguese by Manuela Cook, which was OK (I’d give it a B+) – definitely a good foundation but not complete, and I’ve found more entertaining books in the Teach Yourself series. What is much cooler though is a book called Quarenta Historinhas (e Cinco Poemas), which has 40 stories and five poems by Carlos Drummond de Andrade that are annotated and have grammar points and exercises after each. The only problem is that this does not come with an answer key. You can find it on Amazon. I also bought a similar book but with newspaper articles, but I cannot comment on it as I have not gotten to this one yet (Imagens Jornalisticas Brasileiras – there is also Cronicas Brasileiras listed on Amazon).

  2. Elena Como with Atlantico Books says:
    September 1, 2011 at 7:37 pm

    Thank you for your feedback, Jonathan! :)
    I also read “Quarenta Historinhas” long ago, and I remember it was pretty good. Another great option is the new book from Atlantico Books, “Ao Redor do Mundo: Leituras em Portugues, Vol. 1″. It’s got good footnotes & vocab for the self-taught student (or the former student).
    Thanks for reading!
    Take care
    Elena

  3. AJ says:
    September 3, 2011 at 2:27 am

    Thanks to both of you!

  4. Elena Como with Atlantico Books says:
    September 3, 2011 at 10:33 am

    Thank you, AJ!
    I always love to get a good question to answer. :) Best of luck to you both in your Portuguese studies, and please let me know if I can be of any assistance!
    Um abraço,
    Elena Como

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