Customer Reviews

PORTUGUESE in 10 minutes a day®

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While this is a useful, fun book to get a basic handle on Brazilian Portuguese, it does have a major failing in its guide to pronunciation of the language. The book while good at phonetically spelling out the words fails to indicate on what syllable the stress should be placed. It does indicate that accent marks indicate stress placement, but if the word lacks them, just where should the stress (what syallable) be when saying the word? For example, the word "onde" (where). It does not tell you if its OHN-jee or ohn-JEE. You really need to use a Portuguese grammar manual or audio tapes/CDs to tell you how to correctly pronounce the words. For the record, the stress in this case is on the OHN. The text just has "ohn-jee."
This should be corrected in the next edition to better teach the Brazilian variation of Portuguese.

This book is great for learning basic phrases and building vocabulary. Especially nice are the following points 1) the already made flash cards and stickers were a big help...I laminated the flash cards and me and my wife quized each other all the time. They were convenient, I carried them everywhere. 2) I did carry the cut out language map doohickey it provides and used it upon first arriving in Brazil 3)the phonectic pronunciation typed above or below the words was a great help not found in most other publications. I highley recommend!

This book is exellent for the absolute beginner. It is well organized, and gives the learner just the right information to get by in Portuguese. The vocabulary stickers make learning new words a snap, as you are constantly reminded of them as you go about your day. This book also includes very helpful pronounciation reminders above all the words, which speeds the process as well. Finally, the cut-out dining guides, flash cards, and important phrases are the ultimate companions to the traveler. A must have for those with little time to spare.

I am a native speaker trying to teach my hubby a few words for our trip to Brazil. I found the book very easy to use. Most nights he practiced by himself and I reviewed the material. He was able to get pretty good pronunciation using the books guidelines, but emphasis was harder. It think this is true anytime you are studying language through a book. The stickers were fun to use, we did label items around the house. After getting this book down we moved on to a CD ROM package which has been useful as well. My husband felt that the book did not do a very good job with teaching tenses and conjugating words. This is true, the books aim was to teach you useful phrases and words, you would still be limited in your ability to understand a native speakers anwers to your questions. However, after only one month he definitelty learned quite a bit. Even though I am fluent it is easier to work from a program, as learning from me is hit or miss, this way we have the basics covered.

This was a great book for Brazilian Portuguese. Very well organized with some lessons, stickers to stick to stuff(removable of course) to learn vocab. I've already studied Spanish for 5 years, and knowing what it's like to learn another Romance language, I have found this format quite easy and simple to use, especially for basic conversation or supplementary use. I would recommend this book and format to others, even the other languages offered. Pictures were very helpful, as well as a good layout.

I found the teaching techniques used in is this book very practical. Simple phrases how to order food and ask for directions were helpful for my trip to Rio de Janeiro. The flash cards for verbs, and visual aid stickers for objects made it easy to remember the words. If you are looking for a beginners book or a book for travel I highly recommend this.

Buy this to supplement the cds or tapes you buy. It's engaging,visual, helpful, fun, and your Portugese friends can benefit as well, by flipping over to the English side of the included cut-out vocabulary cards. Essential educational tool, great price.

The book is broken into small sections, which makes it easy to learn. The way its written and the appearance of the book makes it inviting instead of intimidating as most language books come across. The best part is that every word is broken down phonetically, so you are not only learning how to say the words, you are learning how to read and write portuguese as well. I am having great success at the new language and look forward to starting another from this series.

This book was my introduction to Brazilian Portuguese. I found it easy to use, well-laid out, and practical. I am very visual, so it was helpful for me to learn the written language and then move on to the Pimsleur CDs. I might have been lost on the CDs if it were not for the foundation this book set. The pronunciations are often different than what would be obvious, so I think that the visual and the audio are a great compliment to eachother, though I would start with this. Don't do them both at the same time though or you may get confused! I am headed to Brazil and feel fairly confident I'll be able to get around - I have a simple but solid vocabulary from just these two sources. Also, in response to another review, in Portuguese (as well as in Spanish) the accent is always on the second to last syllable, unless there is an accent written above another syllable. They could easily have mentioned this in the book. If you know Spanish, you will move more quickly through the book, but know that they are very different languages, especially in pronunciation.

It's a good workbook for travelling purposes. It was quite helpful wih pronunciation.