75 of 77 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic as a supplement, May 9, 2006
This review is from: Portuguese For Dummies (Paperback)
I was very excited to see a book for Portuguese in the "Dummies" series, and I was thrilled once I received it. Written in the usual comedic style of this series, "Portuguese for Dummies" is entertaining, very well-organized and has tons of useful information. You should know that this book concentrates only on Brazilian Portuguese.
However, I should say that you shouldn't expect to be able to teach yourself Portuguese solely from this book even though it's fantastic (and the author states this upfront). This book is a great companion to taking Portuguese classes or using another learning resource. Personally, I have been working with the Pimsleur method on CD (which is superb), and so I have a working knowledge of the langugage. This book is great for someone like me, since it can serve as a review, a fun supplement to my regular studies, and has lots of other wonderful features.
I was thrilled to see sections on common Brazilian idiomatic expressions and slang, something that's not contained in most instructional resources I've come across. I have Brazilian friends who constantly confused me with their expressions, so now I'm starting to get it! Also great are sections on terms associated with Brazilian culture, music, Carnaval, helpful things for travelers, tables with conjugations of common verbs, etc. You can tell a lot of thought went into creating this useful guide.
One major problem: the CD is off-the-charts bad. There's an English speaking narrator who introduces conversations and cannot pronounce any of the Portuguese words properly (WHY did they bother having her try?) The Portuguese speakers sound stilted and robotic when talking.
However, the book is fantastic... I strongly recommend that you buy it, then tear the CD off the back cover and play frisbee with your dog.
If you REALLY are serious about learning Portguese, I recommend the following materials, all available on amazon.com:
1. Pimsleur's Brazilian Portguese, Comprehensive CDs (or Cassettes), Levels 1-3.
2. A good Portuguese/English dictionary: I like the Oxford.
3. Portuguese for Dummies
4. Portuguese in 10 Minutes a Day (for vocabulary building).
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Too many mistakes, September 23, 2007
This review is from: Portuguese For Dummies (Paperback)
Learning a language in the informal and fun way proposed by the book is always good, but unfortunately this book has too many mistakes, mostly concerning pronunciation. For example, the letter X in Portuguese does not have only two sounds like they say, but four. The difference between "closed E" and "open E" is never pointed out, so that the letter E in words like "dedo" and "elefante" is said to have the sound of the English E in the word "egg", which is not true. There are also too many accents missing. The list of problems goes on and on. Concerning the CD, I'm totally amazed that the speakers, although from Brazil, still read all the mistakes contained in the book. In their life, they would never say "gostar o Brasil", but "gostar do Brasil". I'm Brazilian and a Portuguese intructor. There is hope for the book because the grammar is not bad, but it needs to be carefully reviewed and corrected.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
e bom demais, June 2, 2006
This review is from: Portuguese For Dummies (Paperback)
In the midst of my excitment preparing for my coming trip to Rio de Janiero, I was ecstatic to find "Portuguese for Dummies" in the language section of my favorite bookstore. What's even more amazing is that it focuses on Brazilian Portuguese.
This book contains a wealth of information for anyone studying brazilian portuguese. It is both entertaining and informative. I especially like the "cultural wisdom" sections as well as the useful slangs at the end of the book. The CD, however, could use some improvement.
I have combined my studies with this book along with the pimsleur method and Portuguese 10 minutes a day. And hopefully it will give me a solid background of the language once I attend my language school in Rio.
I highly recommend this book.
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