Customer Reviews

Portuguese (European), Compact: Learn to Speak and Understand European Portuguese with Pimsleur Language Programs

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

These tapes cost too much for what they deliver. I love the Pimsleur method of teaching and have used their French tapes with much success. However, the speakers on these Portuguese tapes sound bored, the vocabulary is extremely limited, and unfortunately, you are not at all ready to use the language as a traveler when done with these tapes. I would love to see Pimsleur do justice to continental Portuguese.

The Pimsleur method itself is really quite good. I used the comprehensive Italian course and was quite pleased with my results. The problem with the "compact course" is that there really isn't enough "meat". By the end of this course I was quite comfortable asking " Do you speak Portuguese?" "Would you like something to eat?" and "Do you have escudos?" That, however is about the extent of the vocabulary one will pick up from this course. Really not worth 70 dollars.

I bought the Pimsleur European Portuguese system about four weeks before a trip to Mozambique. It contains 10 lessons, each about 25 minutes long. All but the first lesson is followed by a five-minute reading lesson where words or short phrases are repeated. It was helpful in some ways and limited in others. I do find myself using the information, but I wonder if it could have been more efficiently presented.

The strength of this system is that it is audio only; it forces me to learn Portuguese as it is spoken, rather than from a book where I learn to speak Portuguese words with American pronunciation. The speakers spoke clearly and slowly enough to follow easily, and the repetition was sufficient for memorization.

However, I found the audio-only approach limiting in that it doesn't help with reading. I have some minor hearing loss and it would have been helpful to have a script/workbook. The reading lessons in the packet (lists of about 15 words, many of which do not appear in the lesson just completed) are not very helpful.

A feature that I found infuriating was that they start you off using one form of "you" (the formal form: o senhor/a senhora - which I'm told nobody uses, not even in Portugal) then halfway through introduce the more common "voc^e." They also interchange the words for "something" and "anything," which I found distracting as I tried to repeat after the speakers.

Overall, the system is helpful, but I am glad I had other books (Bilingual Books "Portuguese in 10 Minutes a Day" and Lonely Planet's Portuguese Phrasebook).

After going through volumes one and two of Pimsleur's Portuguese--roughly two months of work--I did learn enough Portuguese to actually function in Brazil. Mind you, I wasn't fluent, having the skills, comprehension, and vocabulary of a 2-3 year old, but I was able to order in restaurants, speak with cab drivers, ask directions, purchase items, and so on. In other words, I learned enough to survive there. If you can handle the cost (which keeps me from giving five stars), consider this course.

This is an excellent follow-up to Brazilian I. It continues to expand content at a good pace - not too fast or too slow. I've tried everything to learn a language - books, classes, other tapes. But the Pimsleur approach is far and away the most effective method I've found.

I love the method that Pimsleur employs to make a new language stick to the grey matter between my ears. The CD says the words in English and then in Portuguese, with careful pronounciation. There are nice, long pauses to repeat the words aloud. As the lessons progress, the prompts vary from just a translation to things like "Say 'good morning, miss'". It teaches a few phrases, then adds a few more, then goes back to prompt you to recall what you learned a lesson ago and combines it with the new phrases. I hope to visit Portugal someday, and Pimsleur will help me function as a tourist!

I am planning on going to Portugal at the end of this year to stay for a year so I needed to find a way to learn the essentials of this language. These CD's have been fantastic - I now feel confident about being about to get myself around Portugal! As the Portuguese is spoken by native Portuguese speakers there is no worries of picking up an accent other than a Portuguese one :)

They are obviously aimed at the American market however, as I am now able to say with great ease "I am from the United States"!

I bought Brazilian Portuguese Part II after listening to Brazilian Portuguese Part I. I have been to Brasil since using these cassettes and based on that experience, I am very pleased with the Pimsleur cassettes. I will positively purchase Brazilian Portuguese Part III whenever it is released. Portuguese spoken in Brasil is truly a beautiful language. I've tried many different language courses (most of them very short) and I can say without a doubt that the Pimsleur Brazilian Portuguese Products are the best.

I found this CD series VERY helpful for the preparation of our recent trip to Portugal. It should be stressed, however, that this is indeed for European Portuguese, not Brazilian.
Although I also speak Spanish, and expected there to be many similarities, I was surprised that there are substantial differences. The cognates are certainly there, but often the pronunciation is radically different. I especially found it interesting that the pronunciation for "rr" and an initial "r" in Portuguese is usually pronounced somewhat like an english 'H' or Spanish "J". "Restaurant" sounds kind of like "HEES-too-rant"... "carro" sounds like "CA-ho" in english or "cajo" in Spanish.
Anyway, I am very pleased with this program. I wish an advanced Pimsleur European Portuguese was also available.

I've learned Spanish via the Living Language series, followed by Berlitz Advanced tapes. Pimsleur seems far superior, and the "all audio" approach fits my long commute better than the ones that require access to a book along with the tapes. Highly recommended.