Customer Reviews

Portuguese (Teach Yourself)

5 star:		(4)
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I first bought this course to give myself a good start before joining classes. Little I knew at the time that my class teacher was going to recommend this course. I am glad we agree on the choice.

The course is very easy at the beginning, just right for an absolute beginner. As you move on through the units, new information always relates to something you have learnt before. This has a double effect, it helps ou remember what you already know and sits comfortably on it.

The book deals with all sorts of topics you need. You start by saying hello and learn the basics for food, travel, accommodation, emergencies. In the subsequent units you go through all this again at a slightly more advanced level. And so on. I quite like this method.

You get lots of help in a number of ways. Pronunciation is one of them. The sounds are explained in the units, there is a detailed pronunciation table in the appendix and everything is also on the recording. You can't go wrong!

There is also another thing I quite like in this course, the way grammar is introduced. Grammar is there, but it is not overbearing. It is very clearly explained, it helps you understand what you are saying and the way you are saying it, but there are no boring grammar drills. That's good!

This course is very practical and efficient. You learn exactly the sort of thing you need when you go to the country, starting with passport control and customs on your arrival, finding your way in town, etc. Every vocabulary and structure you learn you can visualize yourself in a situation where it will be of practical use to you.

Also useful is teaching you neutral Portugese you can use in any country where the language is spoken. This is very important in my case. Work often takes me to Rio de Janeiro in South America and Lisbon in Europe. All-purpose Portuguese suits me fine.

What I most admire in this course is how it goes straight to what you need to know. It seems to guess the problems you may have and provide the solution before you get into difficulty. Dr. Cook's method is very skilful. She must have many grateful students.

I know how difficult it can be to find a good language course. I have found one. I'm actually quite enthusiastic about it and want to share my views with other learners.

Why is this course the Portuguese course for me ?

This course focuses on practical, every-day usage of the language and does not waste your time with too much detail on the grammar. The subjects covered are very useful for travellers and people intending a longer stay.

This course assumes no pre-knowledge of the language and explains even the most basic phrases and vocabulary step by step. The units build well on each other.

The structure of each unit is very logical: (1) dialogues you can read and listen to (2) good vocabulary help with the meaning of every word in the dialogues (3) question practice on the dialogues (4) pronunciation guide (5) the phrases used are clearly explained (6) activities at the end of each unit and revision units with more activities.

This is truly a course you can use to teach yourself. It gives the learner plenty of support and moves at a rate that can be taken on board by a self-taught student. Just one warning: the book alone won't do. You need the audio for the dialogues, pronunciation, and activities.

This is an excellent course for the money. It's enjoyable and you can go at your own pace. It gives you a quick fix in the first units, then progresses to further learning.

This is a good, solid course. This course is helping me. I hope my comments will help you.

This is a very good course in many respects, but one of its strongest points is its wide range of application. This is a course for the absolute beginner but also for the more advanced learner. I used it initially as a tourist and now I am using it (the more advanced units) for further study. It starts with the usual hotel, food, shopping, etc for the tourist. Then it moves on to more advanced language, for example, what you need when visiting the doctor or coping with a car accident. On a happier note, you learn what to say when you go to the hairdresser (men and women) and how to make social conversation at a party. You learn how to write a letter (social and formal) and how to make a phone call, not simple matters in a foreign language. At a further stage, this course really caters for the resident. You learn how to open a bank account, apply for a job, go about buying or renting a flat or a house. You even learn how to tell your domestic help how you would like the service done - cooking, house cleaning, clothes washing and ironing, feeding your pet. Nothing seems to be missing. Extremely useful indeed. A course I am very happy to recommend.