Ultimate Portuguese (LL(R) Ultimate Basic-Intermed) [Abridged] [Audio Cassette]

Lourdes Filoco (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 18, 2000 | Series: LL(R) Ultimate Basic-Intermed

Learn Portuguese at home or on the go with the most complete, up-to-date program available!

Developed by the experts at Living Language, this deluxe course has everything you need to speak, understand, read, and write Portuguese. Ultimate Portuguese combines conversation with grammar and culture in an easy-to-follow, enjoyable, and effective format.
Comprehensive lesson manual
40 lessons
lively, authentic dialogues
vocabulary, grammar, and usage
cultural highlights
coverage of Brazilian and European Portuguese
Reference sections
complete grammar summary with verb conjugations
business and social letter writing
Portuguese-English / English-Portuguese glossary
Eight 60-minute cassettes
First learn at home:immerse yourself in Portuguese -- listen and repeat after the native speakers with the all-Portuguese recordings
follow along with the manual, which includes English translations
learn conversation, grammar, and culture
Then practice on the go:review and expand upon what you've learned
an English-speaking instructor guides you through each lesson
no reading required with these Portuguese/English recordings
learn in the car, at the gym, anywhere

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Learn Portuguese at home or on the go with the most complete, up-to-date program available!

Developed by the experts at Living Language, this deluxe course has everything you need to speak, understand, read, and write Portuguese. Ultimate Portuguese combines conversation with grammar and culture in an easy-to-follow, enjoyable, and effective format.
Comprehensive lesson manual
40 lessons
lively, authentic dialogues
vocabulary, grammar, and usage
cultural highlights
coverage of Brazilian and European Portuguese
Reference sections
complete grammar summary with verb conjugations
business and social letter writing
Portuguese-English / English-Portuguese glossary
Eight 60-minute cassettes
First learn at home:immerse yourself in Portuguese -- listen and repeat after the native speakers with the all-Portuguese recordings
follow along with the manual, which includes English translations
learn conversation, grammar, and culture
Then practice on the go:review and expand upon what you've learned
an English-speaking instructor guides you through each lesson
no reading required with these Portuguese/English recordings
learn in the car, at the gym, anywhere

From the Back Cover

"The dialogues are wonderful and among the best I've seen in a language course." -- Alexandra Leaf, New York University

"I would not hesitate to use it as a primary text in any elementary or intermediate college-level class." -- Professor Vincenzo Gatto, Ithaca College, Ithaca, N.Y.

"The materials are of a high quality and are fun for the learner." -- Cynthia Ramsey, Ph.D., Basic Language Program, University of Southern California

"A really great package for those who don't have the money to spend two years in a foreign country!" -- Juergen Kempff, Ph.D., Curriculum Director, University of California, Irvine

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Living Language; Pap/Cas edition (April 18, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609604228
• ISBN-13: 978-0609604229
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 9.6 x 2.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,250,162 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #9 in Books > Books on Cassette > Languages > Portuguese

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ultimate Portuguese, May 2, 2000

By 

[e-mail] - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ultimate Portuguese (LL(R) Ultimate Basic-Intermed) (Audio Cassette)

This set is by far the best product available for the intermediate student of Portuguese on the market. It combines a complete review of grammer with extensive vocabulary and idiomatic expressions presented as an introduction to numerous cultural notes. The cassettes are indispensable to the course since Portuguese pronunciation is certainly somewhat trickier than that of other Romance languages for native speakers of English. The accents on the tapes focus on the Brazilian variety and are very easy to understand with sufficient time to repeat for the non-beginner. The set also devotes sufficient time to the culture and accent of Portugal. It even discusses the use of Portuguese in Africa. The book starts with the basics and proceeds to an advanced lever; however, the recorded material may be spoken far too fast without sufficient pause to respond for the absolute beginner. Nevertheless, the course as a whole is fantastic. I especially was impressed with the way that it builds upon materials presented and laps back to repeat certain lessons without becoming boring. I would recommend this set as the best available grammatical review and practice of the spoken language for any student beyond the beginning level.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good value for a great course !, November 8, 2001

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ultimate Portuguese (LL(R) Ultimate Basic-Intermed) (Audio Cassette)

This is a great course and value for the money. The speakers and recording quality are excellent. After taking Pimsleur Portuguese I and Barron's Portuguese, I found the approach in this course to be fun and interesting with lively, relevant dialogs.

If you already know Spanish, you can pick up Portuguese very quickly after learning the rules of pronunciation, because so many of the words are exactly the same or nearly the same as Spanish. However, be forewarned, Portuguese has several sounds that don't exist in English or Spanish. Also, the same word can have different pronunciations, so herein lies challenges of learning Portuguese. However, the tape series provides you with a realistic experience of the various pronunciations that you will encounter with different Portuguese speaking people.

If you are a raw beginner with foreign languages, then the pace of the spoken dialogs and the rapid introduction of new words and tenses in this series may be challenging, but don't become discouraged. Repetition is the mother of all language learning, so review each chapter and tape several times before proceeding. You will find that it gets easier each time that you review.

My only criticism is the number of typos. I saw 5 in the first 185 pages, e.g. pg. 185, "agora = know", but it should = "now". The book was just published in 2000, so hopefully the editors will correct the errors in future editions. But don't let a few typos stop you from buying and enjoying this course. I have purchased several of the Living Language Spanish tape series in the past, and I found this Portuguese course to be the best and most enjoyable one to date.

Since there aren't as many courses available in Portuguese as some other languages, I just hope that Living Language will soon publish an "advanced" series by the same authors as a sequel.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical and Reasonably Paced, July 25, 2001

By 

Ryan - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ultimate Portuguese (LL(R) Ultimate Basic-Intermed) (Audio Cassette)

My wife and I are moving to Brazil for two years this month, and neither of us speak Portuguese. We plan on spending the first few months of our trip focusing on language learning, but we wanted a head start before we left. So we spent hours in bookstores this week looking for the right program. We settled on this Living Language set and we're happy with it.

We put the first tape in on the way home from the bookstore. The tapes are ONLY Portuguese, which allows you to be saturated with the sounds of the language. The book lets you follow along with the tape and read the English translations. Once you've gone through a lesson on the tape and have read the lesson in the book, you can play the tape over and over again without the book to practice pronunciation and memorize the words and phrases.

Perhaps what I liked best about this program is that you can use the book without the tape. The book is a real language textbook which can be read and used without listening to the tape. So, when you can't listen to a tape, you can still be reading dialogues, memorizing vocabulary, and learning grammar.

The lessons are paced well, accomodating any level of learner. If you want to focus on one lesson you can do that easily. The lessons are broken up into 10 minute or so chunks. If you want to keep going and soak up several lessons at once you can do that, too.

The vocabulary and grammar is immediately practical. From the very first dialogue you are learning everyday conversation. It's not just a "phrase book" however since the book also covers the grammar that is introduced in each dialogue.

We're happy with Ultimate Portuguese, and I'm sure that it will be a worthwhile investment.