Customer Reviews

Teach Yourself Portuguese Complete Course Package (Book + 2CDs) (TY: Complete Courses)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I am using this course as an absolute beginner and someone who does not find languages easy to learn. I find the course quite good, with a steady progression building up on what you learn. For me though top marks go to the way pronunciation is taught.

The course exposes the learner to different accents so you can understand native speakers wherever you go and also gives the learner the opportunity of practicing different accents. European and Brazilian accents are contrasted in the units in the book and the CDs.

Furthermore the CDs have a special section with detailed practice on how to distinguish and pronounce Brazilian and European Portuguese accents for all the sounds in the language. This corresponds to a very long table in the book in the Pronunciation section (pages 287-293) where you can find every sound, an English sound alike, the location in the Portuguese word, and how to pronounce it. You look at the sound in the table and listen to it on the CD. You can't go wrong!

Lounging in Rio, Lisbon, Luanda, Maputo? This course is for you, as it is for me!

This is an excellent course by all standards: structure, progression, vocabulary, pleny of practice and enjoyable exercises. But there is also something very special about this course that suits my learning requirements and I had not found before. This is what I would call a mid-atlantic course, with Portuguese you can use wherever you need it, a neutral Portuguese for both sides of the Atlantic. This is what I needed for my work takes me to more than one country where I have to communicate in Portuguese. And the course works. They can understand me! I strongly recommend this course.

I had tried other Portuguese courses before but this one is in my opinion the best. It covers practically everything you can think of in terms of vocabulary for different situations but without getting too much. Every word you learn appears to crop up again in a different context so you make the most of it with least effort. Different topics are entwined so you can use what you have learned in one area for another. For example you combine color (red) with clothes (red blouse) and shopping (red box) and how to identify people (the lady with the red bag) and so on. I really like the method. It makes the language look logic and easy to grasp and use.

I have also found another very good book by Manuela Cook. The title is Portuguese Verbs Explained, an essential guide. It was published in the UK. It tells you all about the Portuguese verbs in a very accessible way (even I understand it!) and how to make sentences with them. It also explains how they compare with English verbs, translating into and from. The course and the verbs book are musts if you want to learn Portuguese well, quickly and enjoyably. Full marks to Dr Cook from me!

This is money well spent.

I cannot say anything negative about this course. Book and Audio are packed with good stuff. I just want to highlight what I think makes this a top course.

It starts from the very beginning for the absolute beginner, but the time you finish you are doing quite well. How this is achieved is through the steady build up of structures and vocabulary. In the first 5 units you learn how to survive in the language, then all you have learned is there again for you at a slightly more advanced level and so on and so on. You really feel you are building up something.

Another good point is that it exposes the learner to different accents so you are not limited to one and can understand different voices which has been really good for me for I have to use my Portuguese in Brazil, a number of African countries and Portugal.

This course holds the secret of good teaching. It has worked well for me and I am no linguist.

My previous experience of this series was with the corresponding Italian set. I found that very helpful, and I find the Portuguese offering very helpful too, but not in quite the same way. This one makes us work harder, and that is really a good thing. The basic format is the same, but the dialogues are mainly given in Portuguese only without their English equivalents. The sections are also shorter than in the Italian job, with fewer of the exercises in the book represented on the two cd's, although the 24th and final section is a long and patient summary of the pronunciation, which many English-speakers find tricky.

I had a little previous knowledge of Portuguese dating from a holiday in Portugal in 1974. This time I'm going to Brazil. The Portuguese spoken there is not quite the same, the differences being mainly in pronunciation but to some extent in vocabulary and spelling as well. Both versions are given in this course, but I'd say that it's not a lot harder to master both than to master one, and my recommendation to users of the course is to go with the flow and not try to cut bits out. Portuguese is roughly as difficult as French, and rather more difficult to begin with than Spanish or Italian, but all the languages descended from Latin have a strong family resemblance, and anyone starting with some grasp of Spanish, Italian or French will be a couple of rungs up the Portuguese ladder already.

The way they have gone about this course makes the first steps harder than in the Italian course, with less spoon-feeding. One has to concentrate fairly hard to keep abreast of the spoken Portuguese without its English equivalent, especially where the dialogue is not in the printed text. However if we grit our teeth and battle through we will achieve more fluency faster this way, and that makes it worth the effort. In case it helps, my own way of doing it is to go through the book listening to the spoken dialogue first, then go through the book on its own learning the vocabulary and the verbs, then repeat the two processes as often as necessary. Listen carefully to the pronunciation each time and don't stop over the bits you don't understand, I'd say. Keep moving, keep going back over it, and before very long it's surprising how much sinks in.

I shall be going to Rio, and I am informed on unimpeachable authority that the population of Rio think the denizens of Sao Paulo are all bank managers, while the inhabitants of Sao Paulo think those of Rio are all beach-bums. The chapters in this course are basically designed for tourists, but a fair attempt has been made at balancing the two cultures. I am principally going to visit my daughter who is on an extended holiday, but I shall also be renewing my acquaintance with an old university friend, long resident in Sao Paulo, who is, er, a bank manager. This gives me both the opportunity and the obligation to learn the course in its entirety, and I am finding already that this is really the simplest approach in the long run and that cutting corners just makes it all more complicated.

I learned Portuguese as a foreign language quite e few years ago. My first contact with the language was thru one of Manuela Cook's earlier courses. I liked it and now, that I am teaching the language, I have looked up this more recent course with my students in mind.

I am guiding a group of learners on a selftuition program and have chosen this course for their main source of information for the following reasons:

* it teaches a straighforward Portuguese you can use anywhere where Portuguese is spoken;

* it caters for the absolute beginner but later chapters address the needs of a more advanced learner;

* it starts with very little grammar but at the same time ensures the main structures are in place for further development in the second part of the course;

* it concentrates on practical vocabulary of everyday use but does not neglect structural features, which provides a good grounding for the mastery of the language.

This course goes a long way in more than one way. This is why I recommend it to my students and to you who have just read my review. Quite good!

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.

I quite like this course. Why? For more than one reason. It is very well organised, practical and incremental. You achieve something each time you read a page and listen to the recordings. But at the top of my reasons to recommend this course is its general approach to the language. You do not get slang from here or there but a standard Portuguese you can use anywhere. This is important in the "global village" we live in now. You do not want to have to learn a number of "Portugueses" but an all-purpose correct language. This is meaningful to me. Of course, there will be local differences, but these are signposted and you just have to substitute the local word. The common core is the basis, then a change a matter of local adjustment. Top marks for this. I have used the Portuguese I learned in this course both in Brazil, Portugal and Timor, and I have been understood in all these places. Very happy with the course indeed!

Languages is not my scene. The implications are that i need words to have practical application and something well structured but i don't like grammar. Learning that is fun also helps. With these requirements this course is for me.

This course teaches very practical vocabulary and takes a well structured approach that manages to be fun. The humorous pictures set the right mood. I like the big tooth symbol for the dentist, the witty no drink drive notice and speeding fine. The exercises are equally humorous. All this helps the pill go down. The pill (grammar) is also introduced gently, another bonus.

The whole course is highly informative but relaxed. It makes learning fun. That is why it is for people like me. I am very happy with it and very happy to recommend it to other learners.

I have used this course entirely on my own, all the Portuguese I know was learned this way, and I managed to communicate quite well when in Brazil not long ago.

I am therefore very happy to recommend this course.