Which Portuguese to learn?

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Gomorrita
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Re: Which Portuguese to learn?

Postby Gomorrita » Sat Aug 26, 2017 7:59 am

Luso wrote:I loved HTLAL, but it had some recurring prejudices. One was exaggerating the differences between the regional variants of Portuguese. Whenever you asked the natives (like me and a few Brazilians) everyone would dispel this notion. Differences? yes. Difficulties understanding each other? not really. Some advanced learners, like my friend Iguanamon, would also minimise it. Then the misconception would creep up again.

Ok, but you have to consider that this also depends on the learner. For people who, like me, find decoding speech the hardest part of learning a language, I wouldn't minimize the difficulty of learning two varieties that mostly differ in pronunciation.

I would certainly choose to learn European Portuguese, because I strongly suspect that if I learned Brazilian one, it would not allow me to easily understand European Portuguese speech.

For the record, I often struggle understanding speech in my native language too.
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tarvos
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Re: Which Portuguese to learn?

Postby tarvos » Sat Aug 26, 2017 8:33 am

Luso wrote:I loved HTLAL, but it had some recurring prejudices. One was exaggerating the differences between the regional variants of Portuguese. Whenever you asked the natives (like me and a few Brazilians) everyone would dispel this notion. Differences? yes. Difficulties understanding each other? not really. Some advanced learners, like my friend Iguanamon, would also minimise it. Then the misconception would creep up again.

Having said that, I think that you should go with European Portuguese. I am biased, I know. But, the difference being small, there's a factor that could help tip the balance in your case: we adhere more to "official" grammar than our brothers and sisters from across the ocean. And that should render your learning easier.

On a personal, unrelated note: my girlfriend lives in Texas, and I'd like to tell you what I told her a little while ago: It seems you're in for a rough night. I hope that y'all may stay safe in the next couple of days.


The pronunciation difference is definitely larger for Portuguese. *I* don't have trouble with that, but the way I express myself can sometimes come across as comical to Brazilians when I speak Portuguese with a thick Euro accent. With Dutch on top.

But I have both European and Brazilian speakers of Portuguese in my friends list and have spoken Portuguese before, although my Portuguese is nothing to write home about. I doubt it is over B1.
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rfnsoares
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Re: Which Portuguese to learn?

Postby rfnsoares » Sat Aug 26, 2017 12:35 pm

I quite agree with the Luso's post. There are minor differences in vocabulary and in grammar, especially in pronouns. Ok' the accent is quite different. Besides I do not find difficulties in understand what my Portuguese friends are saying (I'm from Brazil by the way). Also I do not find any difficulties in reading Portuguese newspapers and novels.
If I were you I would choose resources that you find interesting. I wouldn't bother too much about it.
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BOLIO
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Re: Which Portuguese to learn?

Postby BOLIO » Sat Aug 26, 2017 1:33 pm

Luso wrote:I loved HTLAL, but it had some recurring prejudices. One was exaggerating the differences between the regional variants of Portuguese. Whenever you asked the natives (like me and a few Brazilians) everyone would dispel this notion. Differences? yes. Difficulties understanding each other? not really. Some advanced learners, like my friend Iguanamon, would also minimise it. Then the misconception would creep up again.

Having said that, I think that you should go with European Portuguese. I am biased, I know. But, the difference being small, there's a factor that could help tip the balance in your case: we adhere more to "official" grammar than our brothers and sisters from across the ocean. And that should render your learning easier.

On a personal, unrelated note: my girlfriend lives in Texas, and I'd like to tell you what I told her a little while ago: It seems you're in for a rough night. I hope that y'all may stay safe in the next couple of days.


Thank you for the advice and the kind words. This hurricane is doing some real damage. I moved my family inland about 150 miles. Hoping our home is not flooded upon our return in a few days. Thanks again.

Thanks again for the advice from all of you. As always, the experiences of the members of this board is invaluable and enjoyable. Thank you very much.
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FyrsteSumarenINoreg
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Re: Which Portuguese to learn?

Postby FyrsteSumarenINoreg » Sun Aug 27, 2017 9:05 am

Angolan Portuguese seems like a nice compromise, the pronunciation is clear, and it is easy to understand due to open vowels and minimal vowel reduction> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAiCaUO7JLQ
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