Elsa Maria wrote:I'm looking at getting Linguaphone for Dutch and/or European Portuguese … Is the Portuguese course new enough that I don't have to worry about orthography reforms? I haven't yet sorted out when Portuguese orthography changed enough to matter for beginner courses.
Speakeasy wrote:… As to the Linguaphone Portuguese course, which was completely rewritten in 1987, and the influence of the subsequent orthography reforms, I would not discount these materials over such a minor issue. Both of these courses differ greatly in their approach to teaching from those of the previous generation (1970’s). They are far more demanding of the student and, as such, more effective, in my opinion.
Although I was not overly-concerned by the presence of pre-reform text in the Assimil, Cortina, DLI, FSI, Linguaphone, Living Language, Routledge, and and other Portuguese courses that I used, Elsa Maria’s questions are quite valid are definitely worth discussing.Elsa Maria wrote:… I do not know enough about Portuguese spelling reforms to know that they are a minor issue. Looking around on Linguaphone's website, I found out that the Portuguese course is available in a download version but the Dutch one is not. I was torn over which one to try first, but I think that Portuguese wins.
So then, the questions to the members are: given the reforms, (a) to what extent are these pre-reform courses still valid, (b) what are their deficiencies, and (c) what additional measures should the independent-learner take to compensate for the latter?
I have appended a couple of links for quick reference.
Reforms of Portuguese orthography - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reforms_of_Portuguese_orthography
Portuguese orthography - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_orthography