Learning Portuguese is challenging at best

[LotusBud]

But today, I saw a Portuguese friend of mine who speaks English and I just automatically started trying to explain something to him in Portuguese. I forgot to speak English. Haha. And he understood me! Good sign.

Baby steps.

 

[Admin.]

I can’t remember but you must have had some Romance language back in your professional student days, oui?

 

[Joe]

But today, I saw a Portuguese friend of mine who speaks English and I just automatically started trying to explain something to him in Portuguese. I forgot to speak English. Haha. And he understood me! Good sign.

Baby steps.

If I were trying to conquer or learn Portuguese I'd go this route:

1. Spanish then
2. Italian then
3. French then
4. Portuguese

...of the 4, Portuguese seems the hardest.

Spanish the easiest, Italian the next easiest, French more difficult, and Portuguese the most difficult.

 

[Seamajor]

But today, I saw a Portuguese friend of mine who speaks English and I just automatically started trying to explain something to him in Portuguese. I forgot to speak English. Haha. And he understood me! Good sign.

Baby steps.

Understand completely

 

[Lily]

But today, I saw a Portuguese friend of mine who speaks English and I just automatically started trying to explain something to him in Portuguese. I forgot to speak English. Haha. And he understood me! Good sign.

Baby steps.

If I were trying to conquer or learn Portuguese I'd go this route:

1. Spanish then
2. Italian then
3. French then
4. Portuguese

...of the 4, Portuguese seems the hardest.

Spanish the easiest, Italian the next easiest, French more difficult, and Portuguese the most difficult.

In order of difficulty it's probably:

Spanish
Portuguese
Italian
French

 

[RANCIDMILKO ™ ®©]

Eu te diria pra arrumar um namorado brazuca, moça do bumbum médio. Mas você é casada, então vai ter que sofrer pelo caminho mais duro.

 

[Joe]

But today, I saw a Portuguese friend of mine who speaks English and I just automatically started trying to explain something to him in Portuguese. I forgot to speak English. Haha. And he understood me! Good sign.

Baby steps.

If I were trying to conquer or learn Portuguese I'd go this route:

1. Spanish then
2. Italian then
3. French then
4. Portuguese

...of the 4, Portuguese seems the hardest.

Spanish the easiest, Italian the next easiest, French more difficult, and Portuguese the most difficult.

In order of difficulty it's probably:

Spanish
Portuguese
Italian
French

Maybe to a native Spanish speaker.

Canadian/Quebec French seemed the most incomprehensible to an outsider. It would rank up there with Brazilian Portuguese in level of difficulty.

You can actually understand Parisian French & Quebec French is totally incomprehensible

 

[RANCIDMILKO ™ ®©]

In order of difficulty it's probably:

Spanish
Portuguese
Italian
French

I find Italian very easy to learn, I think I'd pick it up as fast as I learned Spanish if I listened to people talking it daily.

 

[Joe]

Eu te diria pra arrumar um namorado brazuca, moça do bumbum médio. Mas você é casada, então vai ter que sofrer pelo caminho mais duro.

That looks difficult without even hearing it.

 

[RANCIDMILKO ™ ®©]

Maybe to a native Spanish speaker.

Canadian/Quebec French seemed the most incomprehensible to an outsider. It would rank up there with Brazilian Portuguese in level of difficulty.

You can actually understand Parisian French & Quebec French is totally incomprehensible

The problem with Spanish is that they have a lot of variations because of all the countries and some of them put indigenous words in the midst, a lot of them, like the Ecuadorians

 

[Lily]

In order of difficulty it's probably:

Spanish
Portuguese
Italian
French

I find Italian very easy to learn, I think I'd pick it up as fast as I learned Spanish if I listened to people talking it daily.

I watch movies in different languages on Netflix. I agree with you, Italian is not that hard to follow.

 

[Lily]

Maybe to a native Spanish speaker.

Canadian/Quebec French seemed the most incomprehensible to an outsider. It would rank up there with Brazilian Portuguese in level of difficulty.

You can actually understand Parisian French & Quebec French is totally incomprehensible

The problem with Spanish is that they have a lot of variations because of all the countries and some of them put indigenous words in the midst, a lot of them, like the Ecuadorians

Yup, the reason that Spanish is so varied, and probably the same for Brazilian Portuguese, is because of all the flora and fauna that did not exist in the Old World but does here.

 

[Admin.]

In order of difficulty it's probably:

Spanish
Portuguese
Italian
French

I find Italian very easy to learn, I think I'd pick it up as fast as I learned Spanish if I listened to people talking it daily.

I watch movies in different languages on Netflix. I agree with you, Italian is not that hard to follow.

In college when our Mexican intern arrived our Spanish speakers were not available one of our crew had rudimentary Italian skills from speaking to her grandparents growing up, they were able to communicate

 

[Lily]

In order of difficulty it's probably:

Spanish
Portuguese
Italian
French

I find Italian very easy to learn, I think I'd pick it up as fast as I learned Spanish if I listened to people talking it daily.

I watch movies in different languages on Netflix. I agree with you, Italian is not that hard to follow.

In college when our Mexican intern arrived our Spanish speakers were not available one of our crew had rudimentary Italian skills from speaking to her grandparents growing up, they were able to communicate

They're all Romance languages...speaking of Italian.

My kiddo married a second generation Italian. His mom was born here as first generation and speaks Italian fluently. Her parents were from Sicily. She has cool stories because her parents started a small business in the East Bay. Her dad was an Italian trained tailor from the Old Country. He made custom tailored clothes for different Raiders football players and other celebrities in the Bay Area. Their tailor shop grew into a bridal store in addition to suit making.

She still has hardcore Italian values. She's welcomed our family as hers. She's like "we're all family now" which works for Latinos as well. Very solid people, give you the shirts off their back, fierce, passionate and very loving. And loyal AF.

I'm very happy to have them in our family.

 

[RANCIDMILKO ™ ®©]

Eu te diria pra arrumar um namorado brazuca, moça do bumbum médio. Mas você é casada, então vai ter que sofrer pelo caminho mais duro.

That looks difficult without even hearing it.

One thing that's really sad here in Brazil though, it's probably one of the biggest needs we have here in terms of labor, people who speak English.

Twenty years ago they decided Spanish was more important than English because of all the trade agreements, so they started removing English and teaching it instead. Some said English was "a waste of time" and a "colonization tool" and many students never learned the basics anyway because it was too difficult.

Many people here put "Spanish" in the language field when trying to get a job, but if they had to actually speak it one day or understand someone speaking, they'd be screwed.

Meanwhile, a lot of companies don't invest or do business here because it's hard to find English speakers.

 

[LotusBud]

But today, I saw a Portuguese friend of mine who speaks English and I just automatically started trying to explain something to him in Portuguese. I forgot to speak English. Haha. And he understood me! Good sign.

Baby steps.

If I were trying to conquer or learn Portuguese I'd go this route:

1. Spanish then
2. Italian then
3. French then
4. Portuguese

...of the 4, Portuguese seems the hardest.

Spanish the easiest, Italian the next easiest, French more difficult, and Portuguese the most difficult.

In order of difficulty it's probably:

Spanish
Portuguese
Italian
French

I've studied all four. I agree with Portuguese being the most difficult and Spanish being easiest. French second most difficult. French seems so much easier to understand now that I've been tackling Portuguese for three years. LOL. Spanish is by far the most logical and straight forward of all of them.

 

[LotusBud]

Eu te diria pra arrumar um namorado brazuca, moça do bumbum médio. Mas você é casada, então vai ter que sofrer pelo caminho mais duro.

That looks difficult without even hearing it.

One thing that's really sad here in Brazil though, it's probably one of the biggest needs we have here in terms of labor, people who speak English.

Twenty years ago they decided Spanish was more important than English because of all the trade agreements, so they started removing English and teaching it instead. Some said English was "a waste of time" and a "colonization tool" and many students never learned the basics anyway because it was too difficult.

Many people here put "Spanish" in the language field when trying to get a job, but if they had to actually speak it one day or understand someone speaking, they'd be screwed.

Meanwhile, a lot of companies don't invest or do business here because it's hard to find English speakers.

Yeah. English is the lingua franca of Europe, and the Portuguese are better English speakers than the Italians or Spanish. I don't know about the French. I think they have taught English pretty consistently in their schools. French used to be the first foreign language in PT, but I think they replaced it with English more than 30 years ago.

 

[Lily]

But today, I saw a Portuguese friend of mine who speaks English and I just automatically started trying to explain something to him in Portuguese. I forgot to speak English. Haha. And he understood me! Good sign.

Baby steps.

If I were trying to conquer or learn Portuguese I'd go this route:

1. Spanish then
2. Italian then
3. French then
4. Portuguese

...of the 4, Portuguese seems the hardest.

Spanish the easiest, Italian the next easiest, French more difficult, and Portuguese the most difficult.

In order of difficulty it's probably:

Spanish
Portuguese
Italian
French

I've studied all four. I agree with Portuguese being the most difficult and Spanish being easiest. French second most difficult. French seems so much easier to understand now that I've been tackling Portuguese for three years. LOL. Spanish is by far the most logical and straight forward of all of them.

I guess being a native Spanish speaker, Portuguese doesn't seem as hard to me.

French is just a lot different as far as Romance languages go, it's the outlier if you will.

 

[LotusBud]

In order of difficulty it's probably:

Spanish
Portuguese
Italian
French

I find Italian very easy to learn, I think I'd pick it up as fast as I learned Spanish if I listened to people talking it daily.

You definitely would.

 

[LotusBud]

But today, I saw a Portuguese friend of mine who speaks English and I just automatically started trying to explain something to him in Portuguese. I forgot to speak English. Haha. And he understood me! Good sign.

Baby steps.

If I were trying to conquer or learn Portuguese I'd go this route:

1. Spanish then
2. Italian then
3. French then
4. Portuguese

...of the 4, Portuguese seems the hardest.

Spanish the easiest, Italian the next easiest, French more difficult, and Portuguese the most difficult.

In order of difficulty it's probably:

Spanish
Portuguese
Italian
French

I've studied all four. I agree with Portuguese being the most difficult and Spanish being easiest. French second most difficult. French seems so much easier to understand now that I've been tackling Portuguese for three years. LOL. Spanish is by far the most logical and straight forward of all of them.

I guess being a native Spanish speaker, Portuguese doesn't seem as hard to me.

French is just a lot different as far as Romance languages go, it's the outlier if you will.

Portuguese has some very uncommon grammar rules that are very different from Spanish. And European PT is not the same as Brasileiro in that regard. The pronunciation of European PT is insane. Nothing even close to Spanish pronunciation of vowels. For instance, United States is spelled Estados Unidos in PT, just like in Spanish. But it is pronounced Statch Oonetch. When someone is speaking fast, you can hardly pick it out of a sentence. When I said Estado Unidos, like in Spanish, at immigration, they said they didn't understand me. It's much easier to read it than to speak or hear it. I have a Spanish-speaking friend who teaches Spanish in the US. She studied Brazilian Portuguese for 9 years. When she came to PT, she did not understand a word. She was stupefied.

 

[LotusBud]

I can’t remember but you must have had some Romance language back in your professional student days, oui?

I studied Spanish for years and spent time in Mexico. I studied French and Italian. Those things make it both easier and harder, because they all get jumbled in my head. I have an Italian/Colombian friend whose been here for five years and speaks Portanholiano. It's a riot. He can't keep any of it straight, but I understand him.

 

[LotusBud]

Eu te diria pra arrumar um namorado brazuca, moça do bumbum médio. Mas você é casada, então vai ter que sofrer pelo caminho mais duro.

Tenho que sofrer de que?

PS, lmao @ bumbum médio. It's a nice one, in any case.

Is bumbum brasileiro? I had to look up moça. It's menina in PT.

 

[Lily]

But today, I saw a Portuguese friend of mine who speaks English and I just automatically started trying to explain something to him in Portuguese. I forgot to speak English. Haha. And he understood me! Good sign.

Baby steps.

If I were trying to conquer or learn Portuguese I'd go this route:

1. Spanish then
2. Italian then
3. French then
4. Portuguese

...of the 4, Portuguese seems the hardest.

Spanish the easiest, Italian the next easiest, French more difficult, and Portuguese the most difficult.

In order of difficulty it's probably:

Spanish
Portuguese
Italian
French

I've studied all four. I agree with Portuguese being the most difficult and Spanish being easiest. French second most difficult. French seems so much easier to understand now that I've been tackling Portuguese for three years. LOL. Spanish is by far the most logical and straight forward of all of them.

I guess being a native Spanish speaker, Portuguese doesn't seem as hard to me.

French is just a lot different as far as Romance languages go, it's the outlier if you will.

Portuguese has some very uncommon grammar rules that are very different from Spanish. And European PT is not the same as Brasileiro in that regard. The pronunciation of European PT is insane. Nothing even close to Spanish pronunciation of vowels. For instance, United States is spelled Estados Unidos in PT, just like in Spanish. But it is pronounced Statch Oonetch. When someone is speaking fast, you can hardly pick it out of a sentence. When I said Estado Unidos, like in Spanish, at immigration, they said they didn't understand me. It's much easier to read it than to speak or hear it. I have a Spanish-speaking friend who teaches Spanish in the US. She studied Brazilian Portuguese for 9 years. When she came to PT, she did not understand a word. She was stupefied.

I've only heard Portuguese speakers from the Azores, not mainland Portugal. Maybe there's a vast difference between the way the two are spoken.

 

[Jeannie]

heres a jeopardy question

what isolated portugal from spain so much that portugal created their own language?

 

[Lily]

heres a jeopardy question

what isolated portugal from spain so much that portugal created their own language?

Good question. I have no idea. My mom's dna report says that she's X% Spanish or Portuguese, genetically it doesn't seem to make a lot of difference.

 

[LotusBud]

But today, I saw a Portuguese friend of mine who speaks English and I just automatically started trying to explain something to him in Portuguese. I forgot to speak English. Haha. And he understood me! Good sign.

Baby steps.

If I were trying to conquer or learn Portuguese I'd go this route:

1. Spanish then
2. Italian then
3. French then
4. Portuguese

...of the 4, Portuguese seems the hardest.

Spanish the easiest, Italian the next easiest, French more difficult, and Portuguese the most difficult.

In order of difficulty it's probably:

Spanish
Portuguese
Italian
French

I've studied all four. I agree with Portuguese being the most difficult and Spanish being easiest. French second most difficult. French seems so much easier to understand now that I've been tackling Portuguese for three years. LOL. Spanish is by far the most logical and straight forward of all of them.

I guess being a native Spanish speaker, Portuguese doesn't seem as hard to me.

French is just a lot different as far as Romance languages go, it's the outlier if you will.

Portuguese has some very uncommon grammar rules that are very different from Spanish. And European PT is not the same as Brasileiro in that regard. The pronunciation of European PT is insane. Nothing even close to Spanish pronunciation of vowels. For instance, United States is spelled Estados Unidos in PT, just like in Spanish. But it is pronounced Statch Oonetch. When someone is speaking fast, you can hardly pick it out of a sentence. When I said Estado Unidos, like in Spanish, at immigration, they said they didn't understand me. It's much easier to read it than to speak or hear it. I have a Spanish-speaking friend who teaches Spanish in the US. She studied Brazilian Portuguese for 9 years. When she came to PT, she did not understand a word. She was stupefied.

I've only heard Portuguese speakers from the Azores, not mainland Portugal. Maybe there's a vast difference between the way the two are spoken.

I know the accents are different, but I've never spoken to anyone from the Azores, so I can't say how different. Here, Azores is pronounced Zorsh. Many vowels just completely disappear, and "S" has three different sounds: sh, ss, and zz. R's also have three different sounds.

 

[Lily]

But today, I saw a Portuguese friend of mine who speaks English and I just automatically started trying to explain something to him in Portuguese. I forgot to speak English. Haha. And he understood me! Good sign.

Baby steps.

If I were trying to conquer or learn Portuguese I'd go this route:

1. Spanish then
2. Italian then
3. French then
4. Portuguese

...of the 4, Portuguese seems the hardest.

Spanish the easiest, Italian the next easiest, French more difficult, and Portuguese the most difficult.

In order of difficulty it's probably:

Spanish
Portuguese
Italian
French

I've studied all four. I agree with Portuguese being the most difficult and Spanish being easiest. French second most difficult. French seems so much easier to understand now that I've been tackling Portuguese for three years. LOL. Spanish is by far the most logical and straight forward of all of them.

I guess being a native Spanish speaker, Portuguese doesn't seem as hard to me.

French is just a lot different as far as Romance languages go, it's the outlier if you will.

Portuguese has some very uncommon grammar rules that are very different from Spanish. And European PT is not the same as Brasileiro in that regard. The pronunciation of European PT is insane. Nothing even close to Spanish pronunciation of vowels. For instance, United States is spelled Estados Unidos in PT, just like in Spanish. But it is pronounced Statch Oonetch. When someone is speaking fast, you can hardly pick it out of a sentence. When I said Estado Unidos, like in Spanish, at immigration, they said they didn't understand me. It's much easier to read it than to speak or hear it. I have a Spanish-speaking friend who teaches Spanish in the US. She studied Brazilian Portuguese for 9 years. When she came to PT, she did not understand a word. She was stupefied.

I've only heard Portuguese speakers from the Azores, not mainland Portugal. Maybe there's a vast difference between the way the two are spoken.

I know the accents are different, but I've never spoken to anyone from the Azores, so I can't say how different. Here, Azores is pronounced Zorsh. Many vowels just completely disappear, and "S" has three different sounds: sh, ss, and zz. R's also have three different sounds.

Yeah, when I hear Portuguese it sounds like they're speaking with their mouth full to me.

 

[LotusBud]

But today, I saw a Portuguese friend of mine who speaks English and I just automatically started trying to explain something to him in Portuguese. I forgot to speak English. Haha. And he understood me! Good sign.

Baby steps.

If I were trying to conquer or learn Portuguese I'd go this route:

1. Spanish then
2. Italian then
3. French then
4. Portuguese

...of the 4, Portuguese seems the hardest.

Spanish the easiest, Italian the next easiest, French more difficult, and Portuguese the most difficult.

In order of difficulty it's probably:

Spanish
Portuguese
Italian
French

I've studied all four. I agree with Portuguese being the most difficult and Spanish being easiest. French second most difficult. French seems so much easier to understand now that I've been tackling Portuguese for three years. LOL. Spanish is by far the most logical and straight forward of all of them.

I guess being a native Spanish speaker, Portuguese doesn't seem as hard to me.

French is just a lot different as far as Romance languages go, it's the outlier if you will.

Portuguese has some very uncommon grammar rules that are very different from Spanish. And European PT is not the same as Brasileiro in that regard. The pronunciation of European PT is insane. Nothing even close to Spanish pronunciation of vowels. For instance, United States is spelled Estados Unidos in PT, just like in Spanish. But it is pronounced Statch Oonetch. When someone is speaking fast, you can hardly pick it out of a sentence. When I said Estado Unidos, like in Spanish, at immigration, they said they didn't understand me. It's much easier to read it than to speak or hear it. I have a Spanish-speaking friend who teaches Spanish in the US. She studied Brazilian Portuguese for 9 years. When she came to PT, she did not understand a word. She was stupefied.

I've only heard Portuguese speakers from the Azores, not mainland Portugal. Maybe there's a vast difference between the way the two are spoken.

I know the accents are different, but I've never spoken to anyone from the Azores, so I can't say how different. Here, Azores is pronounced Zorsh. Many vowels just completely disappear, and "S" has three different sounds: sh, ss, and zz. R's also have three different sounds.

Yeah, when I hear Portuguese it sounds like they're speaking with their mouth full to me.

It's completely nuts. It bears no resemblance to the written words.

 

[LotusBud]

heres a jeopardy question

what isolated portugal from spain so much that portugal created their own language?

I often read here that Portuguese is closest to the original Latin. So creating their own language is not really accurate if that's true. But it could be myth.

 

[Jeannie]

heres a jeopardy question

what isolated portugal from spain so much that portugal created their own language?

I often read here that Portuguese is closest to the original Latin. So creating their own language is not really accurate if that's true. But it could be myth.

well something isolated them, ie a mountain range

i thought u would know this one, easily