Product Description

Learn another language the way you learnt your own

You learnt your own language naturally and enjoyably: now you can learn Portuguese in the same way.

You'll stick with it because you'll love it

Use the unique method perfected over fifty years by the celebrated psychologist and linguist Michel Thomas.

This method works with your brain, helping you to build up your Portuguese in manageable, enjoyable steps by thinking out the answers for yourself.

You learn through listening and speaking without the pressure of writing or memorising.

You pick up the language naturally and unforgettably.

 

The NEW Portuguese Foundation Course

An eight-hour, 100% audio method for learning Portuguese. Join Michel Thomas's editor Virginia Catmur, native speaker Paulo Santos and two students in a live lesson and within the first hour you will be able to construct simple phrases. You will learn the language with the students, hearing both their successes and their mistakes to keep you motivated and involved throughout the course. By the end, you will have the confidence to understand and speak Portuguese. On the final track, the teachers are joined by native Brazilian Portuguese speaker Gui Tavares to give you an insight into Brazilian pronunciation and usage.

 

Join the millions of people worldwide who have learnt a new language with the Michel Thomas Method

Contents: 8 CDs plus booklet with Portuguese phrases in English translation

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21434 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-25
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: Portuguese, English
• Binding: Audio CD

Review
"A great way to learn; it's fast and it lasts". (The Daily Telegraph )

"Five minutes into the first CD, you already feel like you're winning." (Time Out )

"Michel Thomas is a precious find indeed." (The Guardian )

"Thomas makes it simple" (Sunday Times )

"Michel's methods will teach you effectively and easily" (Daily Star )

"Hugely inspiring" (Red )

"Ideal for any business traveller who needs to be able to get around confidently." (Sunday Business )

"Moving along at a relaxed, slow pace, punctuated by amusing anecdotes and jokes from the teacher, the new words, phrases and language rules are gently introduced and reinforced through subtle repetition without ever being tedious. In fact, despite a distinct emphasis on non-work, the course proves very effective and enjoyable, and its format is ideal for learning anywhere you like. So, if you only want to learn to speak the language, this course is highly recommended."

(Top Real Travel Product, Real Travel )

"Excellent for learning ... This entirely audio course is easy to use and quickly results in some useful ability in the new language. Great for the car."

(Adventure Travel )

About the Author

Virginia Catmur studied Portuguese at the universities of Oxford and Lisbon. As Languages Editor at Hodder, she worked in the studio with Michel Thomas during the recording of his Advanced courses in 2004 and was responsible for their audio editing. She has since developed courses in new languages using the Michel Thomas Method.

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Customer Reviews

Useful; but not as good as Michel Tomas' originals
Michel Thomas, the language genius who pioneered this learning style, sadly died a few years ago, and this is a course in his style, rather than by him. Sadly, this isn't as good as his Spanish course Michel Thomas Foundation Course: Spanish (Michel Thomas Series), for example, but it's an innovative way to grasp a new language.

Learning from your knowledge of English you construct phrases in Portuguese rather than learn words. For example, all 'cion' words like 'information' in English all end 'ção' in Portuguese - so 'informação'. You're encouraged to see the patterns and think it through yourself rather than parrot back.

The course fails slightly on a few things - mainly that pronouncing Portuguese is very hard, and more attention is needed especially with the vowel sounds. It's not too helpful. Also, the section on Brazilian Portuguese is literally 5mins at the very end - disappointing and odd, especially as Brazilian is much easier to pronounce than European (in my opinion at least). Finally, the voice and attitude of the main speaker is grating, especially after eight hours - she's a bit too patronising and nasal to listen too comfortably.

All in all, good, but not a patch on Michel's original courses.

Brilliant
Bought this after purchasing the Linguaphone PDQ 4 CD course which I found very limited. The Michel Thomas method is only a few pounds more expensive. After only an hour you feel you are getting a grasp on the language and the pronunciation quite well. The similarities (and differences) with English are very well explained. The two students in the CD can be a little annoying but I like the feeling of learning along with other beginners and it definitely boosts one's confidence when they get it wrong! Each phrase is then correctly pronounced by a native Portuguese speaker. I am now a fan and feel like learning another language by this method just for the fun of it!

Pretty Painless Portuguese
I'm a bit of a fan of the Michel Thomas method that builds grammatical building blocks through dialogue. It works very well for me and this is the fourth language I've worked with using this series. Portuguese is however the first I've tried without being a 'false beginner' (although I confess I speak Spanish, which is of course a tremendous help with Portuguese). Again the approach seems hard to fault. The new series actually better than the originals as the structure, repetition and 'cognitive load' (amount of new material per track) seems better planned and the use of a `native' speaker apart from the teacher is particularly helpful. The virtual 'students' were sometimes annoying, but I think they serve a purpose to pace the material. The grammar and pronunciation was well-covered, the vocabulary though sparse was useful and I thought the Brazilian vs European language differences very deftly explained. Actually I found the recordings quite relaxing, but maybe that's something to do with the delightful Portuguese language itself. Personally I consider as with all MT courses, you'd have to do them a few times for it all to stick and of course practice the structures a lot on your own, but I do think they are just an incredibly efficient way of building language confidence.