
Facebook for Portuguese Learners: Transform Your Newsfeed into Language Learning Gold
You use it to share your favorite viral cat memes.
You use it to judge your frenemies from the comfort and safety of your couch.
You use it to share personal information about yourself and your friends with third-party marketers and suspicious data mining firms (okay, maybe you didn’t do that on purpose).
Regardless of what you use it for, Facebook plays a lot of different roles in your life. But can you really use Facebook to learn Portuguese?
Social media language learning is nothing to sneeze at. There are a lot of resources on social media that can help you improve your skills. Hey, there are even entire social networks for language learners.
So when you’re looking to practice Portuguese online, Facebook should definitely be one of the Portuguese learning tools in your arsenal.
Whether you want to learn Brazilian or European Portuguese, Facebook has you covered. Here’s all you need to know about learning Portuguese on Facebook!
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Why Use Facebook to Learn Portuguese?
First of all, Facebook is interactive. Interaction with others in your target language is crucial for fluency, but it can be difficult to find those opportunities. However, since Facebook is social, you can practice reading, writing, listening and even speaking in Portuguese all in one place.
Plus, Facebook is flexible. You can access it from your computer, phone or favorite device, enabling you to learn whenever and wherever you feel like.
Facebook also provides a nice array of resources. You’ll find images, texts and videos, so you aren’t stuck trying to study from just one type of resource. What’s more, you’ll get them all without spending a penny since Facebook is free! It’s hard to beat that price.
Finally, Facebook is a self-replenishing resource. If you follow enough accounts, you’ll have fresh Portuguese learning material every time you log in.
How to Get Started with Facebook Portuguese Learning
Set up a dedicated Portuguese learning account:
If you want to get the maximum Portuguese education you can out of Facebook, you might want to set up an account dedicated exclusively to Portuguese. From this account, you can follow Portuguese-language and Portuguese-related pages, friend Portuguese speakers and post in Portuguese.
This way, whenever you log in to your account, you’ll be fully immersed in the language. Plus, you won’t risk alienating your English-speaking friends with your frequent Portuguese-language posts. You want to improve your Portuguese, not make everyone you know unfriend you!
Follow a variety of Portuguese pages:
There are two main types of pages we’ll cover in the list below: Portuguese learning pages and authentic Portuguese language pages. Follow both types to get focused practice and language immersion from your Facebook feed.
The pages dedicated to learning Portuguese typically post brief language activities, helpful learning tips and useful vocabulary. Your newsfeed will soon fill with great learning resources.
Meanwhile, authentic accounts are just what you need to propel you closer to fluency. Authentic accounts are accounts from native Portuguese speakers. Here, you’ll get everyday posts, just like the ones you see in English.
But rather than just reading about your aunt’s latest vacation or drooling at pictures of the latest crazy Starbucks drink, you’ll see posts that can actually improve your Portuguese skills.
Learn Portuguese on Facebook! How to Turn Your Social Media Addiction into Language Learning Gold
Learn Brazilian Portuguese
The name says it all. If you’re looking to learn Brazilian Portuguese, this Facebook page is a great option.
Run by Semantica Portuguese, a course designed to help you learn Portuguese with episodic videos, this Facebook page frequently posts video clips in Portuguese.
Perhaps best of all, users are asked specific questions about the videos and are invited to answer in the comments section. Since the page administrators actually respond to comments, you may even get some feedback on your answers! Plus, since other users also respond to comments, you might be able to find some new friends and widen your Portuguese-learning community.
If you want more lessons, Learn Brazilian Portuguese also often shares links to its blog posts, which cover useful topics such as difficult vocabulary.
Portuguese
While its name on Facebook may seem vague, this page is actually run by a well-known name in language learning, Transparent Language.
New posts are added frequently. In fact, this Facebook page does a “Portuguese Word of the Day” that’s perfect for any student looking to learn Portuguese on Facebook. Each post includes the Portuguese word, its English meaning, the part of speech, an example sentence and even a link to the audio pronunciation of the word.
In addition to the word of the day, this Facebook page often links to Transparent Language’s blog posts on vocabulary, language education and more. Plus, it shares links to outside articles on Brazilian culture, food, history and travel, deepening your immersion and connection to the language.
Learn Portuguese — PortuguesePod101.com
This Facebook page from the popular Portuguese resource PortuguesePod101 offers terrific free learning resources on your Facebook newsfeed. The posts are diverse so there’s something for every learner.
For instance, PortuguesePod101 frequently posts images with vocabulary, which are especially helpful for visual learners. These images typically contain icons along with labels of the English and Portuguese words for the items depicted. For instance, you might learn thematic vocabulary, such as utensils.
You’ll also find videos with study tips, bite-sized lessons on idioms and more. You can also follow the posted links to read PortuguesePod101’s blog posts.
To keep it going outside of Facebook, check out PortuguesePod101's audio and video podcasts. There are more than 1,000 lessons already up with more added all the time. The lessons are designed to be both informative and entertaining, and they come with lots of extra learning material like PDF lesson notes and vocabulary building tools.
“O Globo” (“The Globe”)
“O Globo” is an authentic resource you’ll want to appear on your newsfeed.
This Rio de Janeiro-based newspaper posts dozens of articles to its Facebook page each day. Not only will this give you consistent Portuguese practice, but it’ll also keep you abreast of the latest current events that are relevant to Brazilian Portuguese-speakers.
Most of the stories focus on South America, so “O Globo’s” Facebook page is a valuable tool to learn about regional culture. There’s a nice mixture of different news stories, including hard news, entertainment news and, of course, sports news, so you’ll be exposed to an array of different thematic vocabulary.
Want to practice your writing? Many people post comments in response to news articles. You might try joining the conversation!
Neymar Jr.
Love soccer? Want to improve your Portuguese? Check out Neymar Jr.’s Facebook account.
Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, often known simply as “Neymar,” is a prominent and popular soccer player. But for Portuguese students, he has more to offer than soccer skills alone.
He frequently posts on Facebook in Portuguese. He also occasionally posts Portuguese-language videos. A lot of the vocabulary relates to soccer, but to sports fans, this vocabulary is indispensable.
If that’s not enough to get you to click the “follow” button, Neymar Jr. has nearly 60 million Facebook followers. Countless fans reply to his posts, giving you a nearly endless supply of authentic Portuguese-language reading material.
So go ahead and let Facebook all up in your Portuguese education. Work learning into your own personal user agreement!
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)