{"id":60655,"date":"2024-03-06T10:02:12","date_gmt":"2024-03-06T15:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/learn-portuguese-websites\/"},"modified":"2025-02-23T23:46:03","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T04:46:03","slug":"learn-portuguese-websites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/portuguese\/learn-portuguese-websites\/","title":{"rendered":"Top 20 Portuguese Learning Resources For Learners of Any Level"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the World Wide Web grows wider and the devices used to navigate it become smaller, finding your way through the modern Tower of Babel is a matter of time rather than resources.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s undeniable that the internet has transformed the way we learn languages, particularly by making learning a much more accessible<\/strong> experience<\/a>. In this post, you’ll find the top 20 Portuguese learning resources<\/strong> to help you push your studies to the next level.<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1. Polly Lingual<\/a>\"learn<\/a><\/h2>\n

Price:<\/strong> Free ($ for premium)<\/p>\n

Polly Lingual and its cute parrot logo are on this list because it has the best of both worlds: it\u2019s a technologically advanced language learning tool with a human touch.<\/p>\n

The tech part consists of predictive lesson algorithms<\/strong> that adapt the pace and lessons based on your progress. It also has material grouped by special interests, namely travel, medicine and business. Each lesson gives you written and audio content, so you can learn with both your eyes and your ears.<\/p>\n

Most lessons can be downloaded as PDF files, which will come in very handy if you want to practice Spaced Repetition<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Also make sure to check out each time the games are available, including my personal favorite, Whack-a-Word. It\u2019s a good whacking that perhaps won\u2019t give you as much tension release as a Whack-a-Mole, but will surely do much more for your Portuguese vocabulary.<\/p>\n

Now, the human component of Polly Lingual comes in the form of its Polly Ambassadors, AKA registered native speakers that offer private tutoring for fixed hourly rates.<\/p>\n

Choose the one that\u2019s right for you if you want to work on getting conversational, homo sapiens<\/em> to homo sapiens<\/em>. Because Polly knows that confidence to express yourself is just as important as awesome conjugation skills.<\/p>\n

2. FluentU<\/a><\/h2>\n
\"FluentU<\/a><\/div>\n

FluentU, fluent Me, fluent everyone! The ultimate in language learning tools is here to get you immersed to your heart’s content. And not only that, but it will immerse you in native video content<\/strong>, anything being fair game for learning.<\/p>\n

\r\nFluentU lets you turn authentic media into personalized language lessons, so you can learn Portuguese exactly the way native speakers use it.<\/a><\/strong>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\tWith FluentU\u2019s Chrome extension, you can use our interactive learning tools with any subtitled content on YouTube or Netflix<\/strong>. You can even import your favorite YouTube videos directly into your FluentU account for customized learning!<\/p>\r\n

\r\nFluentU also gives you access to a huge library of real-world Portuguese videos<\/strong>\u2014movie trailers, news clips, music videos, and more\u2014all organized by topic and level.\r\n<\/p>

\r\n\"learn-english-with-videos\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

\r\nNo more stopping to look up words or struggling to keep up with fast speech. While you watch, FluentU\u2019s interactive captions<\/strong> let you tap on any word for an instant definition, audio, image, and example sentences.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\"learn-portuguese-with-fluentu\"<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nWorried you\u2019ll forget all those new words from the videos? We\u2019ve got you! Our fun, adaptive quizzes<\/strong> reinforce what you\u2019ve learned and even give you extra practice with words you find difficult, making sure they stick for the long run.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\t\"learn-portuguese-with-adaptive-quizzes\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

\r\nReady to make every video a language lesson? Start using FluentU on your computer or tablet, or download the FluentU app from the App Store or Google Play. Click here to take advantage of our current sale!<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\n

\"learn<\/a>3. Foreign Service Institute Course<\/a><\/h2>\n

This is the Department of State’s free course in Portuguese from 1946, and the audio and print books are available free for download. It was designed for self-instruction through repetition of sounds and then words and phrases, gradually working up in complexity.<\/p>\n

The programmatic learning style has fallen out of favor, but this course does have something to offer learners, as it\u00a0methodically\u00a0deconstructs pronunciation of Portuguese in the early units in a way that you don’t normally see in newer\u00a0communicative-method instruction.<\/p>\n

4. Portuguese for Beginners<\/a>\"alison<\/h2>\n

This course, provided by Lucrative Skills on Alison, is tailored for beginners, offering practical examples to facilitate your learning.<\/p>\n

Through systematic video lessons, you’ll explore common words, simple phrases, and essential expressions, so you can learn gradually and feel more confident while building your word bank.<\/p>\n

5. Anki<\/a>\"anki<\/a><\/h2>\n

This series of apps for computers, browsers and mobile devices is an electronic replacement for flashcards, and it’s a very good one. You can record audio (from, say, your Skype sessions with tutors) into the flashcards that you create.<\/p>\n

If you get lazy, there are dozens of user-made Anki decks available for learning Portuguese<\/a>, but for many of them, it’s not clear which version of the language they’re targeting. Also, making your own sets of cards tends to be more personal and useful for reinforcing your learning.<\/p>\n

6. Memrise<\/a>\"memrise<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s a popular language learning app where you\u2019ll get to pick from\u00a0100\u2019s of vocabulary lessons, native speaker videos and AI conversation practice<\/strong> with topics including introductions and greetings, organizing a holiday activity, meeting the in-laws, talking about your favorite books, learning about the cultural dos and don\u2019ts and many more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This app provides audio recordings of the words and gives examples of how to use them in sentences. The app also has quizzes to help you review the words you have learned.<\/p>\n

By the way, you can read a complete review of the Memrise app\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

7. Portuguese with Carla<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/h2>\n

If you identify more as the one-on-one kind of learner, you should know you have no shortage of options. You\u2019re probably familiar with the big names in online tutoring<\/strong>, like the hyper-popular and super-affordable italki <\/strong>tutoring platform we’ll be discussing soon<\/a>, but the less mainstream Portuguese with Carla is no less deserving of your attention.<\/p>\n

Aside from having a name similar to mine, which is always a plus, Carla is a born and raised alfacinha<\/em> who moved to the UK at age 18 and who, above all, really knows her stuff.<\/p>\n

Click\u00a0the “Teaching Basis” tab<\/a> on her site and you’ll be greeted by an abundance of textbooks that she\u2019s gone through, most dealing in phraseology, psychology and other “-ologies” that I don\u2019t even dare spell.<\/p>\n

As she astutely puts it, you just have to trust her and think of her “as your mechanic, you don\u2019t need to know how the engine is built to be able to drive, but when you get stuck, I\u2019ll be there to help”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The price for kicking it with Carla is $38.18\/session (converted from British \u00a3, hence the oddly specific number) and it goes down as the number of sessions acquired goes up. Have your pick anywhere from the Silver (3 sessions) to the Platinum bundle (10 sessions) or try out her free lessons (podcasts, video lessons, audio quizzes) to get a feel for her style.<\/p>\n

8. The Flow of Portuguese<\/a>\"learn<\/a><\/h2>\n

We\u2019re back to one-on-one tutoring with this one-of-a-kind online learning experience. “The Flow of Portuguese” is the brainchild of one Idahosa Ness, who is also, to my knowledge, the creator and main practitioner of the Mimic Method<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This method, similar to\u00a0the shadowing technique<\/a>, entails focusing on pronunciation and learning a language by ear<\/strong> rather than “by eye,” which according to Idahosa will make you a master of Portuguese in no time. Well, it worked for him all right, just check him out rapping in eight different languages<\/a>!<\/p>\n

In short, Idahosa claims his course will train your pronunciation so that you don\u2019t sound like a gringo\u2014<\/em>or in my case, like Borat\u2014when trying to speak Portuguese.<\/p>\n

How exactly does he plan to achieve this? By giving you personalized feedback based on the recordings you submit for every lesson, by putting you through a “Boot Camp” in order to grasp those pesky nasal vowels and by having a ball with the learning experience, replacing flashcards and charts with songs and rapping.<\/p>\n

His method may seem a bit controversial, but many swear by it\u00a0and I love the originality element it brings forward. It\u2019s the perfect tool if your main focus for learning Portuguese is developing conversation skills, be it for an upcoming trip or communicating with your significant other or any array of reasons.<\/p>\n

To get into the Flow of Portuguese with Idahosa you’ll have to dish out $147.00, completely refundable after 60 days should you find it doesn\u2019t quite work for you. Give the free e-course a go first and decide if you\u2019re ready to get rid of the accent and rap like a Portuguese Eminem.<\/p>\n

9. Speak Like A Brazilian<\/a>\"learn<\/a><\/h2>\n

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the ones that work the best. For what could be simpler and easier than an open-source, community-driven dictionary for slang words and expressions? And yet, Speak Like A Brazilian is a treasure in its own right.<\/p>\n

In saying this, I must admit I have a soft spot for Portuguese slang talk, as it\u2019s quite colorful and it manages to capture the spirit of the people admirably. Not only that, but it was hella handy during my time in Portugal when I would compensate for my lack of grammar savvy with local cal\u00e3o<\/em> (slang), which never failed to put a smile on those confused people\u2019s faces.<\/p>\n

But back to the matter at hand. As you may have guessed from the name, Speak Like A\u00a0Brazilian may be of more use to you in the land of caipirinha<\/em>\u00a0(Brazil) than in the land of fado<\/em>\u00a0(Portugal) but sometimes the cal\u00e3o<\/em> crosses over and surely any Lusophone can deduce the meaning of the expressions. If not, all the better\u2014it just means you get to wow them with your extra knowledge when you explain what you meant!<\/p>\n

Be advised, that this isn’t a resource for the easily blushing. At the moment I\u2019m writing this, the site has 53 pages packed with slang and from the first page alone I already learned how to say “love handles” and what to call a quick slap to the head. The following pages are sure to get even less inhibited and more entertaining.<\/p>\n

10. Semantica<\/a>\"semantica<\/h2>\n

If you can\u2019t resist a good novella, Semantica might be the perfect video resource for you.<\/p>\n

Semantica is a website that provides novella-style dialogues in Brazilian Portuguese to help you build vocabulary, grammar skills and sentence construction skills in a natural way. There are also additional learning materials, like grammar training, to help you build on what you\u2019ve learned.<\/p>\n

Semantica offers videos for beginning through advanced students, so they\u2019re appropriate for a wide array of students.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t want to sign up for Semantica just yet, check out the\u00a0Semantica YouTube channel<\/a> to see some of the videos it offers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

11. Learn Real Portuguese<\/a>\"learn-portuguese-videos-2\"<\/h2>\n

If you want the convenience of learning Portuguese with videos, but with the structure of a course, check out this Udemy course. Udemy hosts tons of courses so if you finish this course or it\u2019s not quite for you, head over to\u00a0the Udemy website<\/a>\u00a0and give your specific topic a search.<\/p>\n

This particular course is designed to help beginning students learn Brazilian Portuguese. It offers over 20 hours of video content<\/strong>\u00a0you can watch whenever it\u2019s convenient for you. The course teaches a variety of common words and phrases that you might need if you travel to Brazil.<\/p>\n

12. Portuguese Lab<\/a>\"learn-portuguese-videos-2\"<\/h2>\n

Portuguese Lab is a website that offers learning content for beginning through upper-intermediate students learning European Portuguese.\u00a0The site offers podcasts, e-courses and more.<\/p>\n

But don\u2019t worry! Portuguese Lab also offers\u00a0plenty of free videos<\/strong>\u00a0you can enjoy on the\u00a0Portuguese Lab YouTube channel<\/a>. You can find dialogues, stories, vocabulary, grammar and more.<\/p>\n

For instance, beginning Portuguese students might check out\u00a0lesson 30 of the \u201cLearn European Portuguese (Portugal)\u201d<\/a>\u00a0series.<\/p>\n

13. Letras<\/a><\/em>\"letras<\/a><\/h2>\n

Most people who I’ve met who are learning\u00a0Portuguese are doing so for reasons related to the music, perhaps fado, samba funk, or something else, and for the purposes of singing or dancing or even learning the cavaquinho<\/em> (small four-stringed guitar).<\/p>\n

And even\u00a0if your reasons for learning are unrelated to the hundreds of styles of music in Portuguese, the planet’s very best lyrical songs are probably going to be useful in your venture. This is a great\u00a0site for looking up the lyrics to songs in Portuguese, and you can also use it to explore musical genres as Brazilians define\u00a0them.<\/p>\n

14. LyricsTraining<\/a>\"lyrics<\/a><\/h2>\n

LyricsTraining offers\u00a0real music videos with a learning twist that turns songs into games.\u00a0<\/strong>Just choose a song, select your difficulty level and start learning.<\/p>\n

As the music video plays, you\u2019ll notice that it\u2019s captioned, but some words are missing. The more advanced the level you selected, the more words will be absent. Your task is to fill in the right words based on what you hear.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t worry\u2014if you miss any words, you can rewind and relisten until you figure them out.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re studying European Portuguese, you might check out\u00a0\u201cSou Pra Ti\u201d<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(\u201cI\u2019m for You\u201d). Brazilian Portuguese learners can learn with\u00a0\u201cO Sol\u201d<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(\u201cThe Sun\u201d).<\/p>\n

15. italki<\/a>\"italki\"<\/a><\/h2>\n

There are plenty of websites out there looking to connect you with online, native speaking tutors. This is one of the most straightforward and cheap, and it’s well-populated with good, active Portuguese tutors from both Brazil and Portugal<\/a> (but unfortunately not Africa, as of this writing). Expect to pay about $10-20 an hour.<\/p>\n

Professional Portuguese teachers will usually provide learning materials, plan lessons and give you assignments, but you can also plan your own. I think it’s wisest to work with several tutors at once so that you’re exposed to different idiolects (individual language quirks) and vocabulary ranges.<\/p>\n

You can also use the website to find language exchange partners without paying a dime. Simply sign up for an account and then go to “language partners,” which is tucked away under the “community” menu. You’ll find Portuguese speakers from around the world who are dying to practice your language in exchanges (especially if you’re a native English speaker). Send messages to a few of them, and arrange an encounter over Skype.<\/p>\n

You can read a complete review of the italki app here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

16. Folha de S\u00e3o Paulo<\/a>\"learn<\/a><\/em><\/h2>\n

Brazil’s largest-circulation newspaper and its newspaper of record can give you a lot of reading material for learning Portuguese.<\/p>\n

If front-page Brazilian news itself has too many unfamiliar\u00a0characters that make it difficult to follow, or if you tire of reading about that particular circus of\u00a0corrupt scoundrels, you might check out the international section<\/a>, where articles are written with more\u00a0context about\u00a0who is who (and there will even be\u00a0stories about\u00a0your own country).<\/p>\n

17. HiNative<\/a>\"language-exchange-app-hinative\"<\/a><\/h2>\n

I\u2019m all for living in a Global village. The Global-er, the better. It is thus of no surprise that I would be a fan of HiNative, a Q&A community connecting language learners and native speakers.<\/p>\n

Hailing from the same creators as Lang-8, it works basically on the same principle except with Twitter-style posts instead of paragraphs. The interface is quite friendly and provides you with four question formats: [How do you say this], [Does this sound natural], [What\u2019s the difference] and [Free Question].<\/p>\n

While the first three have to do specifically with aspects of language learning, the “Free Question” grants you more freedom with the topic, allowing you to pose questions about local culture, cuisine, bureaucracy\u2014basically anything that the other formats don\u2019t cover.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, recently an “Audio Upload” option has become available on the site, very useful for when you can\u2019t type and for boosting your pronunciation as well!<\/p>\n

18. Practice Portuguese<\/a>\"practice<\/a><\/h2>\n

If you\u2019re thinking the name looks familiar, you probably read about it in my article on improving listening<\/a> and are now having “d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu all over again,” in the great words of Yogi Berra.<\/p>\n

Since I\u2019ve already blabbed about this website, I\u2019ll keep it short and sweet this time. Practice Portuguese offers free podcasts in authentic continental Portuguese, infused with slang, references to local culture and the occasional adorable appearance by the founder\u2019s grandma (av\u00f3 <\/em>\u2013 there, I got it right).<\/p>\n

You can also upgrade to some premium features ($6-ish\/month) which include subtitles, a written transcript, a list of key words and expressions and a quiz for every podcast.<\/p>\n

Although maybe not abundant in content, I find Practice Portuguese a good bridge between having mastered the basics of the language and holding conversations with natives. They even group podcasts by level of difficulty from \u201cEasy\u201d to “Advanced,” with a special distinction between Artigo <\/em>(article) and Di\u00e1logo <\/em>(dialogue) type episodes.<\/p>\n

19. PortuguesePod101<\/a>\"PortuguesePod101-logo-1\"<\/a><\/h2>\n

PortuguesePod101 offers\u00a0hundreds of free videos<\/strong>\u00a0that will meet your every need, whether you are just starting to learn or you are an advanced learner.<\/p>\n

You can find playlists for listening practice, beginner Portuguese, intermediate reading practice, pronunciation and more\u2014most focusing on Brazilian Portuguese.<\/p>\n

With PortuguesePod101, you have hundreds of hours of language practice with\u00a0native teachers who actually know how and what to teach.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

20. WordReference<\/a>\"wordreference<\/a><\/h2>\n

If I had\u00a0to pick just one Portuguese-English dictionary, this would be it. WordReference\u00a0covers a huge amount\u00a0of vocabulary and a range of uses for each word, often with contextual examples. There is a Spanish-Portuguese dictionary, which may be useful for those of you who are coming at this after having learned Spanish.<\/p>\n

And most importantly in my book, it has a great Portuguese-English forum<\/a>,\u00a0whose results open automatically at the bottom of search results, and give you insight into trickier uses. You can also pose your own questions in the forum, as well as help others.<\/p>\n

The Benefits of Portuguese Learning Resources<\/h2>\n

Maybe you live in a remote enough area that language tutors aren\u2019t readily available, but if you have internet coverage and a computer or smartphone, you\u2019re good to go.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another advantage attached to this one is breaking down the economic barrier<\/strong>. Once a skill reserved for the elite, learning foreign languages has widely become a common practice thanks to all the free websites and apps<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Since a lot of these resources are funded through advertising and crowdsourcing, they\u00a0eliminate the need for charging the user. Even when there are costs associated, the ratio of price to quantity of material tends to be better than in the case of traditional learning methods (classes, tutoring, textbooks).<\/p>\n

Cutting down the costs of learning has led to a democratization<\/strong> of education, allowing people from less privileged backgrounds to acquire a language with fewer\u00a0restrictions and obstacles.<\/p>\n

Lastly, learning a language online comes with a great deal of flexibility<\/strong>, which reveals itself in many aspects. For one, you get to set the pace<\/strong> for your learning experience, doing it as often and as regularly as you wish.<\/p>\n

Space constraints<\/strong> also become a lesser issue, as most internet-access devices can be carried anywhere from the park to the commute train.<\/p>\n

Lastly, you’re granted the complete personalization<\/strong> of your language acquisition, which you can tailor to your specific needs and interests. There isn\u2019t any type of learner out there<\/a>\u00a0that the Internet doesn\u2019t cater to.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So there you have it, the essential Portuguese learning resources for conquering the language.<\/p>\n

Now that you know that fluency is just a hop, skip and a click away, nothing can stand between you and complete “Portuguesation.”<\/p>\n

Well, nothing except your Internet service provider, maybe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the World Wide Web grows wider and the devices used to navigate it become smaller, finding your way through the modern Tower of Babel is a matter of time…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":434,"featured_media":251834,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"title":"Top 20 Portuguese Learning Resources For Learners of Any Level | FluentU Portuguese Blog","description":"Enjoy these 20 Portuguese learning resources for the best lessons! Whether you enjoy learning by playing games, listening to music or podcasts, chatting with native speakers or taking on-to-one tutoring lessons, these Portuguese learning resources will set you free from classrooms and textbooks."},"footnotes":""},"categories":[373,374],"tags":[],"coauthors":[391],"class_list":["post-60655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-portuguese","category-portuguese-learning-resources"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/434"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60655"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":250658,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60655\/revisions\/250658"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60655"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=60655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}