Learn European Portuguese or Brazilian Portuguese Online
You might worry not being able to find the right resources for learning European Portuguese or Brazilian Portuguese online. No worries, our language experts have complied an ultimate list for you to find great Portuguese classes online with ease for free!
If you want to learn more about the difference between Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese. Check out this introduction video!
Let’s begin!
A. Beginner Portuguese Classes: Podcasts, Videos and Other Resources (A1-A2)
As an English native speaker, (or English as a Second language), the alphabet won’t be a big problem to you. So where should you begin? Vocabulary? Grammar? Reading ?
Actually, most people start learning their mother tongue with “listening” and “speaking”. That’s how babies learn to speak and understand this world. So we recommend you to bear this concept in mind. If you are beginners for the Portuguese language, try to keep your ears sharp and listen closely to how the native speakers speak Portuguese. It will help you improve your Portuguese by leaps and bounds.
Podcasts, Videos and Other Resources to Learn Beginner European Portuguese
- Memrise: This is a nice website for Portuguese beginners. It offers more than 100+ Portuguese lessons for free. Joining lessons followed by the largest number of people is a good way to start. Usually the lessons run for 1 to 3 hours. You are guaranteed an exciting experience after finishing your first lesson.
- Practice Portuguese: Practice Portuguese contains podcast, videos and other learning resources. It is easy for you to learn European Portuguese by these unlimited learning material. They also have the so-called “shortie”. Each shortie describes the different possible situation in our lives and lasts no more than 5 minutes. It is quite suitable for beginners. This program can shorten your learning time and boost your learning efficiency in the same time.
- language.com (for both European and Brazilian Portuguese): language.com provides both European and Brazilian Portuguese common words, pronunciation, alphabet, numbers, seasons and so on. You can learn these words one by one.
- learn Portuguese with Rafa: This website gives you some smart and nice tips to learn Portuguese. Useful phrases and words are also included. It’s not interactive, but you will have a clear idea of how the language works after reading through the suggestions they provide.
Podcasts, Videos and Other Resources to Learn Beginner Brazilian Portuguese
- Duolingo: I am also a big fan of Duolingo for language learning! Download this free and stylish app and you can start by repeating vocabularies and creating simple sentences. It lets you immerse in learning a new language like playing a game. Unfortunately they only have the Brazilian version of Portuguese.
- BBC learning Portuguese: This is a nice website to learn Portuguese at a very beginner level. For greetings, small talk, booking the room and so on. It’s a pity that they no longer update the website anymore but you can still find TV programs and transcripts on this website.
- Learn Portuguese Now: “Learn Portuguese Now” is a website where you can start learning Portuguese by making simple and easy sentences. It contains 15 lessons to lead you into the world of Portuguese. Additionally, if you want more Portuguese learning materials, you can also turn to the “Free Ebook” website and get one. You will find useful Portuguese phrases, common Portuguese verbs and Portuguese flashcards to help you learn the Portuguese language well!
- Youtube Channel: We will introduce more about “PortuguesePod101” later. It is one of the most famous websites for learning Portuguese. This is their own Youtube channel where you can find many short videos about the Portuguese language. For beginning learners we recommend you to watch their youtube videos first to build preliminary knowledges about the Portuguese language.
B. Intermediate Portuguese Classes: (Websites and Youtube channels) (B1-B2)
Intermediate Resources for European Portuguese Classes
- RTP Zigzag: RTP is Portugal’s public broadcasting network. There is no English version of this website. So in the beginning, it would be a little difficult getting used to. But they provide a wide variety of videos under 5 minutes. You will definitely get a sense of achievement when you can finally understand what the video is talking about.
- NHK World Radio Japão: Like BBC news, NHK (biggest networking company in Japan) also provides news in European Portuguese. It has quite a few high-quality materials for you to enhance your listening comprehension skills.
- Portuguêses no Mundo: This podcast has over 60 episodes of Portuguese lessons so far! And they still updates new contents on a regular basis. They also share a lot of topics about traveling around the world, with each lesson introducing a different city. So if you love to travel and see different cities, don’t miss out on this one!
- Visiokids: Ciência para Crianças: This website contains many cartoon animations for kids and the topics are mostly science-related. The characters would conduct all sorts of experiment or talk about astronomy. Unfortunately, it doesn’t update new videos anymore. But there are still plenty of videos for you to learn more about science in Portuguese.
- Camões Instituto da Cooperação e da Lingua Portugal: This website is funded by the Portugal government. You can learn Portuguese through four learning categories: A Falar (speaking), A Ouvir (listening) A Ler (reading), and A Brincar (playing)!
Intermediate Resources for Brazilian Portuguese Classes
- PortuguesePod101.com: “PortuguesePod101.com” offers over 1180 Audio and video lessons! Each lesson is paired with detailed PDF lesson notes, so it won’t be a problem if you fail to keep up with the host’s talking. The most amazing thing is you can learn it all the way from beginner level to advanced levels. While most of the lessons are free, you need a paid membership to gain full access to all the lessons.
- Cinem(ação): If you are into watching films, then you can definitely add Cinem to your bucket list. It has over 300 film-related audios. Most of audios are created from famous Hollywood films! This website also updates on a weekly basis so stay tuned and check it out every week!
- Recontando: The contents on this website are designed for kids so it is quite easy for you to pick up. Their content is very high quality so you won’t get bored at all. They also have their own Twitter account and Facebook page so that you won’t miss the latest news!
C. Advanced Portuguese Language Lessons (C1-C2)
If you are an advanced learner and posses solid Portuguese language knowledge, it is time to delve deep into the Portuguese lifestyle and culture. We recommend you to start reading some in-depth reporting and articles. Reading daily news is a good way to absorb high-quality information.
Advanced European Portuguese Lessons
- Conta-me Tudo: This podcast is devoted to interesting and engaging stories. It now contains over 120 episodes. They invite different speakers to tell their unique stories about the daily life, career and other topics in each episode. The Portuguese are spoken very quickly, so I will say it is more suitable for advanced learners.
- iol.net: iol.net is a popular news website for European Portuguese and we highly recommend it to any Portuguese learners. You can get a bunch of rich resources (sport, politic, and celebrities) on this website. You will surely have your horizons widened with Portuguese!
Advanced Brazilian Portuguese Lessons
- Dw (Deutsch Welle): Deutsch Welle? You might feel confused if you’ve heard this German broadcasting company before. The surprising fact is that they also provide Brazilian Portuguese and African Portuguese version! Their topic covers news in all dimensions. You can also practice your listening skills by watching their news videos.
- Globo.com: Globo.com is the official news website for Brazil. Like BBC or CNN news, they not only have article about the latest news, but also numerous videos to help you understand the Brazilian daily life.
So here it is, the ultimate list of the best online Portuguese classes, lessons, podcasts, youtube channels and news services for all levels! Feel free to try them all out and don’t forget to comment or check below for more resources and learning tips!
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Let’s make learning Portuguese fun and easy!