PORTUGUESE
Discover Langma's Portuguese Language Program
The Langma Portuguese language course offers you an insight into both the language and the captivating culture of Portugal and other Portuguese-speaking countries. Our course caters to all proficiency levels, from beginner to advanced, with a focus on developing skills in reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Langma creates new opportunities and guides students on scholarships, internships, and career options. Our course emphasizes grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, and everyday language use to prepare students for international Portuguese proficiency exams.
Enroll today and embark on your journey with Langma to master Portuguese and explore the vast cultural and professional opportunities across Portugal and the Lusophone world.
Portugal and its Rich Culture
Portugal is famous for its rich history, welcoming culture, and worldwide influence. Also known as ‘Herois do mar’ (Heroes of the Sea), Portugal expanded their trade, commerce, culture, art, and cuisine globally through their new sea routes. It has a population of approximately 10.4 million people and 13 official public holidays. Portugal is famous for exporting porto (port wine), and offers renowned cork handicrafts, hand-painted tiles, leather products, and various types of ceramics. One of the most popular spectator sports in Portugal remains the age-old tradition of Bullfighting.
Portuguese cuisine is significantly dominated by seafood, highlighting its coastal access. One can get a pretty decent cup of coffee in Portugal, which is mostly a quick breakfast affair. Lunch remains the main heavy meal of the day, in contrast to the generally lighter dinner. Bacalhau ba-ka-lyow (salted cod) is considered Portugal’s National Food and is famed for being in numerous recipes.
The Portuguese Language
Portuguese, a romance language that evolved from the colloquial Latin, is spoken by approximately 267 million people globally, making it the sixth most spoken language worldwide. It is the official language of nine countries, namely Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Angola, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe, East Timor, and Macau (China). This large community of Portuguese-speaking countries is known as the Lusophone countries, derived from ‘Lusitania’, the name given by the Romans to the area that became Portugal. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the global distribution of Portuguese began when Portugal was a colonial power with huge economic, cultural, and political influence. The number of countries where Portuguese or Portuguese-based creoles are spoken demonstrates the reach of the Portuguese empire. It is closely related to various languages like Galician, Spanish, Italian, French, and Romanian.
Portuguese vowel sounds are quite similar to those found in English, with some differences, of course. Most vowel sounds in Portuguese have a nasal version with an effect similar to the silent '-ng' ending in English, such as amanhã aa-ma-nyang (tomorrow), for example. The letter n or m at the end of a syllable, or a tilde (∼) in written Portuguese, indicates that the vowel is nasal. The letter o is often pronounced oo, especially at the end of the word, eg, gato gaa-too.
Portuguese Literature encompasses diverse and rich literary works by notable authors such as Luís de Camões, Fernando Pessoa, José Saramago, Eça de Queirós, and others. The Instituto Camões, created in 1992 to promote the Portuguese language and culture worldwide, was named in honour of Portugal’s greatest poet, Luís de Camões. Even the most prestigious literary prize for the Portuguese language is known as Prêmio Camões.
Portuguese Sound System and Pronunciation
The sound system of the Portuguese language is characterized by nasal vowels (as if forcing the sound through the nose), throaty ‘r’ (similar to the French language), and distinct consonant sounds.
Portuguese Alphabet:
The Portuguese language is written using the Latin alphabet. You'll notice that some letters, usually vowels, have accent marks. The acute (´) accent and the circumflex (^) indicate stress, the grave (`) accent indicates the contraction of two a's, and the tilde (∼) indicates nasalisation. You'll also see the cedilla sometimes used at the bottom of the letter 'c'- ç is pronounced as s rather than k (criança kree-ang-sa).
The pronunciation of each letter is provided below.
Vowel sounds:
Portuguese vowel sounds are quite similar to those found in English, with some differences, of course. Most vowel sounds in Portuguese have a nasal version with an effect similar to the silent '-ng' ending in English, such as amanhã aa-ma-nyang (tomorrow), for example. The letter n or m at the end of a syllable, or a tilde (∼) in written Portuguese, indicates that the vowel is nasal. The letter o is often pronounced oo, especially at the end of the word, eg, gato gaa-too.
Portuguese Vowel Sounds Table
Consonant sounds:
Most of the consonant sounds in Portuguese are similar to those in the English language. Some consonant sounds change depending on where they appear in a word. For example, an s at the beginning of the word is pronounced like the s in 'sea' - eg, sal saal (salt). When s comes at the end of the word, or at the end of a syllable which is followed by a consonant, as in está shtaa (are), it’s pronounced sh, but if it's surrounded on both sides by vowels (as in camisa ka-mee-za), it's pronounced z.
Portuguese Consonant Sounds Table
Word Stress:
Stress (the emphasis on one syllable over another) generally occurs on the second-to-last syllable of a word, though there are exceptions. However, if a written vowel has a circumflex (^) or an acute (´) accent marked on it, this cancels the general rule and the stress falls on that syllable.
Word Stress on Accented Syllable (Due to Accent Marks)
Some other exceptions that come in handy while learning the Portuguese language: when a word ends in a written i, im, l, r, u, um, or z, or is pronounced with a nasalised vowel, the stress falls on the last syllable. Additionally, in English, when certain syllables are given more stress, others are practically unpronounced. For example, unless the final syllable is stressed, the vowel is pronounced very lightly, and it may disappear altogether in conversation, so antes is technically pronounced aang-tesh but in practice sounds more like ants.
Word Stress on the Last Syllable (Based on Word Endings)
Survival Phrases:
If you’re new to the Portuguese language, start your learning journey with these survival phrases- a fantastic way to navigate your way through basic and everyday interactions, which will not only boost your confidence right from the beginning, but will also serve as an invaluable tool in your Portuguese language learning journey.
Numbers:
Let’s start by focusing on the basic building blocks of the Portuguese numeral system, learning the numbers 1 to 15 and their pronunciation.
Portuguese Grammar:
Grammar in the Portuguese language is similar to that of other Romance languages, like French and Spanish. For example, all Portuguese nouns are either masculine or feminine, which determines the endings of the adjectives used to describe them or which articles are used. Portuguese has both a formal and an informal word for ‘you’ (você and tu, respectively). There are three types of verb endings in Portuguese: -ar, -er, and -ir, which have a different ending for each person. To make a sentence negative, just add the word não (no) before the main verb. Generally, the order of words in a sentence is the same as in English (subject-verb-object).
