Learning PORTUGUESE from SPANISH background-- pitfalls? suggestions?

love2travel says on Oct 27, 2009, 19:10:

I tried to learn Italian and it totally screwed up my Spanish.

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Simon says on Oct 27, 2009, 20:36:

Fok Portuguese!

"Just an honest, decent Colombian trying to do the right thing."--Simon

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theworldismine says on Oct 27, 2009, 20:37:

I went to Brazil last year, so I learned Portuguese with a Spanish base. The accent can really confuse things, just keep the languages as separate as you can by not translating between the two in your mind. Translate from English to Portuguese. One thing i used to do is practice Spanish and Portuguese on separate days.. One last thing - learn the accent spoken by the region you are visiting - so that you will understand it, but speak with a paulista accent (from Sao Paulo) since it tends to be clear so that people understand you.

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span_colombia says on Oct 27, 2009, 20:54:

I'm going through it right now. sure is hard when the rest of the class is native spanish speakers. the class I'm taking is absolutely awful, which doesn't help anything.

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justonio says on Oct 27, 2009, 20:56:

Try Rosetta Stone---- 6 month money back guarantee..

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justonio says on Oct 27, 2009, 20:57:

thanks for all the advise and comments guys.... definitely very helpful

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juanito_cro says on Oct 28, 2009, 00:58:

I had similar problem. I was afraid that learning Spanish will fuck up my Portuguese, just like my Portuguese fucked up my Italian. I didn't want to make the same mistake again.
The most important is not to stop speaking Spanish. Learn Portuguese, but at the same time continue to speak Spanish, read Spanish... It will be hard at the beginning, but the more Portuguese you learn, the easier it gets.

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tropicalshirt says on Oct 28, 2009, 01:52:

bom dia justonio

e bemvindo para a lingua mais bonita no mundo!

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tropicalshirt says on Oct 28, 2009, 02:43:

I have very bad Spanish but very good Portuguese and I find Portuguese much easier for British English speakers as the pronounciation is generally much more closer than Spanish. JOse not HOse! I also found Portuguese speakers have much better English pronounciation than Spanish speakers.

Jogar de bola muinto bem porque com futebol e musica do brasil aprendeu portugues muinto facil.

Concentrate on the accent. Listen to this by Celso Fonseca, a Carioca. Very slow and smooth, you should already understand many words but listen for the linking words and repeat after him!

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tropicalshirt says on Oct 28, 2009, 02:52:

Many words are of course the same.

Some words just change b's to v's e.g. palabra - palavra

No more mas, that means but.

And some words are just totally different and others derive from Brazilian Indian words e.g. abacaxi is pineapple in Brazilian Portuguese.

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kingfish5515 says on Oct 28, 2009, 04:34:

I ended up giving up, tried it but always seemed to revert back to spanish in my brain when trying to do portuguese. But its easy to read it if you know spanish, very similar in the written but a witch to speak it. Kf

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Haddeman says on Oct 28, 2009, 06:27:

I still speak my slightly above average Spanish and it comes out French or Arabic,inshala habiti!

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span_colombia says on Oct 28, 2009, 07:39:

yeah I've been noticing that portugese looks a lot closer to english than spanish.

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tropicalshirt says on Oct 28, 2009, 08:15:

Span

I've taught Brazilians ingles and they've got great pronunciation, better than my spelling of it for sure.

More people speak Portuguese in South America than Spanish. Currently 191 million vs. 187 million.

falamos portugues!

Remember! Mas means but, which reminds me culo is bunda or bum bum, pronounced kind of like buuuuumm buuuuuumm.

Nearly like English hey? JAJAJAJAJA!!!

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justonio says on Oct 28, 2009, 09:11:

I wish I could find more info on this... right now i'm in the U.S. studying a few hours a day with a few programs (Rosetta Stone and Pimsleur), and I'm trying to read out lout in Spanish at least 20 to 30 minutes a day to active that part of my brain. My portuguese is developing light years faster than my Spanish did in the initial stages.... This seems to be working, however, sometimes I'll be speaking Spanish and I'll get basic things confused, like the months and numbers (trinta-- treinta, octubre--- outubro) but in another sense I feel that maybe the Portuguese is actually strengthening my Spanish much the same way an athlete might get more underlying endurance by cross-training (for example, an injured runner might train on the bike and improve his overall fitness long-term although he's going to get slower initially)... this is just speculation. I appreciate all your insights. Anybody know where I could find any other information on this topic?

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span_colombia says on Oct 28, 2009, 10:36:

yeah, justonio, I'm thinking the same thing. I'm in a big class full of native spanish speakers for whom it's pretty easy to start speaking in portugese right away because of their source material. I think that that demand to constantly access my spanish may actually be improving it, particularly my listening skills.

I've been pretty surprised so far at the exceptionally low quality of my course (teacher talks to the whiteboard, writes massive amounts of words on it while the class sits in silence, reads full sentences out of a book to drill for pronunciation which is followed by the whole class stumbling through a barely coherent sentence that they read and then she says, 'perfect' and just moves on, etc. etc). but oh well. despite all, I'm still learning.

that's incredibel tropicalshirt! I think I remember reading somewhere that more people speak portugese than spanish in south america, but it never sunk in. brazil must be a huge country. I must research it. I guess it's also one of the more insular countries in latin america.

I'm finding my class a bit difficult. today I burst into spanish at an inopportune time and got a lot of quizzical stares from everybody. oh well, it's kinda fun to be the underdog/weakest person in the class. just gotta outwork everybody else and retrain my brain.

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Simon says on Oct 28, 2009, 10:56:

''More people speak Portuguese in South America than Spanish. Currently 191 million vs. 187 million.''

BULLSHIT!!

"Just an honest, decent Colombian trying to do the right thing."--Simon

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BUSHWICK-BILL says on Oct 28, 2009, 13:18:

Simon this is the first time I agree with you. I smell hope.

CARDIFF SOUL CREW.......

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stocktrader says on Oct 28, 2009, 15:36:

I don't know how it is in Brazil, but most of the Brazilians I met in Florida spoke Spanish.

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stocktrader says on Oct 28, 2009, 15:36:

that is Spanish and Portuguese of course

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pedro (☼Travelguide writer) says on Oct 28, 2009, 16:16:

Simon says on Oct 28, 2009, 19:32:

''I don't know how it is in Brazil, but most of the Brazilians I met in Florida spoke Spanish.''

Many Brasilians speak 'portuñol' (a mix of Spanish and Portuguese).

"Just an honest, decent Colombian trying to do the right thing."--Simon

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manINred says on Oct 28, 2009, 19:39:

Simon, just admit it: Portuguese is better than Spanish and Brazil can kick Colombia's ass!

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Simon says on Oct 28, 2009, 19:47:

Sure, if you'll admit American English is better and that the USA can kick Britain's arse!

"Just an honest, decent Colombian trying to do the right thing."--Simon

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manINred says on Oct 28, 2009, 19:50:

haha, touche!

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tropicalshirt says on Oct 29, 2009, 02:57:

Current population of Brazil is given as 192 to 198 million.

It is given as 198 million at: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/br.ht...

Portuguese speaking South America:

Brazil - 198 million

Spanish speaking South America:

Colombia - 45 million
Argentina - 40 million
Peru - 28 million
Venezuela - 27 million
Chile - 17 million
Ecuador - 13 million
Bolivia - 9 million
Paraguay - 6 million (Guarani is also an offical language)
Uruguay - 3 million

Total = 188 million

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tropicalshirt says on Oct 29, 2009, 03:15:

SHHEEEET!!!

BRAZILS GROWING OVERNIGHT!

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SiV says on Oct 29, 2009, 06:22:

Didn't know Brazil's pop was so high.

On wikipedia, it says the IGBE: Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística estimates Brazil's pop for 2009 at 191,241,714: 5th largest in the world.

How many other Latin Amreican Spanish speakers are there? Including Central America, US, etc?

Brazilian Portuguese sounds like slurred Spanish if you ask me. Get hammered on guaro and you'll sound like a native, justinio.

Stultórum númere infinitum est.

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justonio says on Oct 29, 2009, 08:00:

been there with the guaro

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Simon says on Oct 29, 2009, 08:29:

"Brazilian Portuguese sounds like slurred Spanish if you ask me. Get hammered on guaro and you'll sound like a native,"

LMAO! That's what I've always thought!

"Just an honest, decent Colombian trying to do the right thing."--Simon

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