In this unscripted dialogue between Rui and Joel, we discover words in English, Spanish, French and Japanese that apparently derived from Portuguese vocabulary… Come for the comprehension practice, stay for the butchered non-Portuguese pronunciations!
Palavras Inspiradas na Língua Portuguesa
Words Inspired by the Portuguese Language
As Sardinhas Que Fumavam
The Sardines That Smoked
Hoping for a calm, vegetarian dining experience at a local Portuguese restaurant, Sr. John gets thrown off guard by unprofessional service and a problem with his order! Find out how he deals with these challenges, and learn lots of vocabulary and expressions to use the next time you’re dining out.
Cristiano Ronaldo: Assim Nasce Um Campeão!
Cristiano Ronaldo: A Champion is Born!
“Ronaldo” is one of the first names that pop up when discussing Portugal, wherever you are in the world. Regarded as one of the most important football/soccer players of all time, he’s earned his place as not only a top Portuguese celebrity, but also as an important symbol of the country. Neither Rui nor Joel are fans of the ol’ sportsball, which made exploring the new vocabulary and expressions even more interesting! (Cue the hate mail, “futebol” purists!).
O Azulejo Português
The Portuguese Tile
Today we learn about one of the most important symbols of Portuguese culture, found all over the walls and buildings throughout the country – azulejos (tiles). As always, we explore new vocabulary and grammar, and correct more of Joel’s “pronúncia de estrangeiro!”
A Tartaruga Ninja
The Ninja Turtle
Our fabulously fictional Portuguese family is back (with peculiarly different voices 😂) and this time, they’re considering adding a new member. We explore new vocabulary surrounding food, animals and more, and also run into some new usage examples of the conjunctive and conditional moods. And just like in the last episode, Rui continues to help Joel identify some more of his “estrangeiro” pronunciation habits!
Update (April 12, 2018): After launching this episode, it was helpfully pointed out to us that keeping a turtle as a pet is irresponsible: They die earlier in captivity and live a miserable, unnatural life. They’re part of our wildlife heritage and need their protected, natural habitat to thrive. Instead, consider adopting a cat or dog from a shelter – surprisingly, they’re less work, and you’ll be doing some good! More details here and here. (Obrigado, Joanna!)
A Rota da Cortiça
The Cork Route
In this episode, we learn about one of Portugal’s most important symbols and main exports: cork! We explore tons of new vocabulary, and later, for your benefit, Rui humbles Joel by tearing apart his pronunciation skills!
A Mãe Está Doente e o Pai Cuida da Família
Mother Is Sick and Father Takes Care of the Family
Today, our fictional Portuguese family is subjected to some of the grammar you’ll find around the B2 Intermediate level, including the “conjuntivo” verb mood. Since the mother is sick, the father has to improvise with preparing dinner himself, all while taking care of the kids. Will it be as easy as he thinks, or will it all go “por água abaixo”?
Resolver Um Problema Ao Telefone: Alô?!
Solving a Problem on the Phone: Hello?!
Update: April 10, 2018 – As a gift to us and all Practice Portuguese fans, our friend Wayne has turned this episode into a fully-animated cartoon. The video is free for everyone to watch, plus our supporting Members get access to a special version with subtitles for improving comprehension.
Telephone and Internet service companies are notoriously painful to deal with, and Portugal is no exception! In this dialogue, a pushy representative from “VOZ” calls in an attempt to recapture a former client. Have you had the pleasure of dealing with one of these services in Portuguese yet?
Como Falam Os Algarvios? (Conversa com Eliana)
How Do Algarvians Speak? (Conversation with Eliana)
After our very challenging Diálogo, dedicated to the Algarvian dialect, we decided to record a follow-up discussion with Eliana, (who voiced the Algarvian characters).
She will help us understand a bit better some of the difficult terms and expressions that came up in that episode, and how they’re typically used in the region.
Certificado de Residência (Como Pedir… Em Algarvio!)
Residence Certificate (How to ask for one...in the dialect of the Algarve)
In what might possibly be our most ambitious Diálogo to date, we explore some of the delightful bureaucracy that surrounds obtaining a residency permit in Portugal. With Michael (our special guest estrangeiro) moving to Algarve, we get a chance to explore some of the vocabulary and pronunciation quirks that set this region apart from the rest of Portugal!
A special “obrigado” to our friends who helped us put this episode together:
• Michael Reeve – provided his guidance, ideas and voice talent (from afpop.com, an organization that provides support to foreign residents and visitors throughout Portugal)
• Rui Coimbra Sénior – O pai do Rui!
• Eliana Silva – talented voice actress who not only brought the female characters of Algarve to life, but also helped us make sure the script was as authentic as possible
You’ll definitely find some of this Algarvian dialect challenging, but we’ll go over a lot of this episode’s content in a discussion between Eliana, Rui & Joel, to be released soon!
Note: This episode’s mention of afpop is not a paid endorsement, but just a friendly collaboration!
Update August 1, 2017: As promised, we posted a follow-up episode to explore this dialogue in more detail. Once you’re done listening to this episode, make sure to have a listen to our follow-up discussion!
Salvador Sobral Ganha Eurovisão 2017
Salvador Sobral Wins Eurovision 2017
Discover the beautiful ballad that unexpectedly swept Europe off its feet in the Eurovision 2017 song contest: “Amar Pelos Dois”, by Salvador Sobral. After 53 years of competing, this marks Portugal’s first victory ever! With the help of a special guest, Rui and Joel explore the meaning behind these Portuguese lyrics as well as what set this performance apart from all the rest.
Note: We only used a short clip of the song to avoid waking up the copyright police, so make sure to check out Salvador’s full performance with his sister, (and composer, Luísa Sobral): https://youtu.be/z5VUti3kVIo?t=4m13s
Um Café em Lisboa
A Coffee in Lisbon
This episode is a collaboration featuring Tatiana Ribeiro, a Portuguese teacher (and fan of the project) from Brazil, currently living Italy! She recorded with us and also wrote the dialogue, which takes place in a café in Portugal.
Since we all know jokes are funnier after they’re explained in exhaustive detail, Rui and Joel discuss the key vocabulary and expressions used throughout. But rather than making it easy on you by switching to English, we decided to keep the entire conversation in Portuguese!
But don’t worry – For the first time ever, members using the podcast player on our website can now enable English translations at any point in this episode, to make sure you don’t miss a single “palavra”.
We’re excited to hear what you think!
Update, August 11, 2017: Shortly after launching this episode, we were invited on Tatiana’s radio show for an interview. We’ve released an edited version of this interview with transcript if you’d like to have a listen!
A Lenda Da Serra Da Nó
The Legend of Serra da Nó
We’re back with another classic Portuguese tale, this time with the story of a Moorish king after the heart of a humble, female shepherd. Will he win her heart, despite their different religious backgrounds? How will they survive when the Christians come to take over the castle and land? Listen and find out!
Aprender Português? Vejo-me Grego! (Video)
Learning Portuguese? I'm seeing myself Greek (I'm struggling)!
In this video, Joel (o Canadiano) interviews Pedro, a personal trainer in Lisboa. When he saw which videos and website his Greek girlfriend was using to learn Portuguese, he immediately recognized Rui and Joel as members of the gym!
Instead of just taking a photo together, we decided it would be a bigger surprise for her to see her boyfriend pop up in her YouTube activity feed! So we recorded this interview to make it happen…
During the conversation, we discuss:
• Common challenges that make Portuguese difficult for non-natives to master
• Learning your partner’s language while in a relationship
• Specific grammar and pronunciation peculiarities in European Portuguese
Disclaimer: Since this interview is spontaneous and Joel is not a native speaker, he makes a few mistakes (eg. “Isto é” instead of “Este é” when introducing Pedro!) Members who see the subtitles / transcription will see the corrections, and hopefully learn from these common errors. But for those who just hear the audio or view the video without subtitles, just make sure to take Joel’s grammar with a grain of salt and focus more on Pedro! 🙂
Pizza Na Hora Está a Contratar!
Pizza on Time is Hiring!
Márcio o Brasileiro calls in once again to everyone’s favourite Portuguese pizzeria, but this time to ask the owner for a job. Will they be able to overcome their cultural differences and work together? Have a listen and find out in this 3rd episode of Pizza Na Hora!
Natal e o Ano Novo
Christmas and the New Year
What could be better than a holiday episode in January? (Just about anything!)
Listen to find out what happened to Rui that delayed this episode… and be extra prepared for when the holidays come around again in about 355 days!
We also discuss some quirky traditions and superstitions that Portuguese natives take part in during the New Year. Feliz janeiro!
A Lenda da Rapariga com Pés de Cabra
The Legend of the Girl with Goat's Feet
In this Lenda (tale), we explore a famous Portuguese tale of a woman… with goat feet! She manages to keep the secret hidden her entire life, until a nobleman falls in love with her and learns the truth.
(special thanks to Luís Relógio for writing this episode!)
Artigo 23 – António Guterres, A Unir Nações
António Guterres, Uniting Nations
A few days ago, Joel overheard some enthusiastic Portuguese natives talking about how António Guterres had been chosen as the new secretary-general of the United Nations. So in this episode, we take the opportunity to explore António’s life and the experiences that led up to this proud moment in Portugal’s history!
Desaparecido no Concerto
Missing at the Concert
Outdoor concert festivals are fun and everything… until someone goes missing! In this dialogue, a Canadian named Fred gets worried when his Portuguese friend João disappears unexpectedly. He attempts to file a police report in the middle of the night with an unhelpful officer who’d rather continue napping.
3 Video Lessons (Special Announcement)
Attention Practice Portuguese podcast subscribers!
This is not a regular podcast episode, but a special announcement to tell you about a 3-part video series we’re launching starting today.
Check out the first lesson now: practiceportuguese.com/words.
In these 3 lessons, we aim to solve a few of the biggest challenges our members run into when learning European Portuguese.
In the first video, we start with a list of simple rules you can use to quickly add 5000 words to your European Portuguese vocabulary, just by using words you already know.
In the second video, we’ll tackle the challenge of oral comprehension. We’ll explain what it is that spoken European Portuguese more difficult to understand than Brazilian. We’ll give you the necessary tools for you to not only better understand what they’re saying, but also make your own accent sound a lot more authentic when you speak Portuguese.
This second lesson will also have an interactive tool that you can use to practice what you learn in the video to make sure it sticks.
In the 3rd and final video, we’ll walk you through valuable tips and resources to help you throughout your Portuguese learning journey. We’ll also show you how to confirm that the words and grammar you’re learning are specific to Portugal (instead of the Brazilian vocabulary that you’ll find in most dictionaries and apps).
At the end of that third video we’ll also be announcing the biggest addition to Practice Portuguese since the launch of our podcast in 2013… but that’ll come later.
In these 3 videos, we worked hard to deliver very high-quality content to make the best use of your time. We could have easily sold these videos as a course, but we decided to offer them completely free so they could reach as many European Portuguese learners as possible.
If you want to get started with the first lesson and learn 5000 new words, head on over to practiceportuguese.com/words.
You’ll be able to download the free PDF e-book that goes along with the video lesson, as well as sign up to be notified when we launch videos 2 and 3. There won’t be another announcement for each video, so make sure you don’t miss out.
Once again, that’s practiceportuguese.com/words. Thanks for listening and we hope that this video series helps you learn a lot more about European Portuguese!
Uma Viagem a Marraquexe
A Trip to Marrakech
Today’s destination is Morocco, as we cover tons of new vocabulary to prepare you for wherever your future travels take you! Follow our journey through the airport, airplane, and all through the ancient city of Marrakesh.
(Featuring a very special guest, Ana Coimbra, Rui’s mãe!)
Portugal Campeão (Part 2)
In this second half of “Portugal Campeão“, we continue to celebrate Portugal’s futebol victory!
Just like the last few episodes, we discuss vocabulary and grammar useful in every day life, even if (like us) you don’t follow sports! Make sure to listen until the end where Rui gets a little bit hyper… and musical! (Too much galão, perhaps?)
(00:55 Slow reading, 07:31 Discussion, 26:38 Fast reading, 31:02 Outro)
Portugal Campeão (Part 1)
Portugal the Champions (Part 1)
We celebrate Portugal’s futebol victory with a play-by-play of how it all went down, including tons of useful expressions and vocabulary, soccer/football related and otherwise.
With Rui and Joel’s lack of sports knowledge (sports experts, you’ve been warned), we hope this episode is as educational as it is wacky!
Show up for the multiple musical outbursts, stay for the in-depth analysis of Ronaldo and his pet moth!
(Photo courtesy of Leticia De La Fuente)
A Família Vai Ao Supermercado
The Family Goes to the Supermarket
Marco and Ana take their kids to the “supermercado”, giving us an opportunity to learn some new vocabulary surrounding food.
First, Rui reads the entire article all the way through, then Rui and Joel split the text into sections to discuss vocabulary, Portuguese culture, and useful expressions you’ll hear on a daily basis while in Portugal. Rui also corrects some of Joel’s “estrangeiro” pronunciation mistakes that you might be making too!