In this episode, we once again analyze record audio clips from our brave listeners! We listen to the Shorty, “À Busca de Doces“, and explore how to make your Portuguese sound more native with pronunciation subtleties and word choice. We also clarify some other challenging concepts, such as the differences between “aí, ali, & lá”.

Today, the tables have turned, because YOU, (our listeners) are the main voices of this special episode! European Portuguese learners from around the world bravely submitted recordings of themselves reading our featured Shorty, “Um Encontro“. We listen to each one, while suggesting subtle improvements for perfecting their pronunciation, including some challenging vowel sounds, and rules […]

Before we usher in the New Year, Avó Odete wants to wish you a (belated) Feliz Natal! Recorded on Christmas Eve, Rui’s grandmother reminisces about how she met her husband, and shares her latest crochet projects with her fans. You’ll also learn the names of several traditional sweets and other food served during the holidays.

‘Tis the season… to spread misinformation about the origins of Christmas and Santa Claus! In this special holiday episode, Rui and Joel explore the food and other traditions of Christmas in Portugal, while featuring one of our latest Shorties, “a Consoada“. Boas festas a todos! 🎄

In this episode, we deconstruct one of our latest “Shorties”. We go through some useful food vocabulary, discuss verb and tense choices, and Rui irons out Joel and Molly’s “estrangeiro” pronunciation! There’s also some exciting news about Practice Portuguese, especially for those of you who might be in the Algarve next weekend.

As a gift to us and all Practice Portuguese fans, our friend Wayne Wilson has turned this episode into a fully-animated cartoon.  With this newly-animated version of one of our early podcast episodes, we flash back to a time when Joel’s Portuguese skills were in their infancy! (Can you hear a difference?) In this episode, […]

Joel goes to the Cinema and is faced with various decisions… Let’s see whether his Portuguese skills are up to the challenge!

Currently living in Portugal and learning the language, Joel bumps into a helpful local.

A tourist struggles to find his way to his hotel… but not as much as he struggles with understanding Portuguese expressions.

Two friends get together for a conversation and run into some “false friends” (false cognates), leading to nice teaching moment!

With the holiday season approaching, Rui and Joel announce a special early gift for members of Practice Portuguese! Listen and find out exactly what is on “the Way”… Updated December 1, 2018: It’s launched!

Welcome to our documentary of Rui and Joel’s (and friends) journey walking the Caminho de Santiago!

Salvador and Mariana (– no, Adriana! –) visit a hair salon to freshen up their looks, but quickly find themselves in a hairy situation! In this episode, you’ll learn lots of new vocabulary and expressions that should come in handy the next time you find yourself going under the scissors…

Today we revisit Diálogo 29 to discuss some of the vocabulary and expressions surrounding the Portuguese housing market. There’s also an extra listening challenge waiting for you in the second half, so stick around!

Talk about a callback… This video is a brand new animated version of our very first podcast episode, from way back in 2013!

By comparing the audio of this episode to our newer ones, you’ll hopefully notice not only a massive evolution in not only our production quality and comfort on the mic, but also in Joel’s Portuguese. He had been learning Portuguese for about a year when this was recorded.

It’s very humbling (especially for Joel) to go this far back into the archives, but Wayne’s fantastic animating talent has made it a lot of fun. Enjoy!

After listening to our last podcast on foreign words derived from Portuguese, a Japanese member, Ryoko, came to our rescue with recordings of every Japanese word we mentioned, plus a bunch of new ones for good measure. Join us as we explore surprising similarities between Japanese and Portuguese in this bonus episode! (“Arigato” once again […]

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!

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.

“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 […]

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!”

Update: January 12, 2018 – As a gift to us and all Practice Portuguese fans, our friend Wayne Wilson 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.

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Getting sick can cause pain and suffering, but it’s often not as bad as the hours spent in the waiting room of a hospital!

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 […]

What better way to celebrate the season than with a bit of snow and -11°C temperatures? Check out the holiday hijinx we got up to while almost freezing to death in Toronto, Canada this month… and learn a bit of seasonal vocabulary at the same time!

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!