In recent years, more and more foreigners have been looking into buying a home in Portugal. Housing prices dropped significantly after an economic downturn, but as the economy recovers, property prices are beginning to rise again, especially in certain areas. Still, interest rates remain low and many are drawn to the climate, quality of life, […]
Buying a Home in Portugal
Estrangeiros em Portugal
Foreigners in Portugal
Welcome to Portugal! With its interesting history, lovely climate, and amazing blend of cultures, it’s no wonder that more and more foreigners are deciding to settle down here. Get lost in this country of smiles and breathtaking landscapes!
Roupa Na Varanda, Afinal Quem Manda?
Clothes On The Balcony, Who's In Charge Anyway?
Monica has just moved to an apartment in the Historic Center of Porto. She meets her neighbour Eduardo who tries to impose some unexpected rules. Will she be able to deal with these strict requirements?
Parte II: À Caça de Casa
Part II: Hunting for a House
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!
À Caça de Casa
House Hunting
In this episode, we explore the Portuguese apartment rental market with James, a young adult of Portuguese descent looking for a new place. To find some leads, he recruits the help of his friend, Luís. However, Luís happens to be going through a bit of drama with his ex-girlfriend, so let’s see if he’s able to be of any help…
Types of Homes and Rooms
If you plan to or a home in Portugal, here are some of the main types of housing you have to choose from: Types of Housing – A private bedroom for yourself in a house shared with other people. – A complete, unshared home, but in shared with others. You could also categorize this as apartment which […]
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!
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! 🙂