en 
We are
on the verge of seeing more and more expats walking around Portugal holding a
smartphone at mouth’s hight. Even though we appreciate Mr. Google’s help in
moments of need, I believe it’s time we take back human power and communicate
directly with the Portuguese people, without interference.
These
days I notice two main issues with this approach:
1.
Online translators steal away from you what should be an organic discovery of
sentence structure and all the small details of Portuguese grammar.
2. They
all seem to have a bias towards the American version of Portuguese. You may
then opt for DeepL, or Linguee, or even Reverso. All somewhat better alternatives…
except, you are still bound to encounter Brazilian sentence structures – “Ele
me disse”, instead of “Ele disse-me” –, vocabulary – “café da manhã” instead of
“pequeno-almoço”, verb conjugations – “Ele está estudando”, instead of “Ele
está a estudar”.
A true
Portuguese unschooler will look at a monolingual or bilingual online dictionary
(one that translates words, not sentences), like infopedia.pt, look up verb
conjugations (Infopedia helps with that too), note down sentence structures
they’ve seen somewhere else, and avoid previous mistakes.
I
usually say: write to create your own textbook. Make Portuguese your own
language!
If you
have enjoyed this quick lesson and would like to learn more Portuguese outside
of the box, then please contact Catarina from The Language Unschool - catarina@thelanguageunschool.com
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So sad as Portugal will soon be known as the Sec USA. I lived in Lisbon all my life and never felt more alone. Walk the streets and you will understand why.
By J from Lisbon on 02 Sep 2022, 07:25
How true I use google translate, I have taken a few Portuguese lessons but where I live in the Algarve the people in cafes and restaurants want to use English so it is a case of if u don’t use it (Portuguese)you loose it . Living in Portugal I am disgusted with myself for having not learnt more Portuguese .
By Alan M from Algarve on 02 Sep 2022, 10:22
J, you're being quite dramatic, no? I'm a British English teacher who's lived in Portugal for twenty years (i.e., I come into contact with tonnes of native English speakers), and I've met very, very few Americans here, and even fewer that choose to live here more than a short-term stop in their ex-pat world travels. This isnt going to change much. You do realize, right, that this article, like so many other here, is actually paid publicity to ENTICE Americans (i.e., money) to come here under the guise that this is some trendy destination for American ex-pats? I mean, check out the by-line (i.e., the author). How do you think this publication, which offers free subscription, makes its money?
Also, the Portuguese shouldn't be complaining about Anerucans coming here. The Portuguese have been immigrating to the US in countless droves since the days when US whaling ships would stop in the Açores. Ever been to Boston? Coastal Connecticut? Rhode Island? Every other surname is Portuguese. Are you afraid that the 5,000-to-1 ratio of Portugal-to-US emigration (vs. US-to-Portugal) is going to tick up to 5,000 to 1.2?
By João from Lisbon on 02 Sep 2022, 20:07
You surprise me you are a teacher. You sound like a misinformed IDIOT too me. Who no nothing about Portugal after 20 years.
By J from Lisbon on 03 Sep 2022, 06:48
As is common for your ilk, J, you offer no substantive counterargument (e.g., pointing out a specific argument of mine, then refuting it with logic and, most importantly, empirically-derived examples), and instead default into the only thing you're well-versed in: misplaced and unwarranted invective.
No wonder you're so lonely, right?
By João from Other on 03 Sep 2022, 12:34
Now you have become a bigger Idiot than I first thought. ????
By J from Lisbon on 04 Sep 2022, 05:50