Reviews

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Pimsleur Portuguese: Great for Developing Speaking Skills

5 Portuguese, Audio Lessons

I loved Pimsleur Brazilian Portuguese. A Pimsleur lesson is a roughly 30-minute, highly interactive audio experience focusing on the development of oral skills, and there are a total of 90 lessons for Portuguese.  The pacing is good. I mention this…

Portuguese Vocabulary Cards from Visual Education, with MetroCard for Scale

4 Portuguese, Flashcards, Vocabulary

This set of 1,000 vocabulary cards emphasizes Brazilian Portuguese, but their publisher, Visual Education, says they are still good for those studying the Portuguese of Portugal. Visual Education makes their flashcards weirdly small: just 3 1/2” x 1 1/2”. That is much smaller than…

Brazilian Day New York 2012

4 Portuguese, Fairs/Festivals/Parades

This massive annual celebration takes place across an area of many blocks around Little Brazil in midtown Manhattan. It is held in late summer, and to get a sense of its frenetic, joyous energy, please see the video in my…

Random House Webster's Pocket Portuguese Dictionary, with Pen for Scale

Portuguese, Books, Dictionaries

The type in Random House Webster’s Pocket Portuguese Dictionary is too small for me, but if your eyesight is better than mine, you may appreciate the compact size and portability. I do think this series is…

You Can Speak the Word You Want Translated...

5 Arabic, Dutch, English, French, General, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Yiddish, Apps, Dictionaries

I have a tendency not to get around to downloading iPhone apps onto my iPhone, but fortunately I have a husband who will take my phone and do it for me. I’m very glad he stuck this app on…

Essential Portuguese Grammar: This Is a Great Little Book

5 Portuguese, Books

I have encountered only a few books like Essential Portuguese Grammar over the years of this language project: small, simple, and clear. It is a gift that, after seeing some of the junk out there, I do…

Learn Portuguese, Read Portuguese

5 Portuguese, Websites, Bookstores/Libraries, Kids

The tagline for Atlantico Books is “Brazil and Portugal Delivered.” I have never met the owner, Elena Como, but she has been pleasant and responsive in my e-mail communications with her, and she is clearly very passionate about Portuguese. …

Scenes from the 2012 NY Portuguese Short Film Festival Are Available Online

Portuguese, Radio/TV/Video/Film, Fairs/Festivals/Parades

At the first annual NY Portuguese Short Film Festival—which took place in June 2011, in both New York and Lisbon—20 short films were screened. The sponsor of this now-annual event is the Arte Institute, which supports cross-cultural dialogue among artists.

Storefront: It Goes On and On

4 Portuguese, Food and Drink, Shopping

Rio Market sells many Brazilian products: food, beverages, cosmetics, etc. It includes a travel agency and a restaurant as well; together, they take up a large swathe of the Astoria block on which they reside. A Brazilian customer leaving…