I self studied Portuguese for a while year a couple years ago and became about 90% literate, but a very poor writer and couldn’t speak or understand much spoken at all. I had a tutor on iTalki for about 6 months and it was very expensive and I found it useless. I want to give Portuguese a second try but have forgotten a lot of the vocab and grammar. It’s been 2 years now, how would you recommend I give it a second try and fast track my learning back to where it was before and succeed this time?
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Well, first of all, sorry for your experience on Italki. I think the best way to relearn a language is too try to watch content you like in the target language. YT has a vast variety of content in PT-BR, try to search things you're into, but in portuguese. That, or perhaps try to find a tutor who's gonna structure lessons acording to your goals. Something custom. As a teacher and a student, to me, I think that's the best way. 😊
Problem is no structured plan, no idea where progress is, no feedback mechanism, no help for students struggling, no improvement plan when students aren’t making any progress at all. Just smile and take the next payment. That’s iTalki, and not just Portuguese either. I tried another language some of my family speaks and same thing. I want a structured learning plan for my time that I can see I’m not wasting my time. I don’t want friends. I’m not here for entertainment but the tutors there seem to think they’re like paid friends.
Hi Op I can speak Portuguese (not sure if you’re looking for Brazilian or Portuguese from Portugal) I am studying for translation and I’m in need of feedback. If you’re interested hit me up, and we can exchange some knowledge.
i would focus on comprehensible input since a lot of it is already probably in your head, you just need to reactivate it. find some content you like on youtube or a podcast like Fala Gringo or Carioca Connection. i also supplement italki with boraspeak for conversation practice. oh and listen to a lot of Tim Maia :)
I use Mango Languages while I drive or do chores, it's a listen-and-repeat program. I've been using it for a little over 14 months and It's worked beautifully for me. I went to Carnaval in February with some Brazilian friends, and suddenly realized "oh, I can communicate in Portuguese now." It's gotten me to a solid B1 level, and I'm maybe 75% of the way through the course. It may be useful for you, as someone who previously had a grasp of the language but not for listening or speaking. Fwiw, I get it for free through my local library's online catalog. But I'd probably pay for it.
You probably do not need to start over. Much of that knowledge is likely dormant, and it should return faster than it took to learn initially.
I would run a six-week reboot. First, establish a baseline: listen to five minutes of Brazilian content without subtitles, summarize what you understood, record yourself speaking for three minutes, and write about 150 words. Repeat comparable tasks every week.
On four days each week, do roughly 45 minutes:
Keep an error log and study only the grammar that repeatedly appears there. That is much more efficient than restarting a textbook from page one.
If you try another tutor, ask before booking what diagnostic, syllabus, homework, and progress checks they use. If the answer is simply “we’ll have conversations,” they are probably not offering the structure you want.
Comprehensible input is the right call here, especially since your listening was the weak point last time. Since you already have a decent vocab base from being 90% literate, podcasts or shows with transcripts will probably get you back up to speed faster than starting from scratch with graded content made for beginners. One thing worth trying: pick a podcast in Portuguese and use a tool that syncs the transcript with the audio so you can tap words you don't know, get a quick translation, and replay just that bit to hear it again. I help out with an app called E-clair that does this, works with any podcast or audio you bring in, not just a fixed library. Good for exactly your situation since you need to rebuild the listening/speaking side without losing the reading you already have. Also seconding Tim Maia, and MPB in general is great for picking up natural rhythm and vocab.