If a person fluent in Spanish takes a two week intensive course in Portugese, what percentage of everyday Portugese would be transparent to the Spanish speaker after the course? The fluent Spanish speaker is also very interested in the course and works hard through out the course.
A Two Week Intensive Course In Portugese
Hey Eddy.
I don't want to discourage you but separating Portuguese and Spanish is VERY difficult, even for native speakers. I'm still struggling to speak Spanish but in the end it's just portunhol :)
However, if you take a course in Brazil or Portugal where you have to use the language all the time the results can be different.
Unless you REALLY need to speak Portuguese I don't recommend you learning it. After all a good Spanish speaker can understand tons of Portuguese after listening for a while.
Buena suerte!!
I don't want to discourage you but separating Portuguese and Spanish is VERY difficult, even for native speakers. I'm still struggling to speak Spanish but in the end it's just portunhol :)
However, if you take a course in Brazil or Portugal where you have to use the language all the time the results can be different.
Unless you REALLY need to speak Portuguese I don't recommend you learning it. After all a good Spanish speaker can understand tons of Portuguese after listening for a while.
Buena suerte!!
I want to witness just ONE native spanish speaking person speak portuguese well, or vice-versa.
Do they exist?
Do they exist?
"Unless you REALLY need to speak Portuguese I don't recommend you learning it"
I'm sorry but I totally disgree. If you know well the grammr of your own language, you can learn the other language perfectly. It's a sort of hobby of mine to point out the differences and similarities of these two languages. In addition, most specialists in the Latin languages can study all the languages and dialects of this group (most of the time) and they don't have any problems to speak them fluently. In my view the secret is to study every single language as a real and different language, with its own grammar, syntax and vocabulary and please don't dare begin speaking it just because it resembles your mother tongue, without a previous deep study of the other language.
I'm sorry but I totally disgree. If you know well the grammr of your own language, you can learn the other language perfectly. It's a sort of hobby of mine to point out the differences and similarities of these two languages. In addition, most specialists in the Latin languages can study all the languages and dialects of this group (most of the time) and they don't have any problems to speak them fluently. In my view the secret is to study every single language as a real and different language, with its own grammar, syntax and vocabulary and please don't dare begin speaking it just because it resembles your mother tongue, without a previous deep study of the other language.
"In my view the secret is to study every single language as a real and different language, with its own grammar, syntax and vocabulary and please don't dare begin speaking it just because it resembles your mother tongue, without a previous deep study of the other language."
That's the problem with Portuguese and Spanish. Since the borders between these two languages aren't so clear what one thinks is Spanish is actually Portuguese and the other way around. In my case I didn't treat Spanish as a dialect and studied the grammar thoroughly but still slip in the portunhol zone sometimes. I listen to tons of Spanish, studied the book Espanol 2000 and ALWAYS listen to the news in Spanish in addition to reading.
Which similar languages have you already studied and SUCCEEDED in separating such languages? If you have an example would you mind sharing techniques for studying?
I'm struggling with Spanish/Portuguese (Even though the latter is my native language) and German/Dutch (Have been STUDYING Dutch over 2 years but still struggle to separate both). I also studied Italian for 1 year but felt it's still close to Portuguese. When studying French I could feel again I was studying another language.
"In addition, most specialists in the Latin languages can study all the languages and dialects of this group (most of the time) and they don't have any problems to speak them fluently. "
Can you give a name of a successful example? Most people I listen to trying to speak in another Latin-based language sound like their native language? Sorry but I'm still skeptical when it comes to studying similar languages. Maybe that's the reason why I avoided Spanish all my life. Not that I don't like the language but it's possible to communicate even without much effort.
Cheers!!!
That's the problem with Portuguese and Spanish. Since the borders between these two languages aren't so clear what one thinks is Spanish is actually Portuguese and the other way around. In my case I didn't treat Spanish as a dialect and studied the grammar thoroughly but still slip in the portunhol zone sometimes. I listen to tons of Spanish, studied the book Espanol 2000 and ALWAYS listen to the news in Spanish in addition to reading.
Which similar languages have you already studied and SUCCEEDED in separating such languages? If you have an example would you mind sharing techniques for studying?
I'm struggling with Spanish/Portuguese (Even though the latter is my native language) and German/Dutch (Have been STUDYING Dutch over 2 years but still struggle to separate both). I also studied Italian for 1 year but felt it's still close to Portuguese. When studying French I could feel again I was studying another language.
"In addition, most specialists in the Latin languages can study all the languages and dialects of this group (most of the time) and they don't have any problems to speak them fluently. "
Can you give a name of a successful example? Most people I listen to trying to speak in another Latin-based language sound like their native language? Sorry but I'm still skeptical when it comes to studying similar languages. Maybe that's the reason why I avoided Spanish all my life. Not that I don't like the language but it's possible to communicate even without much effort.
Cheers!!!
Most people I listen to trying to speak in another Latin-based language sound like their native language?
Not at all, you may have an accent as in any other foreign language but your skills in that language may be good. I can speak French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, of course Spanish and Portuguese are the most similar ones in terms of grammar, syntax and vocabulary but I never mix them, sorry but I took a look at some posts of yours in Spanish in the past and I have to say that they did sound portunhol :-) There were some basic grammar mistakes, you should probably use a contrastive grammar of the two languages, to start with try to have a look at this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differences_between_Spanish_and_Portuguese
Not at all, you may have an accent as in any other foreign language but your skills in that language may be good. I can speak French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, of course Spanish and Portuguese are the most similar ones in terms of grammar, syntax and vocabulary but I never mix them, sorry but I took a look at some posts of yours in Spanish in the past and I have to say that they did sound portunhol :-) There were some basic grammar mistakes, you should probably use a contrastive grammar of the two languages, to start with try to have a look at this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differences_between_Spanish_and_Portuguese
blanche:
Thanks for the reply and the link. I really want to get rid of written portuñol since I have already made some progress in my pronunciation. Do you have any suggestion for a Spanish grammar? I also have to take a look at "From Spanish to Portuguese" from FSI.
What do you do to improve in the written variety of the language when there's nobody to correct what you write? I guess this has been the biggest challenge to write in proper Spanish.
¡Muchas gracias!
Thanks for the reply and the link. I really want to get rid of written portuñol since I have already made some progress in my pronunciation. Do you have any suggestion for a Spanish grammar? I also have to take a look at "From Spanish to Portuguese" from FSI.
What do you do to improve in the written variety of the language when there's nobody to correct what you write? I guess this has been the biggest challenge to write in proper Spanish.
¡Muchas gracias!