I want to learn non-Brazilian portguese. My boyfriends family is from Portugal and I would love to learn a little of the language before I visit. Any suggestions...books, cd's???

I have found most books and CDs are not Brazilian Portuguese, but "The King's Portuguese" aka Portugal Portuguese. I'm sure if you look at the selections at the store, there will be a clear label on the items that will say which version of Portuguese it is.

I'd start with the easy stuff (Berlitz, etc.) and move up. Portuguese is difficult to learn since there's a million verb forms, or at least what feels like it, but if you've ever studied any other Latin-based language (French, Italian or Spanish), there will be much that you'll catch onto quickly.

Have fun!

Jules

As a Portuguese Portuguese speaker, I recomend Brazilian Portuguese to foreigners wiling to venture in this beautiful language

I think it might be easier should your boyfriends family leanr English I've found Portuguese no the easier language to learn - just ask my wife.

Matt

"leanr" - learn. "no the easier" - not the easiest. Damn, I can't speak any language correctly!

I had to smile when I saw this post... have you seen the movie "Love Actually"? The scenes with Colin Firth learning and then using Portuguese... great!

One of the most important areas for discussion in Portuguese life is football. Ask your boyfriend from which club are his family. I'm guessing either Benfica, Sporting or Porto (the big three and loyalty does not neccearily stem from where you live or come from in the country.) For instance: my father and mother in law are "Benfiquitas" My wife's aunt also. Her husband is from Sporting. My father in law's cousin used to play for Belenenses.

Should you display some knowledge with regard to football that is your first succesful step taken.

Then cooking; find out about some traditional dishes - that will be your in with your mother in law. (Saying mother - I realise you aren't married but it's the best thing I can think to say)

When I first met the woman who was to become my wife I didn't speak a word of Portuguese: so katya_NY yes I was somewhat like Colin firth. I still make a million mistakes -

Quantos anos tens - How old are you
Quantos anus tu tens - How many arseholes do you have

The second is an example of what i've asked someone!!!
They both sound very similar, written slightly differently. Lobo you know what I mean.

And also be very careful if asking for garlic with you codfish. Quer Alho sounds very like Caralho - And if you want that translated I suggest you do a google for it: I don't want to be banned. Suffice to say that the waiter saw the funny side and didn't throw the fish in my face!

Matt

The "Living Language" series from Random House are terrific. In fact, I gave my BIL the "Complete Portuguese: The Basics (CD)" for Christmas -- he loves it. They spend a significant amount of time in Portugal and he wants to learn the language, but it is difficult (so he says)

Here's the link to the "LL" Portuguese collection:

http://tinyurl.com/7w398

Here's the link to the package that I purchased:

http://tinyurl.com/9bmpo

Good Luck!

That's right. O bacalhau quer alho (codfish needs garlic) is the much appreciated song of Quim Barreiros
Come on, Portuguese is not that difficult. I learnt the basics of Arabic and that IS a difficult language. But all the other languages I've been in contact with seem to be a simplified version of Portuguese.

Lobo. It seems funny you should say that about the Portugese language.
While riding the bus from Belem, there was quite an interesting gentleman standing next to us. He quickly noticed we were Americans and his English was excellent.
He proceeded to tell us the connection betweeen many historical conquests throughout the world and also many words in English that have their roots in Portugese.
I had never thought of it before (this being our first exposure to Portugal).
Anyway, the history lesson was quite interesting.

I have used with varying degrees of success: Pimsleur, Rosetta Stone, the "Teach Yourself" series and Rough Guide phrasebooks. Pimsleur is just audio CDS - you learn naturally the way you learned to speak your native language as a child. If you're a visual learner and just starting out, I wouldn't recommend it as your first course. But the level 2 course is a great second course after you have learned some grammar basics. It will teach you how to think in the language, understand it when it is spoken at a moderate pace and to speak it properly. The "Teach Yourself" series worked well for me for French and Spanish, but was terrible for Turkish. It gives you a mixture of grammar, vocabulary, listening exercises etc and is reasonably interesting and comprehensive. I switched to Rosetta Stone for Turkish; it's good if you learn through a combination of words, pictures and sounds but the first lessons are rather odd and disjointed. They don't have much to do with the real world.

I love Rough Guide phrasebooks. I rely on them a lot when I start studying a language because they give you an overview (in English) of the basic grammar points (something that lengthier courses often don't do), allowing you to put what you're learning into a familiar framework. They also show you how to pronounce all the words - and they've got entertaining and useful phrases in them. (I seem to recall that the Italian one had a section on pick-up lines and responses, ranging from "I'm married", "Don't bother me" to "Yes, I would love to go for a ride on your Vespa".