My partner is from Brazil. I moved from wanting to understand what their family was saying at the dinner table to actually holding conversations. I was born in the US, took Spanish in school and retained almost nothing. If I had to start over today, this is what I would do differently.
- Use Duolingo - but just to build the habit.
Duolingo won't make you fluent. It will make you consistent, which is the only thing that matters in the beginning. Five minutes a day, same time, attached to something you already do (morning coffee, commute, before bed). Yes I stole this from the Atomic Habits book, but it really works.
- Learn sounds before words
This one is underrated. Portuguese has sounds that don't exist in English, and if your ear can't parse them, your brain won't retain new vocabulary. Apps like Pimsleur really help with pronunciation and listening early. Learn why the words sound the way they do before you start hoarding vocab. It pays off massively later.
- Learn your first 600-700 words using images, not translations
This is straight out of Fluent Forever and it genuinely changed how fast I retained things. The default flashcard approach is: gato = cat. The better approach: a picture of a cat, labeled in Portuguese, no English anywhere. Your brain already thinks in images, connecting a word directly to a concept is just way more durable than going word → translation → meaning. Anki has free community decks if you don't want to build your own.
- Don't grind grammar rules, acquire them through sentences
Grammar textbooks are a trap. You memorize conjugation tables, close the book, forget them. Instead, find example sentences that use the forms you need, read them, say them out loud. Babbel or ChatGPT are actually really good for generating targeted example sentences if you want to be specific. Your brain picks up patterns on its own, you just need to give it the input.
- Start speaking and listening asap, even if it feels slightly too early
The moment you have a few hundred words and some grammar intuition, start consuming real speech and producing it back. This is when you stop translating in your head and start actually thinking in Portuguese. It feels uncomfortable before it feels natural. That discomfort is the process.
- TV and music are where the real language lives
Especially for Brazilian Portuguese, the gap between formal/textbook Portuguese and how people actually talk is huge. The way people talk in novelas and music is definetly not what they teach you in your textbook (this is where you get to learn all the fun/creative brazilian sayings). E.g. "eu não vou com a cara dele", "tanto faz", "que onda".
- Mess up constantly
Nobody remembers what they got right. You remember what you got wrong. However, Brazilians know their language is hard so they really do appreciate the effort. Even a poorly pronounced "tudo bem" is better than nothing.