Learn Portuguese pronunciation
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| Braden: Welcome back to all about lesson 4 - Portuguese Pronunciation Made EASY! In this lesson, we’ll show you how easy it is to start Speaking Portuguese. |
| Thássia: That’s because we’ll be focusing on pronunciation. |
| Braden: Believe it or not, pronunciation is one of the easiest aspects of Portuguese. |
| Thássia: That’s right. Today, we’ll give you tips in how to perfect your pronunciation. |
| Braden: Comparatively speaking, Portuguese is an easy language to speak. |
| Thássia: There are a few sounds that might be different, but almost every sound in Portuguese is used every day in English. |
| Braden: That means you already learned how to say it. |
| Thássia: Portuguese also follows many of the same intonation patterns as English. |
| Braden: So, let’s recap the written system quickly, just as an introduction to the pronunciation. |
| Thássia: The Portuguese alphabet is the same as the English alphabet: twenty-six letters with five vowels which are -A, -E, -I, -O, and -U. |
| Braden: So, here is what we want you to do. No matter where you are, no matter if you’re at home, on the subway, in your car, wherever, we want you talk to yourself. |
| Thássia: You might get some weird looks, but don’t worry, it’s for a good cause. |
| Braden: You’re going to repeat after the vowels that Thássia will say. Sound good? |
| Thássia: Okay. The Portuguese letter -a is pronounced like the [a] in… |
| Braden: "father" |
| Thássia: The word for "car" is carro. The word for "big" is grande. |
| Braden: Okay, and how about the -e vowel? |
| Thássia: The Portuguese letter -e is pronounced like the [e] in… |
| Braden: "get" |
| Thássia: The word for "foot" is pé. The word for "she" is ela. |
| Braden: And the -i vowel? |
| Thássia: The Portuguese letter -i is pronounced like the [i] in… |
| Braden: "Ski" or "machine." |
| Thássia: The word for "list" is lista, and the word for "life" is vida. |
| Braden: Cool. And the -o. |
| Thássia: The Portuguese letter -o is pronounced similar to the [o] in… |
| Braden: "hope" |
| Thássia: The word for "soup" is sopa, and the word for "housefly" is mosca. |
| Braden: And the last vowel is the -u vowel. |
| Thássia: The Brazilian letter -u is pronounced like the [u] in… |
| Braden : "Flu" or "rule." |
| Thássia: The word for "raw" is cru, and Tambaú is the name of a neighborhood in João Pessoa, Brazil. |
| Braden: How about the consonants next? |
| Thássia: All the consonants? |
| Braden: No, no, no. Just some of the more unique ones. We’ll go through all the consonants in our pronunciation series. |
| Thássia: Our pronunciation series is designed to help you master Portuguese pronunciation in just five lessons. |
| Braden: But for now, let’s just look at the -LH, the -NH, and -R. |
| Thássia: Okay. The -lh sound in Portuguese is unique. |
| Braden: It sure is. It’s pronounced similar to the [ly] in the phrase "will ye," but not like the [ly] in "fly" or "comply." |
| Thássia: Very nice! The -lh is a liquid sound where your tongue glides across the roof of your mouth. |
| Braden: Could you give us some examples? |
| Thássia: Sure. The word for "woman" is mulher. The word for "leaf" is folha, and the word for "eye" is olho. |
| Braden: Okay. So, how about the -nh? |
| Thássia: The -nh is an interesting sound, similar to the Spanish -ñ or the [gn] in "lasagna." |
| Braden: The main thing to remember is that it doesn't close. |
| Thássia: Exactly. In other words, your tongue doesn't touch the roof of your mouth. |
| Braden: How about some examples for that? |
| Thássia: Sure. Senhor means "Mr." or "sir," and manhã means "morning." |
| Braden: Okay. So, to finish things off, how about the -r? |
| Thássia: This one is a bit more complicated. |
| Braden: That’s true. This letter can change quite a bit, depending on the accent. |
| Thássia: Most of the time though, an -r between two letters is pronounced like the [d] in… |
| Braden: "Ladder" or "meadow." Your tongue kind of taps the roof of your mouth. |
| Thássia: Yes, but only once. The trilling -r is a Spanish thing. |
| Braden: Could you give us some examples? |
| Thássia: Sure. The word for "expensive" is caro, and Livraria Saraiva is one of the largest bookstore chains in Brazil. |
| Braden: There is one big exception to that rule though, isn’t there? |
| Thássia: Right, which is… |
| Braden: An -r at the beginning of a word or before a consonant often makes that kind of [h] sound like “hat.” |
| Thássia: That’s right. Could you give us some examples? |
| Braden: With my horrible Portuguese, sure. The word for “rat” is rato, spelled R-A-T-O. |
| Thássia: Oh, that wasn’t so bad. |
| Braden: It wasn’t so bad. Thank you. |
| Thássia: Another example is árvore, which means “tree.” |
| Braden: And the word for "rare" which is raro, spelled R-A-R-O. |
| Thássia: The last one is the -rr. |
| Braden: Right. The -rr makes an [h] sound like in home, hat, or heart. Some examples? |
| Thássia: The one for “help” is socorro. And the word for “tower” is torre, T-O-R-R-E. |
| Braden: Well, that’s everything for this lesson. |
| Thássia: Keep in mind that listening and repeating is really the key to improving your pronunciation. |
| Braden: Listen to and copy native speakers as much as you can. |
| Thássia: Please join us again when we take a closer look at Portuguese. |
| Braden: Don’t forget that you can leave us a comment on this lesson. |
| Thássia: So, if you have a question or some feedback, please leave us a comment. |
| Braden: It’s very easy to do. Just stop by PortuguesePod101.com… |
| Thássia: Click on comments… |
| Braden: Enter your comment and name and? |
| Thássia: That’s it. |
| Braden: No excuses. We’re looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks and see you later. |
| Thássia: Tchau tchau! |
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