Apps and Online Tools

Introduction

Some years ago when I first embarked on this project I gave a paper about the usefulness or otherwise of apps. At the time there wasn't much available for Portuguese, now there are a few more. This post will not assess all of them, merely provide a taster and sampling of what is out there and my reflections on those I have used. There are broadly four different categories: beginner, grammar, vocabulary and those designed as travel aids for tourists. I have tried out various apps and will review three that I have found most useful, here.

Verbs, tenses, conjugations

Many apps have a certain amount that is free and then ask for payment for more content or greater interactivity. I understand this. It takes skill and time to generate these tools and such effort merits payment. One of my consistent weaknesses has been memorising verb endings. Therefore, I decided to go in search of apps that aid in this. The first is LearnBots. It has a clear, clean and colourful interface. 

VerbTrainer glimpse at exercises

LearnBots lists

The free version has a comprehensive list of verbs listed in different tenses that, when you click on them gives you the word pronounced by a native speaker (from where it does not say). This is all good and useful. However, it's not clear what you get when you upgrade. I would like tests and exercises that help me revise. This may be what's there, but I don't want to spend money not knowing what's available. I use it as a reference, a pretty booklet of verb conjugations, but no more. The second is Verb Trainer. They've gone for a copybook look to their site, which is cute, but lacks colour. You get a list of verbs and their conjugations for free. You have to pay for audio and there is a glimpse at an exercise, but you cannot try it out. Not shelling out for that either. I want to be able to trial a little. So, both are a disappointment.

This search led me to Duolingo, which, in turn, led me to a project in The Guardian. On the21st of February 2014 The Guardian asked three individuals to learn languages using purely online tools, variously Duolingo, Rosetta Stone and an online tutor. This is part of a wider project about language learner with interesting reflections on the joys and pitfalls of language learning on The Guardian website that is worth checking out. There is a great range of bloggers and reflections on their page. I want to comment on my experience of two of these tools: online tutor and Duolingo. I've never been convinced enough by Rosetta Stone samples to spend the money on their product. 

Online classes

My one-to-one classes in the same place have turned into Skype classes, of late, because my teacher has moved. These have had some technical glitches (fade outs in sound, calls dropping and poor signal), but, have mostly flowed well. There has been a greater formality to the classes, though. Previously, the class was preceded by more chat over coffee, it now is more curtailed. This has more to do with being both time poor at present than technology. Although, I suspect that location influenced the more convivial atmosphere of previous classes. She sends me material that we work through each week for an hour. I write a short essay that I email her. She gives me feedback on this. The class is conducted entirely in Portuguese and is a mix of reading (and necessarily listening) comprehension, grammar exercises and much conversation around a particular topic. This are interesting, varied and include material that is a mix of applied information on cultural context (for example, how women's rights have evolved since the dictatorship in Portugal) to more broad based vocabulary (for example, veganism as a celebrity fad). The continuity and discipline of the classes work well for me.

Duolingo

Student's personal homepage

sample exercise

sample exercise

As part of The Guardian's project Alan Haburchak was given the task of learning with Duolingo.  His conclusion so far has been that he finds it a useful tool for learning vocabulary, but an inadequate one for learning grammar. I agree with him insofar as it has been a great tool for supplementing my learning and reinforcing knowledge gained elsewhere. As a tool for explaining grammar it is entirely lacking. For me, that is perfectly fine. For grammar, I use other resources, such as the free verb tables in Verb Trainer and LearnBot as well as multiple texts and the classes I take. For practice, Duolingo works excellently. The emails encouraging me to 'keep my owl happy' by reaching my self-designated goals (the owl encourages you, gives you feedback and can be dressed up using the lingots you earn on the way), the multiple short exercises built around specific skills, grammar areas or vocabulary are very productive and the variation and repetition built into the patterning of the tasks, are all very welcome.

Keep your owl happy

What's more, it's all free, so far. I'd highly recommend it. It has made me think about how motivation works and how short term success keeps me going through the frustrations of language learning that I and others have written about. When I feel like I'm stumbling in classes or making the same silly mistakes in my writing, Duolingo has functioned to help me over the slump, it also makes me methodically go through vocabulary and grammar fields ensuring I get my spelling right, and, as an added bonus, keep my (currently bling tracksuit wearing) owl happy.

I am on the same page as "[Donavan] Whyte [vice president of Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA)] and [Kevin] Chen [italki's chief executive, who] agree that online tools are going to be most effective when used as onecomponent of a bigger arsenal of learning tools". Online tools are supplementary to the offline books and people that are necessary for language learning.

Curation and learning

Recently it has occurred to me that a lot of what language teachers can offer is curation. This is, of course, as well as their subject specialism and feedback. They act as a kind of cultural and subject-specific guide through the area to nudge you towards areas that are a good next step in advancing knowledge and encouragement to return to aspects where weaknesses lie. A book or online course will also do this to an extent, albeit without the personalised guidance.  As a curator a course, book or teacher will pick out the key stepping stones into the language and show you how to navigate these, without which it can be time consuming and challenging to find your way.

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/curate-2

Given that every learner has his or her own particularities and needs, there is also a requirement on the student to work his or her way through what's available and useful whatever the source. Since learning a language has such complicated subjective and experiential aspects the learner sometimes need to be his or her
own curator and navigate what's available online and off.

It is with this in mind that I went to seek out podcasts to develop my listening skills. I will share more on these in the next post.

Frustration, Memory and Patterns

Of late, I have been frustrated with my level of progress with Portuguese. This has been odd, because the classes have gone really well, I have held my own in a few conversations (or, at least, held a conversation that flowed), and have seen signs of development in my written production. But, it can feel like a few steps forward and one back. Part of my problem is that because I am fluent in Spanish and because of its similarity to Portuguese, I seem to be stuck in a place where I see Portuguese only through a Spanish lens. This means that, currently for me, Portuguese is viewed as either like or unlike Spanish, rather than a thing in itself. I realise the problematic politics of that given the sometimes tense relationship there has been between the two countries over the centuries, but, I am coming from it as a learner who is eager to plot out patterns and relate them to prior learning rather than any reductive colonial or imperialistic intentions. 

As a method this is great for grammar and fine if you are thinking in terms of one or two words where you can see differences and similarities and remark upon them as helpful points of reference or curiosities. But, where you're trying to build up a whole sign system it becomes an edifice that can only be rickety. Let me explain. If word A is similar to word B in Portuguese, that's interesting and can be related in that file where that memory is stored. But, it is similar and not identical, so a further related fact must be stored with that. That's okay, if it's only one or two words and where there might a collection of words with related common patterns. For example, words ending in -tion and  -ción in English and Spanish, respectively, in general end in -ções in Portuguese. That's fine and simple. But, what of the words that are spelt similarly and mean different things? I then have to remember a kind of narrative around that word and remember that words C and D should be stored in separate but related files because they may look the same but they inhabit a different register or field. That means I am asking myself to remember the word and its difference, rather than figuring out the language on its own terms. 

This is exhausting and fruitless. I'm not sure how to get beyond this habit, because it is my (and many others) inclination to see patterns and to relate it to prior learning, hence the frustration. I think that I will have to find new modes of approaching the language and immersing myself in it in order to go beyond seeking out commonalities and allow it to inhabit its own archive in my memory bank. I think that, in part, I need to do it by stepping back from only looking at the language at a micro-level (i.e. word by word) and read, listen and watch more extended pieces. The issue with this is where to find material (you can only ask so much of a teacher) that suits my own particular needs and interests?

This brings me to curation, which I will discuss in a future post. In the meantime, I'm off to listen to a podcast and see where that brings me.

What's available online to practice your Portuguese verbs?

I have difficulty memorising the pretérito perfeito simples [preterite tense] irregular verbs. The regulars ones are not so bad, there's a pattern that's recognisable which is logical and straightforward. The irregulars, however, are not so easy. How does Trazer (to bring) become trouxe? or, fazer (to make) fiz? While the regular -er verb endings are -i, -este, -eu, -emos, -eram, trazer follows its own route to become: trouxe, trouxeste, trouxe, trouxemos, trouxeram and fazer is: fiz, fizeste, fez, fizemos, fizeram. There is some patterning, but mostly its a list that needs to be memorised fully. One of my preferred methods of memorising blocks of things like this is to use the voice memo feature on my phone and read them into it and then listen to it on a loop. This is not helped by the fact that I'm not sure how to pronounce trouxe (a crucial question for my teacher to help with).

So, I turn to the Internet for help. Of the seven (?) that result from my Google search term "practica portugues preterito" two are Spanish-related. There are flashcards such as: http://www.cram.com/tag/perfecto-portuguese-preterito/7 (this one turns up twice, another time under a different address). These are user generated and most seem to have several tenses at once. Therefore, it's useful for those revising, but not for those learning. There are a few that help figure out and practice the different usage of the imperfect and preterite: http://www.easyportuguese.com/Portuguese-Lessons/Imperfect.html and this one even has a cute frog: http://conjuguemos.com/activity.php?id=12&source=public&language=spanish. Again, these presuppose that you have memorised both. There's a wiki list:  http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Portuguese/Contents/Preterite_tense_regular_verbs. Useful if you don't have the list to hand. Not a great return. The results for similar searches all lead to Spanish-learning websites.

I try an English search term "practice Portuguese preterite". It returns ten, none Spanish, some are the same or similar to the above: two that compare between the imperfect and preterite http://www.netplaces.com/brazilian-portuguese/verb-tenses-an-overview/the-preterite-versus-the-imperfect.htm and http://www.learn-portuguese-with-rafa.com/Learn_Portuguese_with_Rafa_Newsletter-preterite-vs-Imperfect-in-portuguese.html, a quick introduction to verbs and tenses that is handy for those unfamiliar with grammar: http://www.linguanaut.com/portuguese_verbs.htm, a language learner's forum entry: http://help.berberber.com/forum65/15674-past-tense-regular-verbs-1st-ending-ar.html and the conjuguemos, flashcards, and wikis above.

There is a curious one that gets you to translate 91 verbs from English against a clock that counts down from 11 minutes: http://www.sporcle.com/games/benjaminritsema/portuguese-irregular-verbs-conjugation-past-tense. Not for me, but might appeal to others.

This is exactly what I'm looking for: http://www.verbs-online.com/portuguese-verbs/portuguese-verbs.htm. It allows me to practice the tense and I have to write it out, which helps further. The only flaw is it supplies a series of letters with accents or cedillas, but there is no 'i' even though this is required to complete the exercises correctly.

I'm surprised that there isn't more out there. I may be missing things, but equivalent Spanish searches resulted in thousands of results (173,000), some of whom I am very familiar with and have used in the past with students. For now, I can only conclude that Portuguese language learning has a long way to go before it can be considered to be well served by the Internet but there are useful things to be found. I would love to know ones that others have encountered.

Back into the fray: teaching and learning

Over the last couple of years, I have let this blog go fallow and my endeavours to learn Portuguese have stalled. This was, in part, as a result of the paradigm shift that I wrote about previously. I set up this blog to try and work through what it means to me to learn a new language and to share these in order to see whether broader lessons could be teased out for language learning in general and for Portuguese learning in the UK and Ireland, more specifically.

Having recently taken up a new post at the University of Liverpool and moved back into a languages' department, I feel renewed motivation to learn Portuguese and to return to this project. Evidently, motivation is a complicated beast, which I have written about previously on many occasions, so I will not rehearse those again, here. But I have had a few realisations in the gap since last writing. A part of my desire to learn Portuguese is an intellectual endeavour, which compliments my own language teaching, as evidenced in my return to this now. Additionally, now that I have returned, I am reminded of the personal reasons for language learning as well as the simple fact of enjoying the process of connecting intellectually and emotionally with a new language and the cultural complexities it carries with it.

I had reached a kind of plateau with my learning because I was totally reliant on books, the Internet, apps and audio-visual media (dvds for learners, films, an old BBC series, and cds/downloads). These were good foundational tools, but lacked the need for spontaneous understanding or production. This has meant that I would learn a grammatical element/set of vocabulary, but then not use it regularly enough because I had done that chapter and the book and I had moved on to the next task, so I'd forget.  Most beginners' books do not have summative tests nor do they build on prior learning sufficiently. This became a frustrating cycle. I was feeling like I was getting through material and only able to measure my progress in terms of what tasks were completed. I lacked an easy way to test my own development as a learner. Also, there were several doubts I had or uncertainties (especially syntactical and grammatical) that the books did not sufficiently explain and I found myself blocked by these areas of miscomprehension. I felt I needed someone at hand who I could query about usage, would correct any errors or bad habits (false friends from Spanish, mis-pronunciations, mistaken verb endings, and so on), and with whom I could practice what I had learnt. In sum, I needed a teacher.

Therefore, a significant element in the change in my current circumstances is access to a Portuguese teacher. I have no plans here to name or review my teacher other than to say that she is a highly experienced professional native speaker who is patient and extremely helpful. The fact that she speaks Spanish is also proving very helpful. It is one-to-one and therefore is quite bespoke and quite unlike how it would be to learn in a group (there are advantages and disadvantages to both). In place of reviews of the teacher, I will continue to reflect on my progress and on the process of learning.

Already, having a teacher is helping me to keep my focus, not least because I have to prepare for classes each week, and also to motivate me to return to this blog as a reflective project.

I have had Daniel Tammet's Embracing the Wide Sky (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2009) in my bedside reading pile for a a few months now.  I have picked it up on those those days that I prefer to read fact rather than fiction before I sleep.  It's an easy read, but has made me pause and think a lot, which explains the slow pace, and the fact that there are several fiction books competing for my attention.  Tammet is an autistic savant, a term he uses to describe himself, which, in his case, means that he has an extraordinary memory.

The book is subtitled, "A tour across the horizons of the mind".  He is largely interested in exploring memory as a way of explaining his own skills, but also of exploring what others do.  The book is full of surveys of scientific literature regarding the mind, critical assessments of the most recent research, interesting insights into the strengths and weaknesses in the research carried out on other savants, and personal anecdotes.  He is largely concerned with language acquisition, but does explore other skills, such as mathematics and visual memory, and explores the dubious history behind IQ tests.

He explains that there are three major memory systems:

• "Episodic memory refers to recollection of particular episodes in one's life connected to times and places"
• "Semantic memory describes our ability to remember more general information such as words, facts and ideas," 
• Procedural memory involves our ability to learn skills and acquire habits" (62).

He then continues to discuss how subjective memory is, changing as we gain new experiences whereby our memory of an event becomes altered by our new experiences.  Thus, our present constantly changes our past.  Given that "there may be as many ways to remember a piece of information as there are rememberers" (67) we need to find multiple ways to remember.  As a result, "the single most important part of improving your ability to remember effectively is to encode a learning experience deeply by attending to its meaning" (67).  Helpfully, he provides an example.  If you want to learn the word 'spider' considering how it's spelt isn't useful, it "induces a shallow, non-semantic encoding" (67). Whereas, if you relate it to prior knowledge or reflect on its meaning by asking questions such as, "Is spider a type of animal?", "constitutes a deeper, semantic encoding" (67).  This then "produces high levels of memory performance - an elaborative encoding that allows the person to integrate new information with pre-existing knowledge" (68), and thus improving the recall for that word.  Therefore, sitting in front of that list of vocabulary, spelling the words, rhyming them off is pointless.  What you need to do is engage with their meaning, figure out how you can create an elaborative encoding that links it what you already know and thereby build it into your memory system.

Later on he talks about second language acquisition among adults, which he recognises as more difficult than for a child.  However, he is reassuring in his assertions that there are many ways to do so and to gain fluency.  Interestingly, he cites studies which maintain that early language acquisition is different because the brain treats all languages as one, whereas later learners store the information in separate parts of the brain, and, therefore, requires "different strategies" (110).  Alongside many recent studies that can be found here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3739690.stm and here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/feb/18/bilingual-alzheimers-brain-power-multitasking, which discuss the long term value of learning a language, Tammet tells us that "learning a second language is good for you" (111).  He goes on to describe the benefits for adult and child learners.

Knowing the benefits, he then gives some strategies that we need to employ to get beyond our weaknesses as (adult) learners.  One of these is explaining how to master sounds.  Problems are caused when we "transfer", that is the "interference by previously learned knowledge of new information we acquire" (113), or pronouncing the new language as if it were our first.  As he is not prescriptive, but descriptive, he is telling us what he does.  That is, to make up sentences that repeat the same sound in a sequence, listen to songs, analyse the rules and work them through logically, and parsing the words and combinations for their internal logic (113-4).  His advice is to tackle learning as a task that has to be engaged in logically and using a variety of techniques, which does not mean it cannot be done quickly and efficiently.  He gives multiple examples of how he has learned languages speedily.  It is nonetheless rigorous and demands much imagination, lateral thinking and multiple approaches.

Tammet gives useful examples and explores the area from multiple angles.  This book talks about more than just language acquisition, but for those wanting to learn a language it is very useful.  Additionally, it debunks the idea that a good memory is something that we either  have or don't have, and that his ability, while remarkable, is not superhuman.

Phatic language

danah boyd in her blog discusses a report from Pear Analytics, "They concluded that 40.55% of the tweets they coded are pointless babble; 37.55% are conversational; 8.7% have “pass along value”; 5.85% are self-promotional; 3.75% are spam; and ::gasp:: only 3.6% are news". She challenges the assumption that 'pointless babble' is actually a bad thing. It is actually the stuff of most of our interactions, "

"Conversation is also more than the explicit back and forth between individuals asking questions and directly referencing one another. It’s about the more subtle back and forth that allow us to keep our connections going. It’s about the phatic communication and the gestures, the little updates and the awareness of what’s happening in space. We take the implicit nature of this for granted in physical environments yet, online, we have to perform each and every aspect of our interactions. What comes out may look valueless, but, often, it’s embedded in this broader ecology of social connectivity. What’s so wrong about that?".

For the fluent speaker of a language, these phatic utterances are fundamental to communication. To the language learner these are baffling and are an indicator of fluency. They are the puzzle which take extra effort to learn, after you learn all those simple formulaic communicative 'back and forths'.

Pulling faces

I'm over in Mexico at the moment on a research trip. My son is traveling with me and doing some volunteering. This is my fourth visit to Mexico City, so I'm familiar with the city. On arrival at the airport I bought a pre-paid taxi ride as is recommended (even by the airport authorities) and exited the building. Previously, the approved taxis were just outside the building so I approached a man who was wearing a company uniform. He told me that his was a different company and that I needed to walk up the way a little to get the taxi whose fair I had pre-paid. Tired after long hours of travel I responded with a puzzled expression. A man beside him started to translate in faltering English what the first had just said. When we walked away my son observed that it must feel strange having someone translate from one language I know to another I know. My 'interpreter' was acting out of kindness and it was a friendly gesture, reaching out to a stranger in a strange land, and I appreciate that. What it actually triggers in me is a reminder that I am very much other. It isn't my accent but my appearance that make me non-Mexican and that carries with it a whole load of cultural baggage and assumptions, which make me feel uncomfortable and an outsider.

I would not like my message to be that others should be discouraged from helping strangers to negotiate airports or other situations. This is more a reflection on my own reactions that I need to consider and own. What it does make me think about is how much performance goes into our everyday behavior and how much this can influence how others read us. I wonder whether we need to practice our reactions, pull a face that communicates what we want to say when words don't transmit our feelings/needs. I wonder, is there a face for "I don't understand" what you said, (as opposed to why do things have to change when I am tired, hungry and eager to get to my final destination)? Away from my own misgivings about otherness in Mexico this moment brings me to my thinking about learning Portuguese. Often, that trusted phrase "I don't understand, could you speak slower", that is very useful when you are starting to learn a language, and is a phrase that you may have practiced over and over at home fails you when faced with the confusion of miscomprehension in real life. When the phrase escapes you it needs to be substituted with a face, a pose that communicates a need. I think that my expressions often fail me. But, are these too complicated to determine? Can you learn a useful expression? Or, does looking foreign, the other person's assumptions irrespective of words (correctly pronounced or not) supersede whatever face you pull?

If a learnt expression is possible, what other faces should we learn to pull? Do we become actors moving inside a new language and its cultures needing to be conscious of the audience for whom we are performing? Do we need to think more about the physicality of a language and how we are read and observed? Should teachers and textbooks consider the body in language more, not just as anecdotal window dressing, but as a proper and integral part of learning a language?

Motivation from a business perspective

In my continuing figuring through I want to know how motivation works, in general and what mine is. So, I have come across this talk on drive from a business perspective. Purpose, mastery and being self-directed are the three key things that the speaker, Dan Pink, concludes are key motivators. Here he is talking about work and the how managers/companies can increase profits through better motivating staff. Money isn't what drives us once we are paid enough for it not to be a problem, unless it's tied to a mechanical task. Can these ideas be transferred to personal motivation and the acquisition of a skill that has a complicated reward.

Here's the video:

Paradigm shift

Or, what happens when you started a project with a specific end and the messiness of life intervenes?

This blog was set up to track my progress as a language learner, to reflect on how and why I learn a language, and as a project to think about motivation and language acquisition. When I started I was employed as a language lecturer in the University also teaching aspects of Latin American culture including literature, film and cyberculture. In September, it was mooted that I move from my languages' department to Media. This changed things dramatically. No longer did I need to learn Portuguese and continue this project in order to figure out how I learn to therefore better understand how students learn. So it has lapsed. For that reason, and because much of my energy was expended on adapting to my new circumstances and learning the modus operandi of my new role. The change means that I have to consider what *my* motivation is, why do I now want to learn Portuguese, and for whom is it useful. In addition, I have to think through whether I need to be pure instrumentalist about this, ie if it works for work do I do it?, or does it have a greater/wider good?, will my learning help others?, and is that good enough. This is where I return to motivation and something I need to reflect on at length, as well as simply get myself back on the wagon (so to speak), and back into the books/websites/blogs/cds/dvds/apps that have proven useful tools for my learning.

How babies learn language

Patricia Kuhl: The linguistic genius of babies

Fascinating talk about language acquisition in babies. All us adults can feel better about speaking another language with a foreign accent:

Patricia Kuhl: The linguistic genius of babies | Video on TED.com

Portuguese as She is Not (and is) Spoken

This summer for a few weeks in late July/early August I went to Portugal on holidays. We spent 2 weeks near Sintra, north of Lisbon and a week in the Algarve, glamping. It was an interesting experience as a language learner.

Sintra is full of tourists and these are mostly southern European and Latin American, with a smaller proportion of English speakers than elsewhere in Portugal. Drawn by the attractive monuments, castles and temperate climate the city was teeming with tourists. Notwithstanding any of the nearby seaside towns were mostly filled with locals or Portuguese tourists. There was a sense that Sintra attracts people who stay for a day or two, see the sights and then move on. Therefore it caters for and is dependent on tourism but appears to know that what it offers is a chance to sample the cultural history of Portugal.

In addition, while you can get by without Portuguese, you also can speak in Portuguese at many opportunities. Some of which are the repetitive and basic requests for beverages and food, whilst others are more demanding. One memorable conversation involved an attempt to have olive oil on our bread rather than butter, the man in question refused, we tried to insist and he won. Another was a young man at a deli counter delighted in the fact that I could speak (some) Portuguese and lamented the fact that no one seemed to be interested in learning the language. The various attempts at conversation were varied in terms of success and understanding. Comprehension remains the big struggle - mine not the other half of the dialogue. The experience was largely positive with most in Sintra, its environs and in Lisbon proving patient with my attempts at (mis)using their language.

The experience in the Algarve was a dramatic contrast. As a destination for sun and sea package holidays, what was originally a coastline of fishing villages has become a sprawling skyline catering to a foreign (mostly northern European) tourist who appears to care little for local culture except by way of a veneer of the exotic to remind them of where they are. We stayed in a Tipi run by two very pleasant English people surrounded by other English people. Nothing wrong with that, other than as a language experience it wasn't immersive. To be more precise it was a little (friendly, eco) bubble of Englishness on the Algarve. We traveled up and down the Algarve sampling different towns, mostly focusing our energies on the Western end. For the most part we came across tourists from England, Germany, a few Irish, and many Spaniards. There was a mixture of independent travelers and package holidaymakers.

While in Sintra, I had read with some trepidation the chapter on the Algarve in José Saramago's Journey to Portugal: A Pursuit of Portugal's History and Culture (London: The Harvill Press, 2002). Based on a journey he undertook in 1979, much of the book involves going into small villages, waiting around for the key holder of the local church and describing under-explored corners of Portugal. His brief sojourn in the Algarve at the end of this trip is treated in a perfunctory and bad humoured manner. To cite him, the traveller (as he refers to himself throughout),

"goes into a hotel to ask if there is a room free, and almost before he has opened his mouth they smile at him and reply in English or French. When he continues in his own native language of Portuguese, they respond to him sourly, even if it is to say that yes they do have one free. The traveller reflects how pleasant it would be on his journeys to see the Portuguese language displayed in restaurants and hotels, in petrol stations and airports, to hear it spoken fluently by air hostesses and policemen, by the maid bringing breakfast and the wine waiter. But this is a mirage produced by the baking sun: Portuguese is not spoken outside these parts, my friend, it's only spoken by a few people, and they are too poor to count" (434).

Implicit in this is a curious sort of envy of the way that both English and French has become ubiquitous. Not an unproblematic one, but one, in this situation, that appears to be born of his upset at the absence of Portuguese on the Algarve. He imagines that the tourists who frequent the Algarve would be happy "if there were short and direct underground passageways between the hotels, rooms and rented apartments, restaurants, beaches and boîtes, we would see the incredible dream of being everywhere and nowhere really come true" (436). The 'everywhere and nowhere' feeling can be achieved in some towns without the need for underground passageways, unfortunately.

His derision for the destruction that has taken effect on this coastline by package tourism is expressed in his disgust at how the Portuguese language is sidelined in favour of a "servile" deference to other languages, "Portuguese is held in such low esteem here that it could be said of the Algarve, where civilisation comes to enjoy its barbarism, that it is a place for Portuguese as she is not spoken" (434). Unfortunately, this was my experience too. Restaurant staff who ignore your desire to practice the language and reply in English or hand you over the English menu with rude disdain, shop assistants who look at you askance, and a general air of not wanting to interact beyond a purely commercial and very tired exchanges. There is some consolation to be sought in the fact that a Nobel prize winning author of that language experienced some of the disdain I a language learner did. In the Algarve, Portuguese is still being broken there.

What does Audible have?: audio learning

Audible, a review for learning Portuguese

http://www.audible.co.uk/

Having exhausted my local library's audio books, I thought I'd see what's available to purchase online. Here's what Audible.co.uk has to offer. This page is linked to Amazon, I'm not sure if that means that it's a sister company or just a seller on Amazon. I haven't investigated.

Stats first

When you type in 'Portuguese', 33 hits come up. Of these 3 are unrelated to audio courses for language learning: one is the first of a three part novel about an eccentric linguistics professor by Alexander McCall Smith entitled Portuguese irregular verbs; another is Psalms for Leaders in Portuguese; and the final one is Rattapallaz 9, an American (US) poetry magazine. So that leaves 30. For the English speaker there are 9 which bear no relevance as they are published by Dr L’nov and are called variously simply Portuguese or I Speak Portuguese (in the other languages) for Italian/German/French/Japanese speakers. Unless of course you want an extra challenge.

Now that we’ve eliminated these, what of the other 21? They have a problem that many (not all of course, more of that in the future) audio books/podcasts/apps have is that they are specifically for learning for holidays or basic introductory language. What do you do when you are at that tricky false beginner who can read lots but hasn't grasped the aural, but wants to get beyond 'hello' and 'what is the local speciality' level? Portuguese definitely is poorly served as a language. It needs more of everything. Enough of my ranting. So, what does this page offer? Audible lets you listen to a sample of all of their offerings, which is great, and means that you can listen before you buy, and, in the case of some of them get a little giggle. You can decide for yourself which courses tickle your fancy, appeal to your learning style, or suit your needs. I have listened to all and divided these into holiday, introductory, and beginners to intermediate from what I have heard. There are courses which could do with having better clips. The difference as to what they aim to teach you is subtle in some and, there is an overlap in many as none are highly specialist language learning (eg no Portuguese for wave engineers). Therefore, you can take it that all of the audio courses will help you on holiday and most will give you a sense of the basics in Portuguese.

Holiday language (HL)

These are specifically those that are designed for you to learn for or on the way to your holiday. Often these involve a limited cast of characters and situations. Keep it simple seems to be the motto all the way through. A key problem of these can be that they presuppose that every situation is going to predictable and that the person will respond in ways that the tape will suggest.

Introductory courses (IC)

These are sometimes part one of several or simply don’t over identify themselves with a given scenario (eg holidays) but give you a start in the language.

Beginners to Intermediate (BI)

Ones that get you started and then beyond the basics.

Collins 40 minutes Portuguese – they make a grand claim that by listening to this, repeating the words and phrases, you should have no problem getting by. Are all situations that predictable? Music is deeply irritating both grandiose and tinkly, if you can imagine. (IC)

Collins Easy Learning Audio Course – this is like it came from a different company than the previous course. It is much longer, and quite a comprehensive introductory course to Portuguese. There are a variety of speakers and exercises, clear instructions and helpful tips. Would have liked a sample class on Audible. (BI)

BBC Get By in Portuguese and also by the BBC Quickstart Portuguese are clear, straightforward and well articulated with those easy to understand BBC accents and vowel sounds. (IC)

InFlight Portuguese – It may well require a longer flight than it takes to get to Portugal from this end of the world, but maybe you want to go to Mozambique, Madeira or Brazil. This one is very dull and encourages you to listen rather than actively use your language. I’m not sure that those sharing your flight will appreciate you repeating so, it is just a lot of ‘this it how you say this word and what it means’, not useful unless you want to brush up or have a brilliant memory. Maybe use in the hire car on your way around your Portuguese speaking destination. (HL)

Here’s another that suggests that you have to do little to learn Portuguese, and the airplane image on the front (as well as the name) suggest that you will learn on the way. eTicket Portuguese takes it slowly, explains things clearly and repeats, which is very useful. It does claim that you won’t need to take notes, I suppose you can’t if it’s only audio and it doesn’t give you any clues as to Portuguese spelling. I seems to be for those going on the ferry or renting a car and learning while there or just learning at home stuck in traffic vocabulary. Words and phrases are repeated rather slowly. Q&A format. (HL)

Michel Thomas Sample and Introductory Course – there are those who swear by the MT system. He is a psychologist who has devised a method which claims that you don’t have to learn anything off, no memorising or drills or homeworks, just listen to the cds regularly, chill out and follow the instructions. It works for some. I find it hard not to worry and to relax, not for me. (HL)

Vocabulearn: Levels 1 & 2 the samples given just had the repetition of words by a Portuguese woman

followed by a deep male US voice giving the English version. They seem displaced from anything; just random new words. I need contexts to build associations. (BI)

Survival Phrases.com Learn Brazilian Survival Phrases 1-30 and 31-60 breaks the words down and gives the specific cultural context. There is a narrative surrounding your learning. Words are broken down by syllable, as well as said quickly. It builds on association eg with obrigado it suggests that you may feel obligated when you say thank you. It may help some. Too many of these are lists. (HL)

Teach Yourself this is a tried and tested method which comes with or without a book. I have been using the book. The music is a little irritating, but it does plunge you into realistic situations where you don’t know all the vocabulary and prompt you to seek out key information, which is also quite realistic. I’ve used their material in the past and have mixed feeling about the books but the audio seems good and with better supporting material could be much improved. Their music is a little irritating. (BI)

RX: Freedom to Travel Language Series This is a new one on me, language for people with special needs whether they are nutritional, mobility or health related. I have never come across one which came with a health warning before. The sample tells you how to tell your host/ restaurant that ‘I have a food allergy/special diet’ with chill out hippy sounds playing in the background. If this is your language need, I guess this is your course. (HL)

Another with music at its centre is Earworms Rapid Portuguese. I’m drawn to this one as it made me giggle. It is presented in the style of a conversation, with the dialogue and repetitions in rhythm with the music, which is a kind of chill out trance (not an expert on electronic, but strikes me as such). The voices are very friendly and warm which is very appealing. Personally, I think I’d get tired of the music and the loungey style very soon. (IC)

This may change, more may be added. My search was carried out on the 9th of April 2010.