When you want to perfect your pronunciation of a new language you usually think about hiring a native speaker as a tutor, taking a class, watching movies & TV in that language, or listening to audio CDs. The last place you would expect to perfect your pronunciation of a language is through a workbook. Yet, believe it or not there is a workbook out there that can help you perfect your Brazilian Portuguese Pronunciation. How does it work? Well, it comes with an audio CD to guide you along. Talking Brazilian: A Brazilian Portuguese Pronunciation Workbook helps you learn how to speak like a native Brazilian.
"Rather than simply focusing on words, the book presents whole sentences and their translations. Again, the audio CD plays the recorded version and then allows the student to repeat back what has been said."
The lessons start by listing a few vocabulary words and their translations. The audio CD plays along to let you hear proper pronunciation and it gives you a bit of time after each word to repeat what has been said. You should listen to and say the words twice or thrice to really get the correct pronunciation. Following these words, there is a section called “For Advanced Students”. Rather than simply focusing on words, the book presents whole sentences and their translations. Again, the audio CD plays the recorded version and then allows the student to repeat back what has been said.
Other than the tracks, the lessons also provide a written explanation about some aspect of pronunciation. For example, Lesson 4 is about vowels and semivowels. Before the listen and say sections, the book goes over vowels in a few paragraphs. It explains how to round the lips, common mistakes to avoid, and it compares the sounds/pronunciation to other European languages.
While the book and Audio CD are focused on pronunciation, it is inevitable that you will likely learn a few new words or phrases as well. The phrases are not related to one another, other than by certain sounds. For example, CD1- track 11 presents the following phrases: “This is honey”, “The veil is dirty”, “this is difficult”, “Eva is your aunt”, and “The boss saw Jose in the rain”. While learning the words “honey”, “veil”, “aunt” and “rain” in Portuguese isn’t the objective of the lesson, chances are a few of these words will probably stick in your mind.
This book and audio CD set is great for helping you learn proper pronunciation and adding a few words to your vocabulary. It’s especially useful if you don’t have a native Portuguese speaking teacher or tutor to help you. If you are a Portuguese language teacher, you can have your students use this book and audio set for homework. Then, you can check and correct their pronunciation in class. Overall, this book and audio set works well if you keep the objective in mind – to learn proper pronunciation. Leave your other expectations at the door and you should be satisfied and see results using Talking Brazilian: A Brazilian Portuguese Pronunciation Workbook.
