Learn Brazilian Portuguese by following Helen, an American exchange student, as she goes to Recife, Brazil to study and live with a Brazilian family.
- 20 lessons with 39 native-speaker videos
- 9,000 audio clips
- Dozens of exercises and hundreds of annotations
- Interactive exercises through Moodle
This course costs only $9.99/month (3 months minimum)
Watch video and learn about greetings, shopping, food, dining out, weather, education, literature, holiday traditions, and more. With our specially designed video player for language learning you can pause the video at any point and scroll the transcription. Read annotations about culture and grammar. Click on almost any word or sentence to hear it spoken, along with translations.
This course can be used either by independent learners or by students in a traditional or self-instructional classroom setting, and is the equivalent of the material covered in a one-year college course.
Classroom-Tested and Peer-Reviewed
Beginning Brazilian Portuguese was developed and peer-reviewed by Portuguese language experts, and used by college students as their first-year textbook. It was originally published as part of the highly reviewed University of Arizona Critical Languages Series, and we have added many new mobile-friendly features. The entire course contains 20 lessons, 9,000 audio clips, dozens of exercises, hundreds of annotations, and 39 videos performed by native speakers.Multiple Choice, Fill in the blank, and Listening Dictation exercises are provided for each lesson. A searchable audio glossary with thousands of words and translations helps you find every occurrence of a word or part of a word in all of the lessons.
This course costs only $9.99/month (3 months minimum)
Our Interactive Video Player for Language Learning
Table of Contents and Free Sample Lessons with Video
- No Aeroporto (At the Airport), try a Listening Dictation Exercise
- Vamos Para Casa! (Let’s Go Home!)
- A Familia de Pedrinho (Pedrinho’s Family)
- Helena, Você Está Cansada? (Helena, Are You Tired?)
- A Casa de Pedrinho (Pedrinho’s Home)
- O Almoço Está Na Mesa! (Lunch is Served!)
- No Ônibus (On the Bus)
- Fazendo a Matrícula (At the University)
- No Barzinho (At the Bar)
- Escrevendo Uma Carta (Writing a Letter)
- No Banco (At the Bank)
- Fazendo Compras (Shopping)
- Clubes Sociais e Esportes (Social Clubs and Sports)
- Carnaval e Outras Festas (Carnaval and Other Festivals)
- No Mercado Público e No Supermercado (In the Open Market and in the Supermarket)
- O Fim de Semana Na Praia (The Weekend at the Beach)
- Helena Fica Doente (Helena Gets Sick)
- Viagem ao Amazonas (Trip to the Amazon)
- Rio de Janeiro e São Paulo (Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo)
- De Volta ao Recife (Returning to Recife)
- Os Gestos (Gestures)
About the Author
Rosângela Souto Silva received an M.A. in Portuguese Linguistics and a Ph.D. in Applied Portuguese Linguistics with a certificate in SLATE (Second Language Acquisition and Teacher Education), both from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her professional experience includes Portuguese language instruction, Portuguese course development and supervision, and Portuguese Language Instruction Program directorship. She has developed, taught, and supervised Portuguese courses ranging from beginning to advanced levels for a variety of orientations, including Portuguese for speakers of Romance languages and Study Abroad Programs in Brazil. She has also published and presented conference papers on several areas of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), including cross-cultural pragmatics, bilingualism, language teaching and discourse analysis.Course materials © 1995–2026 Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona. Used under license.
Frequently asked questions
How much material does Beginning Brazilian Portuguese cover?
Beginning Brazilian Portuguese covers the equivalent of a full year of college-level Brazilian Portuguese instruction — roughly 120 hours of material — delivered as structured video lessons with full transcriptions and translations.
Do I need any prior experience to take Beginning Brazilian Portuguese?
No. Beginning Brazilian Portuguese starts from the very beginning — the alphabet, sounds, and essential phrases — and assumes no prior knowledge of Brazilian Portuguese.
How are the lessons delivered?
The course is fully online and self-paced. You learn from native-speaker videos with on-screen transcriptions and translations, then practice with interactive exercises — on any device, on your own schedule.
How much does Beginning Brazilian Portuguese cost?
Access is $9.99/month with a three-month minimum, and one subscription unlocks the entire course.
Who created Beginning Brazilian Portuguese?
Beginning Brazilian Portuguese was originally created by the University of Arizona Critical Languages Program as part of the Critical Languages Series. It was designed by Rosangela Silva, PhD, published by Language Canvas, and used under license.