We’ve tested tons of resources for learning Portuguese to help you figure out which ones are worth using and which ones should be avoided. These are our top choices.
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MOST RECOMMENDED PORTUGUESE RESOURCES
Pimsleur
In the past, Pimsleur’s courses were so expensive that I could never recommend them. But, since adding an affordable subscription plan, I’ve become a fan. Lessons focus on the oral language – listening and speaking while ignoring grammar. The lessons require you to pay attention and participate by speaking out loud, often. Few courses will get you speaking as quickly as Pimsleur.
See our Super-Detailed Pimsleur Review
Semantica Portuguese
Semantica is not only one of the best resources for studying Portuguese, but also one of the most fun resources I’ve found for any language. It teaches Portuguese in a way that’s closer to a tv series than a typical course. These excellent videos take you to the streets of Brazil. While they may be a bit challenging for absolute beginners, higher level students will enjoy these.
See our Super-Detailed Semantica Portuguese Review
PortuguesePod101
PortuguesePod101 primarily offers audio lessons in the style of podcasts. With the basic plan starting at only $8 per month, it’s also one of the most affordable options around. Lessons cover a wide range of topics, mainly focusing on grammar and vocabulary. The lessons start out using a lot of English at lower levels while slowly cutting it out as you move up higher.
See our Super-Detailed PortuguesePod101 Review
italki
If you’re looking for a tutor, whether that’s from Brazil or Portugal, you’ll be able to find one on italki. This platform makes it easy to book classes directly from the tutor. Because of this, there are hundreds to choose from with vastly different teaching styles. This large number of teachers makes scheduling classes very flexible and is more affordable than you may expect.
See our Super-Detailed italki Review
Lingodeer
While Duolingo is the most well-known language learning course, it’s not my favorite. Lingodeer is much newer, lesser-known, but I’ve found it to be quite a bit better. Lingodeer has better-structured lessons that teach more useful language. They start from the absolute beginning but you can test out of sections to pass through them more quickly. It’s no longer completely free but a subscription is quite affordable.
See our Super-Detailed Lingodeer Review
LingQ
LingQ is an app which I think has a lot of room for improvement, nonetheless, it’s probably the best option for those who want more Portuguese reading practice. There’s lots of content, much of which is added by users, across various difficulty levels. Because the content comes from all sorts of places, the topics can vary signficantly with much of it being pretty interesting.
See our Super-Detailed LingQ Review
StoryLearning Portuguese Uncovered
StoryLeaning Portuguese Uncovered comes from Olly Richards, the creator of the super popular polyglot blog. It’s quite a bit different than most courses as it revolves around a story. It can be a bit more challenging than other courses, as you begin reading somewhat long texts right off the bat. Overall, I found it to be a more fun way to approach language learning that will be great for some but not ideal for others.
See our Super-Detailed StoryLearning Portuguese Uncovered Review
Memrise
Like Duolingo, Memrise is an extremely popular, and free, language learning resource. They have lots of different courses, some added by Memrise, and others created by users. The method of teaching is through spaced repetition flashcards, with the frequency of cards showing up depending on how well you’ve learned them. It’s best for learning vocabulary though there are other courses as well.
See our Super-Detailed Memrise Review
Speechling
Speechling is both an incredibly useful app and website that allows you to get serious help on improving your speaking skills. The value it provides relative to the cost is almost unmatched and the amount of feedback you are able to get with the Unlimited Plan definitely makes it worth it. Even the free version proves to be rather robust allowing you to easily practice mimicking native speakers. Overall an amazing resource to help improve your pronunciation in Portuguese.
See our Super-Detailed Speechling Review
Babbel
Babbel is a well-known online language-learning platform with over 1 million active users. It’s available on the web, for iOS, and for Android. Its goal is to get learners to a conversational level as quickly as possible through the use of a variety of exercises and spaced repetition for review. The courses are well put together and relatively inexpensive compared to other resources that exist. Overall a decent resource for those looking to learn Portuguese.
Spring Sale! Get 60% off Babbel subscriptions. See details on the website. Offer ends on 4/28/24.
See our Super-Detailed Babbel Review
BrazilPod
BrazilPod, created by the University of Texas at Austin, is an excellent resource that’s completely free. They have several different projects with different contents and formats. Their Lingua De Gente project has hundreds of lessons at the Beginner, Elementary, and Intermediate levels. Conversa Brasileira is a series of video clips with Brazilians talking about different topics.
Clozemaster
Clozemaster makes it easier to learn languages in context. You’ll study Portuguese by reading sentences and completing lots of fill in the blank questions. You can do so either by typing or choosing the correct multiple choice option. This method will help you study vocabulary within the context of tons of sentences. They also make things a bit more fun by awarding points for your answers. It has an old-school video game feel to it.
See our Super-Detailed Clozemaster Review
All Portuguese Reviews
- 17 Minute Languages Review: I Wouldn’t Recommend Using It
- Babbel Portuguese Review: Budget Friendly and Solid Program for Brazilian Portuguese
- Babbel Review – Nothing Flashy, But Good, Trusted Courses At Reasonable Cost
- Busuu Review: Some Courses Are Better Than Others
- Clozemaster Review: Limited Focus But Fun Way To Grow Vocab
- Cudoo Review — I Wouldn’t Even Use it if it Were Free
- Drops App Review – Decent As A Supplementary Resource
- Duolingo Review: Useful But Not Sufficient – 2 Language Learners Test It (With Video)
- Earworms Review – A Unique Idea But Lacks Substance
- Fluent Forever App Review – Lots Of Potential But Not There Yet
- Fluenz Review – Academic Approach With Thorough Explanations
- Glossika Review – Not Cheap But Useful
- Grammar Hero Review – I Like It A Lot, But Wish It Were Cheaper
- HelloTalk Review – Make Friends & Practice Languages
- HiNative Review: Useful But Not Exceptional Q&A App
- italki Review – The Good, The Bad, & The Just Alright
- LanguagePod101 — All Languages, Pod101 and Class101
- Ling Review — Gamified Practice in Less Common Languages
- Lingodeer Review – A Better Alternative To Duolingo, Busuu, Rosetta Stone, etc.
- LingQ Review – Extensive Reading Made Easy
- Living Language Online Course Review – Not Very Good
- Mango Languages Review – Pretty Good For Beginners
- Memrise Review – Useful But Don’t Overuse It
- Michel Thomas Method Review – Avoid At All Costs
- Mimic Method Review: Trying Out The Elemental Sounds Courses
- Mondly Review – Made Significant Improvements Made in 2022
- Ouino Review – My Experience Testing Their Spanish Course
- Pimsleur Review — Learn While You… Do Just About Anything
- PortuguesePod101 Review – Great for Beginner and Intermediate Students
- Preply Review – Tutors Created Tailored Lesson Plans for You
- Rocket Portuguese Review – Not Quite Worth the Money or Time
- Rosetta Stone Portuguese Review: Decent Vocabulary Builder, But No Grammar
- Rosetta Stone Review — Updated and Improved…And Needs More Improvement
- Rype App Review: I Wouldn’t Recommend It To Anybody
- Semantica Portuguese Review – The Most Authentic Brazilian Portuguese Resource
- Speaky Review: Better Than Other Language Exchange Apps?
- Speechling Review – I Didn’t Know I Was Saying That Wrong!
- StoryLearning Brazilian Portuguese Uncovered Review
- Tandem Review: A Tinder-esque Language Exchange App?
- Transparent Language Review – Not Exciting, But Language Offering Is So Vast That You May Need It
- uTalk Review – For Beginners Who Want To Learn Key Words & Phrases
- Verbling Review: Online Classes With Helpful Revision Tools
All Portuguese Mini Reviews
- 101 Script Writing App Mini Review: Good for Indian Languages
- 50 Languages Mini-Review: Basically an online phrasebook
- AmazingTalker Mini Review: Not Our Top Pick for Web Classes
- Anki Mini-Review: The Go-To SRS Flashcard App
- Bab.la Mini-Review: Use WordReference or Linguee Instead
- Beelinguapp Mini-Review: Reading & Listening Practice
- Bilingual Oxford Dictionaries Mini Review: Handy Apps
- Bluebird Languages Mini-Review: Over 160 Languages Available
- Brainscape Mini-Review: Adaptive Flashcards
- Complete Language Lessons Mini Review: Almost Useless
- Conjuguemos Mini-Review: Effective Language Drilling
- Cooljugator Mini-Review: Conjugations For Uncommon Languages
- DLI Courses Mini-Review: Free With a Strong Focus on Pronunciation
- Easy Languages Mini-Review: Interviews Around The Globe
- Easy Portuguese Mini Review: Not Sure Why Anyone Uses This
- Encore!!! Language Learning Mini-Review: Basically a Phrasebook
- Flowlingo Mini-Review: Has Potential, Still Developing
- Forvo Mini-Review: Audio Pronunciation of Millions of Words
- FSI Courses Mini-Review: Free, Comprehensive, but Also Outdated
- FunEasyLearn Mini-Review: Build Vocabulary The Fun Way
- Hey! Lingo Mini-Review: Has Useful Phrases
- iLanguages Mini-Review: Almost Identical to Learn 101
- iLoveLanguages Mini-Review: Another Phrasebook SIte
- Instant Immersion Mini-Review: No Longer a Good Investment
- Instituto Camões Portuguese Mini Review
- Interlinear Books Mini-Review: Literal Translations Between The Lines
- Internet Polyglot Mini-Review: Word Lists With Games
- iTranslate Mini-Review: 5 Apps To Support Communication
- L-Lingo Mini-Review: Textbook Content, Depends On Your Style
- Lang Workbooks Mini Review: Thorough Writing Practice
- LangCorrect: Unlimited, Free Writing Practice With Feedback
- Language Learning WIth Netflix Mini-Review: Easy to Use
- Learn WIth Oliver Mini-Review: Simple With Lots of Content
- Learn101 Mini-Review: A Re-Formatted Version of iLanguages
- Lexilogos Mini-Review: A Resource Bank For Dictionaries and Books
- Lingo Mastery Conversational Dialogues Mini Review: Dual-text
- Lingo Mastery Short Stories Mini-Review: Lots of Unique Words
- LingoHut Mini-Review: Good Intentions, So-So Follow Through
- Lingua Boost Mini-Review: Use Pimsleur Instead
- Lingua Mini-Review: Free Listening, Reading, and Writing Practice
- Linguee Mini-Review: Best Dictionary for Formal Language
- Loecsen Mini-Review: Phrasebook App For Absolute Beginners
- LyricsTraining Mini-Review: Listening Practice Through Songs
- Master Any Language Mini-Review: No Words To Describe the Nope
- MOSAlingua Mini-Review: Memorize Phrases and Words
- My Language Exchange Mini-Review: Millions of Active Users
- OPLingo Mini Review: Community Driven, Non-Profit
- Optilingo Mini-Review: Use if You Absolutely Love Slideshows
- Polly Lingual Mini-Review: Phrasebook With Simple Games
- Portuguese Lab Mini-Review: Comprehensive Paid and Free Content
- Practice Portuguese Mini Review: Learn European Portuguese
- Promova Mini Review: Personalized Content to Meet Your Language Learning Needs
- Readlang Mini-Review: A Must-Have For Language Lovers
- Reverso Translation Mini-Review: Best for French learners
- Simply Learn Mini-Review: Spaced Repetition Phrases For Travelers
- StoryLearning Olly Richards Short Stories Mini Review: Practical
- Strokes International Mini Review: Pricy but Comprehensive
- Sublearning Mini-Review: There Are Better Uses For Your Time
- SuperMemo Mini-Review: Not to Be Confused With Super-Memo
- Tatoeba Mini-Review: A Community Writing Sentences in Context
- Verbix Mini-Review: Adequate for Less-Studied Languages
- VerbSquirt Mini-Review: Use Conjuguemos for Free Instead
- Vocabulearn Mini Review: Unlikely to Teach You a Language
- Vocly Mini-Review: Expand Your Vocabulary in Less Common Languages
- WordReference Mini-Review: Thorough and Professionally Translated
- YouGlish Mini-Review: Thousands of Words in Context From YouTube