If you’re planning to learn Portuguese, or any language for that matter, the first brand that springs to mind is probably Rosetta Stone. Rosetta Stone offers Portuguese on its website but if you’ve been learning Portuguese for a while, you’ll know that there are some major differences between European and Brazilian Portuguese. So which does Rosetta Stone teach?
Unfortunately, Rosetta Stone teaches Brazilian Portuguese as opposed to European Portuguese. This is great news if you’re planning on visiting Brazil, but not such good news if you’re planning on moving to Portugal.
European Portuguese differs from Brazilian Portuguese in a number of ways. The grammar, vocabulary, and most importantly, pronunciation are all different. While you will be understood if you speak Brazilian Portuguese in Portugal, you may be corrected. You may also have problems understanding European Portuguese speakers as you won’t be familiar with the way it’s spoken – and European Portuguese isn’t always spoken as clearly as Brazilian Portuguese.
For this reason, it’s better to focus on a course, website, or app that teaches European Portuguese.
One great example is Practice Portuguese. Alternatively, you may want to take a course such as those offered by Mia Esmeriz or Portuguese With Carla’s The Journey.
Focusing on Brazilian Portuguese isn’t unusual, especially when you consider that Brazil has a population of over 200 million whereas Portugal has a population of around 10 million. DuoLingo, Mondly, and Babbel all focus on Brazilian Portuguese as opposed to European Portuguese. Thankfully, however, there are a few apps that offer content in European Portuguese as well as a few great courses that you can do online.