Can I become fluent in Portuguese in 1 month? A language learning speedrun – Day 8 to 11

As you can see, I am no longer writing on a daily basis. That’s not because my motivation for studying has flickered, but rather the opposite: Now that I have gathered all the basic knowledge I needed to start the journey in a passionate full-immersion, the time I dedicate to the study is no longer half an hour per day, but hours a day.

This is due to the fact that my brain’s will to learn grew exponentially, since on the first days I didn’t work hard. I simply aimed at developping a taste for learning the language, become acquainted with it, take pleasure in doing it and establishing an enjoyable routine.

Unfortunately, now that my studyload increased, I don’t have enough time to thouroughly explain everything in my blog. My goal is to write down all the notes and embellish the posts once this challenge is over.

Nevertheless, It worked really well. Now I have no need to force myself into studying, because the desire for learning will guide me spontaneously.

Furthermore, not having started from the rules, was the strategy that let me discover my strength and my weaknesses. Now I know where to start looking for what I need most.

Exercises

My exercises for this week are:

1. Listening practice
2. Reading practice
3. Studying rules
4. Word recollection
5. Writing practice
6. Pronunciation practice
7. Linguistic meditation

Listening

You already know what I mean by listening practice. Now that my vocabulary is richer, I can look for more diverse videos. Yesterday I was more focused on interviews from politicians, footballers and news channels.

Reading

When it comes to reading practice, I am still reading that book by Paulo Coelho. It is a very disappointing book, very shallow and simple and not to my taste. But that’s even better, because such a shallow book is easier to understand, and that is why it is so easy to progress: I have already read 22 pages!

Grammar

Studying rules is something that might come as a surprise to you, since unlike what I said above, I started studying the rules now. That is because now that I find pleasure in studying the language, my brain perceives a grammar book not like an enemy but like an ally.

Because yes, if you want to study a language on your own, the best method is to look for free grammar books online. Never look for shortcuts. I have found a 228 pages pdf and I have already read 55 pages. Though it might seem a lot, it’s actually not that much. It’s just that I could go fast on most of the basics, since I had already guessed most of the rules and those pages were simply confirming what I deduced.

Writing

Writing practice is still quite difficult, because I need to acquire structures as fast as possible, but I started writing long paragraphs by hand. For the moment I still need the help of the translator, but, soon enough, I will stop using it.

Pronunciation practice

For the pronunciation practice, it’s all about mimicing native speakers while listening to videos. Pausing from time to time and repeating until I get the sentences correctly.

Linguistic meditation

Linguistic meditation is something I try to do as often as possible, especially when I walk or before sleeping. I code-switch and try to stick to Portuguese as long as possible.

Song corner

Some songs from my childhood resurfaced. There used to be songs from Brazil that rised to the status of summer hits even in Italy. I realised how I used to suppose the meaning of those songs in Portuguese, without looking for a based answer.

One example is “Você me apareceu” de Kaleidoscópio. I was around 11 years old when I heard this song and decided that the title meant “You say to me that I am lazy”, based on the fact that <voce> sounds like <voice> and the best thing to do with your voice is saying things; As far as <apareceu> is concerned, I perceived it as very similar to the French <paresseux>. Obviously none of this makes sense, but for some reason I was satisfied with it.

The magic happened though and when this song resurfaced a few days ago, it was as if it wanted to tell me its true meaning: “You appeared to me”

My world self-reinterpreting as soon as I got the knowledge needed for the task. I hadn’t even listened to that song for years, but – apparently – my brain felt that I needed to correct something.