Resources for Learning Brazilian Portuguese

Since ACM SAC 2008 is going to be held in Brazil this year, I’ve decided I’m going to learn Brazilian Portuguese before I go in March. Brazilian Portuguese is a bit different from regular European Portuguese (Portugal), so I’ve been having to do a lot of digging online for specifically Brazilian Portuguese Language-learning links. Since I have the links anyway, I thought I might share them in case anyone was having as difficult a time finding specifically (free) Brazilian Portuguese language learning resources:

Websites

• Brazilian Portuguese Grammar This is an excellent all-around resource for learning the basic grammatical constructs of Brazilian Portuguese.
• Handy Travel Phrasebook This is a digitally available Brazilian Portuguese phrase book. It’s $2.00, but I think it’s well worth the money.

Podcasts

• Brazilian Portuguese Podcast (Episodes 1-15) (Episodes 16 - 49) (Episodes 49+). I’ve found the speaker to go at an extremely slow pace, which is great for total beginners, but the website that hosts episodes 1-15 seemed impossibly slow at times. If you prefer to learn languages at a slower pace (repeating the same word three times), this is definitely the podcast for you. The sound quality isn’t remarkable, but since he repeats everything a few times, I can actually understand the words better than a lot of other podcasts.
• Brazilian PodClass (iTunes) (Web Site). I’ve found this speaker goes remarkably fast at times. I had to pause, rewind and repeat the sentences at times and only half the podcast transcript is included with the podcast. But if you tend to learn languages at more of an “immersion” pace (being constantly bombarded with new material), this is definitely the podcast for you. The sound quality is superb.

For any of you actual diplomats out there that need to really learn the language quickly and efficiently, I highly recommend the very expensive Rosetta Stone program. It’s a huge chunk of change for us poor college students, but if you have an extra two hundred dollars laying around - go for it! It really is the quickest and most effective way of learning a language.

Also, if you readers have any other suggestions or resources, I would love to hear from you!