Want to learn Portuguese with Youtube?
There are many ways to learn Portuguese. But with so many options out there, which one should you pick?
Youtube has been around for a while now, and since its launch, people have been posting videos in all kinds of languages, which makes it perfect for any language learner.
Why learn Portuguese with Youtube
It’s free
Language learning is great and all, but nobody wants to spend a lot of money.
Thankfully, Youtube is still free to access for everyone, even if you do have to watch the occasional ad and close that free trial pop-up.
Pick up what you like
One of the best things about Youtube as a platform is that the amount of content on there is limitless. You can find pretty much any language and every genre on there.
Vloggers, make-up tutorials, animation, drawing tutorials, fashion advice, travel videos, true crime stories, movie analysis, gaming streams and even specified language learning channels.
Whatever it is you are into, you can find it on Youtube and you can find it in your target language.
Real speech
Instead of carefully written language learning podcasts or scripted movies, many Youtube channels are a great representation of what native people sound like when they speak freely or interact with each other. This can be daunting at first, but it is great practice and with the visuals accompanying the sound, it can be a great way to get your language skills to the next level.
Closed captions and playback speed
Some channels offer closed captions with their videos, which makes it a perfect way to practice both your speech and reading skills. It can also help if you aren’t sure what they just said.
Beyond that, you can adjust the playback speed to match your level. Start out slower, and slowly work your way up to real-time speech, or even faster to train your ears.
Cultural immersion
The internet has made worlds that were previously hard to get into easily accessible.
Where you used to have to live in the country of your target language in order to get a peek into the daily lives of native speakers, you can now find thousands of vloggers capturing and explaining their every move on camera.
This makes it a brilliant way to immerse yourself into the culture of your target language. Not only that, but following popular Youtubers might give you something to talk about with native speakers when you do meet them.
It’s fun
One of the most underrated language learning strategies is to make something fun! So many people think learning a language is all about late nights grammar studies and vocab drills.
Nothing could be further from the truth!
Language learning works best if you are actually enjoying it. This will make it easier to be consistent and get daily practice. The more you engage with your target language, the more likely you are to succeed in reaching fluency.
There are many people out there today who speak English because beyond their classroom, they interact with it on a daily basis through various sources like Youtube.
They may have had classes in school, but they wouldn’t actually speak it had it not been for the daily practice and interaction with the language.
The best part being, all these interactions didn’t feel like studying but instead felt like entertainment.
How to learn a language with Youtube
Okay, so we’ve gone over the why, now let’s talk about the how.
Beyond the standard “watch videos and learn”, here are a few strategies that might help your language learning process.
1. Let your algorithm know
Find things you like and subscribe to as many channels as you can. This way, you’re Youtube algorithm will notice your new interest and recommend more videos in your target language.
If you choose to receive notifications, you will also receive little reminders to practice when an interesting video comes along.
2. Improve your pronunciation
Use the videos to try and talk along and improve your pronunciation. In vlog like videos, you can often get a good look at how people move their mouths, and try and imitate those movements.
Often we are very used to pronouncing letters a certain way, but the way a “b” or “l” is pronounced in another language might be slightly different. Pay attention, and see what you can learn.
3. Don’t forget the comments
Look at the comments, leave a comment yourself. If you see something you don’t understand, don’t be afraid to leave a comment saying “hey, I am a language learner, could someone explain this to me?” or ask a native speaker what it means.
4. Share your own progress
Why not start your own channel to track your progress? You can join polyglot challenges and ask people for advice on how to improve.
5. Daily practice
If you check in on Youtube every day and make sure to watch at least one video, you can build a solid habit of language practice without feeling like you are putting in a lot of effort. Once a video is clicked, all you have to do is keep watching.
Even though you might miss stuff in the beginning, keeping up a habit like this is definitely going to show results in the long run.
6. Expand the learning
Many Youtube channels have other social media accounts as well. Look in the description and see where else you can add their content to your daily routine.
Maybe there are fan groups you can join, newsletters you can subscribe to, or even podcasts related to your favorite channels. See Youtube as a gateway to the culture of the language you are studying, and try to interact with it accordingly.
15 Channels to follow if you are learning Portuguese
1. Portuguese with Carla
Level: Beginner to Early Intermediate
Accent: European
Category: Lifestyle & Culture
Learn Portuguese with Youtube while Carla shows you how the language is used in real, everyday situations.
She teaches basic vocabulary, local colloquialisms, as well as tips about daily tasks like in buying food by the beach.
2. Portuguese Lab
Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Accent: European
Category: Language Learning
If you are a visual learner, this is a great way to learn Portuguese with Youtube. They have a diverse interactive, animated videos that you can surely learn from.
3. EuroPortuguese LA
Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Accent: European
Category: Language Learning
EuroPortuguese LA’s videos are a simple script of words across various subject areas, which are then paired with pronunciation and helpful guides about the topics at hand. Pretty much all your European Portuguese language musts are covered: verbs, nouns, and pronunciation along with various phrases.
If you want to practice your reading and listening skills, this is a great way to learn Portuguese with Youtube.
4. Aulalivre.net
Level: Upper-Intermediate to Advanced
Accent: Brazilian
Category: Education
Aulalivre is for advanced Brazilian Portuguese learners who are looking for more challenging lessons. You will surely benefit from a range of highly specialized Portuguese language pointers, from grammatical rules to the ins and outs of essay writing.
5. Hello Rusty
Level: Beginner
Accent: Brazilian
Category: Language Learning & Lifestyle
Hello Rusty cover all the basics you could ask for: from the alphabet to regular verbs and even some fun cultural facts like how to make brigadeiro.
Pick this one if you are just starting out and want to move into a pre-intermediate level.
6. Professor Jason
Level: Beginner to Advanced
Accent: Brazilian
Category: Lifestyle & Culture
Professor Jason teaches Brazilian Portuguese (and Spanish as well) and all his videos are organized into playlists by theme that covers everything from grammar to Latin music and recipes.
If you are looking for a course with a clear-cut, but still very friendly, sequence, this is great for you.
7. PortuguesePod101
Level: Beginner to Advanced
Accent: Brazilian
Category: Lifestyle & Language Learning
If you’re looking for a lot of different content to learn Portuguese with Youtube, PortuguesePod101 has what you need.
They feature Portuguese words used by real Portuguese-speakers in sentences (complete with English translations) as well as topics like calling the doctor or buying groceries.
8. Semantic Portuguese
Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Accent: Brazilian
Category: Lifestyle & Fiction
If you easily get bored, Semantic Portuguese is your channel. There are a lot of lessons and most of the videos are in skit format, spoken in Portuguese with English subtitles. They show real-life situations that you won’t get tired of watching as there is a new vocabulary to be learned each lesson.
9. Travel and Learn
Level: Beginner
Accent: European Portuguese
Category: Travel & Culture
These Portuguese lessons on Travel and Learn are very basic and recommended for beginners.
Whenever the teacher speaks English, there’s a Portuguese translation in the subtitles—so even when you’re listening to English, you’re still learning!
10. Portuguese Today
Level: Beginner
Accent: Brazilian
Category: Language & Learning
Portuguese Today produce videos on grammar, chalkboard renditions of conjugating verbs, and animated videos of characters speaking Portuguese (with subtitles to help you learn).
10. Street Smart Brazil
Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Accent: Brazilian
Category: Language & Learning
Street Smart Brazil is a great way to learn Portuguese with Youtube as it has lots of varied video content. Some lessons have explanations of slang and colloquial phrases, vocabulary practice, grammar, and pronunciation lessons.
11. Charlles Nunes
Level: Beginner
Accent: Brazilian
Category: Language & Learning
Charlles Nunes has very helpful videos to learn Portuguese through his basic phrases and vocabulary. If you do not have much time during the day, you can squeeze in “One Minute Portuguese,” which is similar in format to his 15 video series but presented in bite-sized chunks.
12. Tradutex Portuguese Lessons
Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Accent: European
Category: Language & Learning
Tradutex Portuguese Lessons doesn’t have much selection of lessons, but they focus on teaching European Portuguese grammar. So this is great and helpful if you want to learn Portuguese with Youtube.
You’ll also find reading passages with audio and grammar rules, as well as vocabulary words written on a chalkboard with an accompanying explanation.
13. DamonandJo
Level: Intermediate to Advanced
Accent: Brazilian
Category: Travel & Culture
For a more authentic Portuguese, this channel brings you amazing lessons on slang and Portuguese expressions. They feature genuine conversations between the two hosts of the channel.
14. Nostalgia
Level: Advanced
Accent: Brazilian
Category: History, Science, Music, and Famous People
Felipe Castanhari is a 29-year-old Brazilian YouTuber, TV host, actor, blogger and graphic designer. He started the Youtube channel Nostalgia, where he talks about history, science, music, and famous people.
This channel is great if you want to learn current events and history while practicing your Portuguese skills.
15. Novo Telecurso
Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Accent: Brazilian
Category: Lifestyle & Culture
What is most liked about Novo Telecurso is the general education lessons. You can learn about room dimensions and calculate space – in Portuguese! Various subjects are covered including things like geography and history, and each of these fifteen-minute long videos comes with Portuguese subtitles. The videos may be quite old but the material is great to learn Portuguese with Youtube.