Portuguese

Study the whole book, but also pay special attention to the topics outlined below. These are common areas of difficulty for native Portuguese speakers.

Consonants

The Final l

The Portuguese final l sounds almost like the English /w/ or /ou/ sound.  Practice the l exercises in Chapter Four. Make sure that the tip of your tongue is touching the gum ridge behind your upper teeth.

The /s/ Sound

The Portuguese language has no word that begins with an s followed by another consonant. There is usually a vowel in front of the s. Make sure you don’t inadvertantly insert an extra vowel sound when you say English words beginning with s. Here are some common words that demonstrate the “s problem.”

The th sound

Review Chapters Three and Four to learn the correct pronunciation of this sound. A common mistake is to substitute /t/ or /d/ for th.

Consonant Clusters

Practice all of the exercises on consonant clusters in Chapter Four. In the Portuguese language, when there are two consonants together, such as rd or ct, a vowel usually follows. In English that is not the case. For example, Americans say “Robert” with rt at the end. The Portuguese equivalent is “Roberto.” Here the rt cluster is followed by a vowel, making it easier to pronounce the second consonant. Because it doesn’t feel natural for Portuguese speakers to pronounce the consonant at the end, they tend to pronounce only the first consonant of the group, making the name Robert sound like “robber.” Also, card can sound like “car,” and Richard will sound like “richer.” Another good example is the English word correct, which in Portuguese is correto.

When you come across a word with two or more consonants next to each other, make sure that you pronounce every consonant.  Pay special attention to past tense -ed verbs. They generally form consonant clusters as in  “worked” and “watched.”

Verbs Ending in -ed

Make sure you learn to pronounce the three different -ed endings of verbs. For example, the endings of the verbs needed, opened, and passed are all pronounced differently. Review Chapter Four for more guidance on this topic.

Word Pairs for Practice

1. worked hard
2. extra strength
3. lost and found
4. played cards
5. extremely difficult
6. wild world

Vowels

It is recommended that you study all of the American vowel sounds in detail. (See Chapters One and Two.) However, pay special attention to the vowel sounds highlighted below which are the most problematic ones for native Portuguese speakers.

Confusing /æ/ and /ɛ/

The sounds /æ/ (as in bad) with /ɛ/ (as in bed) are often confused by native Portuguese speakers. Review Chapters One and Two for more explanations and exercises related to these sounds.

Word Contrasts for Practice

Make sure you pronounce the words in each pair below differently.

The /ɔ/ Sound

Be careful that your /ɔ/ sound (as in saw) is not influenced by the very different British version of this sound. In British English pause sounds almost like “pose,” but in American English it sounds much more like /pɑz/, and has the same /ɑ/ sound as in father or watch.

Word Contrasts for Practice

Don’t pronounce the two words in each pair the same way.

The /I/ Sound

You might have a tendency to pronounce /I/ (as in sit) incorrectly. Make sure you pronounce the following words differently:

The /ɘ/ Sound

You might confuse /ɘ/ as in fun, with /ɑ/ as in hop. Practice pronouncing the following words differently:

The /ʊ/ Sound

Do not make the common error of confusing /ʊ/ as in good, with /u/ as in food. Make sure you pronounce the following words differently:

Reduced Vowels in Unstressed Syllables

In Portuguese vowels within unstressed syllables are pronounced fully, whereas in English they almost disappear and become a reduced schwa /ɘ/ sound. For further study and practice, refer to Chapter Five on syllable stress. Below are some examples of the vowel differences between the two languages.

Word Stress

In Portuguese, adjectives are stressed more than nouns are. In English it’s the opposite.

Similarly, Portuguese speakers tend to place the most stress in the first part of a phrase or sentence, whereas Americans stress the endings more. Remember to place the most emphasis on the last content word of each sentence. Review Chapter Six for more guidance on this topic.

Other common word stress errors:

Study all the rules of word stress in Chapters Five through Eight, and practice the exercises over and over.