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Just finished first level of Portuguese...
Decided to post, feeling pretty good that i just finished the first level of Brazilian Portuguese at 146 days of study. I have been very diligent and attempted to do some work every morning, usually the first thing I do after checking email and texts on computer, then I do the fluff like FB, YouTube, Google News, etc...Just wanted to say I have no idea if 146 days is 'average time' to complete the first section, but I know that I have learned a great deal. Sometimes, when I cannot go back to sleep around 2 or 3 AM, I get up and study. The additional materials such as flash cards and the audio only, spoken by native speakers, is excellent for me. It might sound weird, but I sort of like to try to psych myself into thinking in Portuguese rather than just automatically translating each word into English in my mind. I am not often successful, but it is fun to try. I have tried to listen to music lyrics and read materials that I can find online, such as Portuguese comments on YouTube, and I have begun to listen to pop tunes and watch some of the Brazilian shows, but it is spoken muito rapido. When I hear just the audio on Fluenz without the visual help, I have to hit repeat quite often, but I do take my time and listen carefully. My reason for learning Portuguese is that I really do plan to move to Brazil sometime within the next two years, and I hope to complete the entire course before I take my first trial trip. So far, I like the location and look of Ubatuba and will perhaps make that one of my first destinations before deciding which state and city/village to settle in someday. Fluenz has already taught me as much as three semesters did when I took German in college, but I do plan to take the Fluenz German course when I finish the Portuguese one. I have to admit that the attractiveness and pleasant nature of the people and the photos on the Fluenz site actually help a great deal in staying motivated. I initially downloaded the entire course, so tomorrow, I will start Section II of the series and see what happens. There are a couple of restaurants in my area in which native Brazilian chefs and staff work, so I am going to ask if any one of them would perhaps help me a little along the way in terms of talking to real people, just to see what happens before I begin my efforts at immersion in Brazil. Most likely, I won't post again until I complete the second course, but I wanted to let readers know how impressed I am with Fluenz and how much I appreciate the course. And I am crushing on all of the girls, especially little Ana with her absolutely adorable voice. hahaha!