The Biggest Mistake: Translating Everything Into English to Learn Portuguese

Learning Portuguese without translating is the key to speaking fluently: if you have the habit of mentally translating everything you hear or read before you understand it, you're making the most common mistake among English-speaking learners, and the one that slows your progress the most.

When you rely on translation, your brain makes a pit stop before every sentence: you listen, translate into English, think of your answer, then translate it back into Portuguese. The result is that you speak more slowly, you wear yourself out, and you end up speaking a broken English-Portuguese mix.

Here I'll explain why I don't translate Portuguese into English in my classes, what happens in your head when you do, and the method that works much better so you start thinking in Portuguese and stop translating in your head, even if you're starting from zero.

Not everyone likes my method

"This is obviously a channel for idiots."... that was a hater's comment on one of my videos, and it ended up fueling a whole podcast episode and a YouTube video about the topic.

When people who want to learn Portuguese with me find out I don't do translations in my classes, they ask:

"hey, but how am I going to understand what you say if I don't know any Portuguese?"

So after getting that hater's comment on YouTube, I finally decided to record this video explaining the details about the downsides of translating to learn another language.

Video: Translating Portuguese won't necessarily make you speak Portuguese

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Podcast Episode 41: Não Perca Tempo Fazendo Tradução

In the video I gave a summary. If you want to hear the full version on why translating Portuguese will make you speak slowly, listen to episode 41 (Philipe Brazuca Podcast)

I don't teach Portuguese by translating

Teaching Portuguese without translating means the student understands each word within the language itself, through context, synonyms, and examples, not by hunting for its English equivalent. That way the brain stops using English as a middleman and starts associating Portuguese directly with ideas.

These are the reasons I decided not to translate Portuguese in my classes.

• In Brazil, it's not common to find people who speak English, so you'll have to get by with the Portuguese you know.
• People will talk to you the way they'd talk among locals. They won't know which Portuguese words differ from English, and they'll speak fast.
• At some point you might not understand a word and ask what it means, and there's a good chance the explanation uses other words you don't understand either, leaving you even more confused. (nobody likes not being understood)

For the people who say "how am I going to learn without translation if I don't know any Portuguese?", they just need to ask themselves:

when I was learning my first language, what other language was I translating into?

Learning another language has a lot in common with the way you learned your native one. You go through the 4 stages of the learning process: 1st Understand, 2nd Speak, 3rd Read, 4th Write.

So what's going on?

Some people who want to start learning Portuguese begin by watching my more advanced videos and get scared, and rightly so!

How do I start learning Portuguese?

To start learning Portuguese without translating, begin with material made for your level: first train your ear and your comprehension, and only then work on producing the language. The easiest way is to start with a guided mini course or a PDF guide that lays out topics in a clear order, so you don't jump straight into advanced content and get frustrated.

Start learning with the free 7-day mini course (for all levels), or even simpler, download the Complete PDF Guide to Learn Portuguese, where I put together my best recommendations.

I also have a video where I explain how to learn Portuguese faster.

[Full post here]

Unless you're learning Portuguese to become a translator or interpreter, don't focus on doing translation. And if you still need a quick tool for one-off lookups, a translation app can help for a single check, but it won't replace the process of understanding through context.

Being a translator is very different from knowing how to speak the language.

I've seen plenty of English-Portuguese or English-Spanish translators who can't actually speak English or Portuguese, yet they do written translations perfectly.

Knowing Spanish helps me teach Portuguese

One note here: I have an advantage when teaching Portuguese to people who already speak Spanish (or have a basic level of Portuguese), because I can speak only in Portuguese and it's not that hard to understand. Since Portuguese and Spanish are so close, a lot of it carries over.

It would be very different if I were teaching Portuguese to someone whose language shares nothing with it and who knows no other related language. I'd have to lean much harder on creativity through body language.

Because I know Spanish, to ease students into this first contact with the language I start with Portuguese words that resemble Spanish, and I explain words and expressions using more basic vocabulary. It's like a warm-up to get acclimated.

And then what do I do?

I make the transition gradually. I start mixing in words that are different from Spanish, and finally I focus on bringing in as much vocabulary and expressions that are very particular to Brazil as possible.

If you'd like to know all the techniques I use to teach Portuguese, check out the video.

[Full post here]

Portuguese phrases (basic)

Notice the difference between a Portuguese sentence that looks like Spanish and one that's completely different.

Here are some sentences I'd use to get students familiar with the words and the pronunciation.

• Não quero comer nesse restaurante, a comida não é boa. (I don't want to eat at this restaurant, the food isn't good)
• Estou com sede, você poderia me dar um copo com água? (I'm thirsty, could you give me a glass of water?)
• Você já foi ao Brasil quantas vezes? (How many times have you been to Brazil?)

See what I mean?

Right there, someone who knows no Portuguese but speaks Spanish would say:

"wow, learning Portuguese is so easy".

Usually the people who say that don't have a very high level of Portuguese.

In fact I recorded a video about exactly this: "Portuguese and Spanish, similar but very different".

You can't miss the videos on the 11 False Friends that will embarrass you.

Portuguese phrases (advanced)

• Tá a fim de dar um rolê e tomar uma naquele boteco que te falei?
• Tô batendo o queixo com esse frio, pega um casaco aí pra mim.
• Ontem desceram o pau nele porque ele vacilou na reunião.

The big problem is when people focus on learning only what's very similar. The "small" detail is that in Brazil, especially in informal speech, we use tons of expressions, slang, and vocabulary that have nothing to do with Spanish or English.

Not to mention that if you always try to use words that are very similar, you'll end up speaking "portuñol".

If you decide to keep translating Portuguese

Has this ever happened to you?

Getting tired of listening to and speaking Portuguese, reaching the point of saying:

"I want to speak in my native language, I'm too tired to speak Portuguese, my head hurts."

Keep in mind:

• The work of translating Portuguese is exhausting. Over time you'll get used to it and do it on autopilot. (this is just like learning to drive or even to cook)
• Not to mention that translating makes you speak more slowly and takes more time (I speak Spanish and English and I don't think in Portuguese; in fact, if I stop to search for the translation, I speak much more slowly and get confused)

It's funny how, when you're speaking your native language, the words just appear and you don't know exactly what you're going to say until you say it.

It often happens that you plan a few sentences and, when it's time to speak, they come out very differently. I've seen it many times and it's even happened to me.

The solution to learning Portuguese without translating

The solution to stop translating in your head is to understand each new word within Portuguese: ask for synonyms and antonyms, look up the definition in a Portuguese dictionary, understand it through context, and then create your own sentences. With repetition, your brain stops going through English and starts thinking directly in Portuguese.

• When you hear a word you don't understand, you can ask: what would that be like? could you explain it in other words? is there a synonym or antonym?
• Look up the definition in a Portuguese dictionary (it's what a Brazilian would do to find out what a word means)
• Search for news with the word you want and read the headlines and descriptions (Google News, understanding through context)
• Once you understand the meaning, create one to three memorable sentences to review the content
• Keep in mind the different meanings a word can have depending on the context

Different meanings - Verbs

Here are some examples of verbs that have different meanings depending on the context. A single Portuguese verb can completely change its meaning from one sentence to the next, which is exactly why you should learn it in context and not as a fixed translation. Look at how many meanings these three hide:

• FICAR in Portuguese and its 20 meanings in everyday expressions
• 5 ways to use LIGAR
• 15 expressions with the verb TIRAR in Portuguese

THERE'S MORE, take a look at these words:

Different meanings - other words

It's not just verbs that change meaning: there are very common words a translator would give you with a single sense, when in reality we Brazilians use them in several different ways day to day. These three examples will surprise you:

• 6 ways to use MESMO in Portuguese
• Ways to use MEIA in Portuguese
• 7 ways to use AINDA in Portuguese

My focus when teaching Portuguese to foreigners

• Use synonyms and antonyms. (synonym - antonym dictionaries)
• Always put a word in the context of a sentence (association).
• Speak fast but clearly (with good diction) (speaking well doesn't necessarily mean speaking fast).
• Use expressions and words that are very different from Spanish (remember to avoid "portuñol"; the idea is to distance Portuguese from Spanish).
• Repetition: I reuse the words and expressions to reinforce the content.

By not translating to learn Portuguese, you'll feel yourself speaking the language with more fluency.

Has this happened to you?

Using an expression in Portuguese and having someone ask you what the English equivalent would be, and you don't know it (even though English is your native language), yet you still use the expression perfectly in Portuguese.

That's what I mean when I say:

"Whoever translates Portuguese doesn't necessarily know how to speak it, and whoever speaks Portuguese doesn't necessarily know how to translate it."

Extra tips to improve comprehension

A while back a friend sent me a voice note in English and I literally had to focus to understand it well. There was a lot of background noise and her mic wasn't great either, but I managed to get what she meant.

That's proof my ear is already trained to understand English even "half-caught".

What you can do to boost your Portuguese comprehension to an advanced level:

• Listen to Portuguese as if you were in a coffee shop, playing white noise (background chatter) from Spotify or YouTube at the same time as a podcast episode or an interview. (burburinho de pessoas conversando)
• Listen to Portuguese with poor audio quality, like a call that keeps cutting out
• Listen to Portuguese at a very low volume
• Watch videos on mute and try to read people's lips to understand the Portuguese. (very advanced level)

YouTube - Burburinho

Here are some background audio tracks on YouTube of people chatting.

• Burburinho de pessoas conversando 1
• Burburinho de pessoas conversando 2

Spotify - Burburinho

You can also use Spotify to play background noise while you listen to something in Portuguese.

• Coffee Shop Background Noise
• Background noises - Coffee Shop, Cafe & More

Frequently asked questions about learning Portuguese without translating