Learn to speak Portuguese  

Portuguese Language

Portuguese CD-ROM
RRP: £24.95
Our Price: £19.99
with FREE P&P

Where does Portuguese come from?
Portuguese is a member of the Romance group in the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European language family. Portuguese entered its modern phase in the 16th century.

Portuguese vocabulary is basically of Latin origin. A number of words have been absorbed from Arabic, French, and Italian, and also from some of the indigenous South American and African languages.

How many people speak Portuguese?
Over 200 million people throughout the world speak Portuguese.

In how many countries?
It is the mother tongue of about 11 million people in Portugal and its islands whence it was brought by Portuguese explorers and colonists to: Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and São Tomé, and the territories of Macao and East-Timor. Portuguese is eighth among the most spoken languages in the world.

Portuguese Culture

Portuguese Music and Dance
The nation's best-known musical form is the melancholic fado (songs believed to have originated from the pinings of 16th-century sailors).

Portuguese Food and Drink
Classic Portuguese meals include sardinhas assadas (charcoal-grilled sardines), pastéis de bacalhau (cod fishcakes) and caldo verde (a soup of cabbage and potatoes). Seafood dishes such as linguado grelhado (grilled sole) and bife de atúm (tuna steak) are appetising staples.

Portuguese Attractions
Lisbon Lisbon (Lisboa), the country's capital, stands on the banks of the Rio Tejo. A clear choice for Lisbon's finest attraction is the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos.

Sintra The town of Sintra has a thickly wooded setting, romantic gardens and ramshackle glamour. Dominating the town are a number of palaces and ruins, including the Palácio Nacional de Sintra, an interesting amalgam of Manueline and Gothic architecture, and the Palácio Nacional da Pena.

Évora The walled town of Évora is one of the architectural gems of Portugal. Situated in Alto Alentejo in a landscape of olive groves, vineyards, wheat fields and brilliant spring flowers, it's a charming town.

About Talk Now! Language CD-ROMs
This is an excitingly different language learning series. Talk Now! uses games and quizzes as a basis for making the learning process fun, easy and relaxing. There is no better way to teach an old dog new tricks and this fun element of the program means that your fears are forgotten as you absorb words and phrases without even realising you are learning them.

Talk Now! is the world's best selling language learning CD-ROM series for beginners, used by more than three million people to date. It's ideal for travellers, holidaymakers, business people, schoolchildren, students and families.

Anyone over 10 years of age will find the disc indispensable for improving listening, understanding and spoken language skills. There are nine topics: first words, food, colours, phrases, parts of the body, numbers, time, shopping and countries.

The games and quizzes included on the disc ensure that users have fun whilst using the disc, without realising that they're learning. The "intelligent" software feature remembers words you get wrong and targets your weak points.

"This is an excitingly different language learning series. Talk Now! Uses games and quizzes as a basis for making the learning process fun and relaxing." - PC Answers

"I bought your Learn Malay CD today - I've only just begun, but I wanted to say how much I am enjoying it. I studied Malay from a book all day yesterday, making some 25 pages of notes on grammar and vocab, but I remember more from your CD from just an hour!" - James Bryce