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This is a practical short book on how to speak Portuguese very quickly and very easily, by just learning to speak the core 35 words that you will need when you go there on holiday, or even on business, for that matter.

Of course, if you are in Lisbon, staying at a central hotel, you may think that you won't need Portuguese, because everyone will speak English. But, as you will find out when you do visit, you will not always be in the hotel; you will find that in bars, in taxis, on buses and trains, people may not be able to speak English. That's where you will be stuck if you don't know our carefully-selected 35 words.

You are out walking on the Avenida Torre de Belém with your street map, and you know that the Torre de Belém is at one end of it or the other, but which way? Now your life can go three ways: you didn't buy our book, and so you didn't learn our 35 words and how to pronounce them fluently, so you say nothing to anyone and just walk along in the hope that you find the right place. Or else you get out your phrase book and hope that it contains the exact phrase that you want (which it won't) and you try to struggle to pronounce the words unsuccessfully to some busy passers-by.

Or else, 🙂 you have bought this book, and you have learned the 35 words and you can pronounce them really well because the book has shown you exactly how to say them. You want the Torre de Belém, and we didn't teach you how to say that, but we did teach you how to say 'this' and 'that', and in our book we told you to use those words instead of a thousand other words. So with your street map in your hand you politely stop a local person and point to the Torre de Belém on the map, and say, "Desculpe me, onde está este, por favor?" Which we have taught you. "Excuse me, where is this, please?"

They look at your finger on the map, and they point in the direction you need. Problem solved! And you feel great that you have spoken in Portuguese to a Portuguese person, and they understood you. Success! And all for the small sum of less than £7.

And that's only one example of how you spoke Portuguese that day in Paris. If you bought our book, you will have ordered yourself a coffee in the morning and asked for the bill and paid it - in French! You will have ordered your lunch and a glass of wine, and later, you will have found a taxi and told the driver which hotel to go to. A perfect day. And, honestly, you will have no idea of the thrill that it will give you to speak a foreign language abroad and to have people understand you.

From that point on, it's an easy step to add to the 35 words we taught you, and you will find yourself loving Portugal, and visiting it again and again. And, of course, you'll be able to speak just the same whether you are visiting Lisbon, Faro on the south coast, sampling port in a vineyard near Porto, or just lounging in a village in the countryside.

ISBN 978-1-910537-27-5 Printed Version, paperback.

ISBN 978-1-910537-26-8 Electronic Version.

Peter and Helena Roberts

The front cover image showing the language book entitled

But it's not just holidays. Just look at what one of our business friends emailed to us the other day about her visit to Costa Rica. I have changed the Spanish words to make it relevant to Portugal since that is what you are interested in.

Dear Peter and Helena,

Just to let you know that I’ve been to Portugal at last and tested the book.

I memorised the 35 words at the airport (I must admit to some previous Portuguese lessons when I was 16) and then felt all set. I was even using it on the plane – mainly ‘desculpe me’ as I tried to navigate the aisle in the aircraft. It was an excellent confidence builder and really helped me to communicate. I showed my colleagues who then thought it would be great fun to give me a test and I passed! I gave the spare copy to my operations director who, like me, had a vague schoolgirl recollection of some Portuguese words and no time to refresh it with evening classes. She really liked the idea of being able to do the preparation at the airport.

I also like the A5 format. It is just the right size. A smaller book would probably have got tucked into a corner somewhere and been lost.

I think this is a clever system and look forward to testing the Italian and Spanish versions when I get the chance.

Thanks for sending the books to me. I will pass the word around. Good luck with future sales. Do you have any in other languages yet? I can see an immediate use for Polish.

Best wishes

Isn't that amazing? She learned it at the airport, and she was using it on the plane before her feet had even hit the ground at her destination!

And here is another one (unaltered) from a couple who bought our book to take on their honeymoon to Rome:

Hi Peter and Helena,

We both found your book easy to read and understand, and the phonetic way of how to pronounce the words was invaluable. What I personally found so good was that it was such an effective way of successfully being able to speak Italian! After only spending an evening glancing through the book, I could construct a sentence that made sense and sounded OK (I think)! Before getting your book, we'd ordered a 'Learn how to speak Italian course off the internet, which still remains unused to this day. It looks too complicated and involved to be bothered with - especially after a day at work. What was great about your book is that it was an effective, successful 'quick fix', which was absolutely perfect for today's busy working lifestyle!

So, if you are teetering on the edge, please buy this book, for your own sake. It will make a huge difference to your visit, and ultimately, it may make a huge difference to your life. Who knows?

And, like them, please email us and tell us if you also liked our book: editor@russetpublishing.com Thanks 🙂

Don’t forget to learn the 35 words thoroughly before your holiday if you possibly can. On the other hand, perhaps it will wile away the time at the airport on your way out, or under a sun umbrella on a hot beach where you can then order your glass of water or lemonade fluently.

Wherever you read it, we are sure that when you have studied it, it will make all the difference to your visit. And remember that a language book will mean more to you and will help you to remember vocabulary if you write notes in it and add your own words and phrases!

Best wishes from Peter and Helena Roberts.

And you'll want to know what's in the book overall, so here is the Contents Directory:

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1

LEARN THE 35 WORDS

Chapter 2

I WANT SOMETHING

Chapter 3

I WANT TO FIND SOMETHING

Chapter 4

I WANT TO BUY SOMETHING

Chapter 5

I WANTED TO SPEAK PORTUGUESE

SOME OF THE 35 KEY WORDS

20 one (1) um

pronounced: oon

21 please por favor

pronounced: pour-fav-or

22 small pequeno.

pronounced: pay-ken-oh

23 station estação (feminine)

pronounced: es-ta-sown (as in English town)

24 thank you obrigado

pronounced: ob-ree-ga-doh

25 that one aquele

pronounced: a-kell-ay (as in English pay)

26 the (singular) o (masc.) a (feminine)

pronounced: owe and a

27 this one este

pronounced: es-tay

28 ticket bilhete

pronounced: bee-let-ay

29 the toilets (public) as casas de banho (públicas)

pronounced: ass ka-sas de ban-yo (poo-blee-cas)

AND HERE ARE SOME PHRASES FROM THE BOOK

There is also coffee (café), pronounced ka-feh.

Black (They say 'a coffe black' … um café preto.)

White (They say 'a coffee with milk' … um café com leité.)

Pronounced oon kaff-ay con lay-ee-tay.

Gostaria de um café preto. (oon kaff-eh pray-toe)

I would like a black coffee.

And to top it off and make it sound even more polite, we add the words for 'please' - por favor.

Quero um café preto descafeinado, por favor.

(pronounced oon caf-eh pray-toe des-kaf-ay-ee-nah-doe)

I want a black decaf coffee, please.

Gostaria de um café com leité. (oon ka-fay con lay-ee-tay)

I would like a white coffee, please.

Quero um copo de água, por favor.

(pronounced Kay-roh oon co-po day ag-wa, por fav-or)

I want a glass of water please.

Este é bom. (pronounced ess-tay ay bon)

This is good.

Gostaria de uma garrafa de água mineral gaseificada, por favor.

(gaseificada pronounced gas-ay-ee-fee-ca-da)

I want a bottle of sparkling mineral water please.

Onde está um táxi?

Where is a taxi?

Onde está um banco?

Where is a bank?

Onde está o Hilton Hotel?

Where is the Hilton hotel

Anyone who speaks fluent Portuguese will tell you that the above sentences are basic. But they will work! That’s the main thing.

You have the option of standing in the town square like a goldfish with your mouth opening and closing and nothing coming out, or you can say something that is not grammatically perfect, but gets you what you want. It’s an obvious choice!