A secret workaround to find a Portuguese speaking language “partner”… Now!

When you decide to learn Portuguese, one of the hurdles you have to overcome is not having other language learners to practice with. You know, even though Portuguese is the official language in many countries, students of Portuguese are very rare indeed.

And not having other language learners to speak with may be frustrating. After all, beating all the grammar points you come across and learning all that vocabulary gives you a sense of pride. You want to use with people the language you learn – people you can relate to and be friends with.

Besides, only by actually using what you learned can you make sure you’ve made true progress. And by using the language, you can’t help but improve.

A Portuguese speaking language partner in your pocket

The good thing about living in our days is that technology has made it so much easier to do just about anything. You can connect with a friend in Brazil all the while you keep a conversation with another friend in Portugal.

But then there is time zone difference… Conflicting schedules… And problems inherent to modern life.

The good news is, you have a speaking partner who’s always available to you – in your pocket. Yes, it’s your smartphone. I’m going to teach you a little trick you can make use of whenever you need to practice.

The nitty-gritty details of implementing this secret 

Here’s how:

• Make a list of common questions you get from textbooks. If you’re not using a textbook, you can ask for help from other Portuguese learners on our Facebook page.
• Now that you have a list of the validated common questions, record yourself reading them by using the recording function of your smartphone.
• Between each question leave a 3-to-4-second gap.
• Now, play the recording back to yourself.
• Try your best to answer the questions in the given gap. Don’t pause the recording to get some time to think. The secret here is to use the gap to give yourself pressure. In this way, you can get as close to the real experience of talking to other people as possible.

And the real good secret is that you can use this technique to learn just about anything.

You can make questions using specific vocabulary you want to learn. You might also record English sentences and phrases and translate them into Portuguese using the gap. This is an excellent way to get those phrases and sentences automatic in your mind. So when you talk with your friends next time, you don’t need to fumble for word. You’ll enjoy your conversations more and more.

Do you have any other techniques to overcome the lack of a language partner? Write it in the comments below.

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