Practice Portuguese

What it is

Practice Portuguese is a subscription site and app for learning European Portuguese, the Portuguese of Portugal. Its home page promises to teach the language "as it's spoken in Lisbon, Porto, Algarve and the rest of the country!", and the focus is deliberate: under the heading "Strictly European Portuguese, since 2012", the company says it does not split its efforts across any other languages, "or even Brazilian Portuguese". The aim is to serve one group of learners well: people planning to study, work or travel in Portugal, or already living there.

The business is Practice Portuguese, LDA, and its footer reads "Proudly made in Portugal". The two co-founders introduce themselves on the home page. Joel Rendall, born and raised in Ontario, Canada, moved to Lisbon in September 2012 and found it hard to get study material that was not Brazilian Portuguese. Rui Coimbra is "the native Portuguese co-founder". Both appear throughout the videos, alongside a small team that handles support, content, development and design.

The course: Units and Smart Review

The core of a membership is what the site calls a "members-only course" of "addictive, interactive Lessons" built around useful expressions and vocabulary. The home page says "All 100+ Units are unlocked right from the start", so a learner can follow them in order or skip to what matters most. The FAQ spells out the level range: the Units are designed for beginners (A1/A2) up to intermediate learners (B1/B2). Its advice on where to begin is direct. Beginners go to the Units page and start with the first Unit, using Smart Review along the way. Everyone else can skip ahead to the topics that fit their level and start listening practice early.

Smart Review is the flash-card system. The site says it "adjusts in real-time, based on your individual progress", so you do not waste time repeating material you have already mastered. Phrases from episodes can be saved to Smart Review, which uses spaced repetition to commit them to long-term memory.

Listening, speaking and verbs

For pronunciation, the site offers over 55,000 "high-quality audio clips" recorded by Portuguese speakers. You can record your own voice, compare it with a native speaker's recording, and get "an estimated accuracy score". The FAQ adds a newer Listen & Speak feature that lets you download reviews for offline use.

The Verbs section covers "hundreds of the most common Portuguese verbs". You practice conjugating regular and irregular verbs in each tense and mood, and you can quiz yourself on one tense at a time or mix them. One member review on the home page singles out the verb modules and likes having to recognize a verb from its sound alone.

The Practice archive: podcast, Shorties and videos

Listening practice is the site's oldest strength. The home page describes "an archive of over 950 audio and video episodes" showing how the language is used in day-to-day conversation, and the FAQ says these episodes "span all levels, A1-C1".

• Podcast. "Our flagship audio program that started it all!", with a wide range of levels, topics and show formats.
• Shorties. "Bite-sized audio dialogues and articles (1-2 minutes long)". A Shortie such as "Da Capital para o Campo" (From the Capital to the Countryside) is tagged B1 and built around one grammar point, here the personal infinitive, with the Portuguese transcript and the English line by line.
• Videos. "Candid footage of Portuguese natives in their natural habitat!" Rui, Joel, friends and family appear in travel adventures, skits, mini-lessons, animated shorts and everyday moments. Each video carries a level and topic tags. Recent examples include street interviews on the minimum wage in Portugal (B2), a conversation about glasses and eye care (B1), a lunch-table episode on food vocabulary (A2) and the annual holiday video, which runs 39 minutes at C1. The menu also lists a "Caminho" film, and the video "Passo a Passo (O Caminho de Santiago)" follows Rui and Joel from the train to Porto onto the pilgrim route, with the Portuguese transcript and an English translation.

Premium features on every episode

Each episode page shows what a membership adds. Members get "this episode's entire transcription, as well as hundreds more", PDF transcriptions "with or without English translations" for printing or offline use, MP3 downloads, and episode quizzes "to challenge your comprehension skills and track your progress". The home page lists the rest: synchronized English translations you can toggle on, word lists you can add to Smart Review, a quiz to "Test your listening comprehension and prepare for the CIPLE", and a Look Up toggle that translates individual words in the transcript.

Learning Notes

The Learning Notes are the grammar reference. The site says they give "an insider's look at grammar, pronunciation and usage, without getting overly technical", with audio examples, charts and a comment section for questions. Members also meet them inside the Units, between the interactive lessons.

The index is broad. The Basics cover greetings, polite expressions, kissing etiquette and the 75 most common verbs. Grammar runs from adjectives and adverbs to subordinating conjunctions, and Verbs from the indicative to the conjuntivo and past participles. Further sections cover pronunciation (consonants, vowels, minimal pairs), the Algarve dialect, slang, idioms and diminutives. Practical notes stand out for anyone moving to the country: buying a home in Portugal, becoming a freelancer and issuing recibos verdes, applying for a NIF tax number, getting residency, and a note on taking the CIPLE, the A2 language proficiency test. A Tips & Motivation section deals with freezing up when speaking, locals who answer in English, plateaus and study plans.

Community and tools

Practice Portuguese is not only self-study. Its Discuss area includes a guide to Portugal, Portuguese questions on grammar and vocabulary, an introductions board, The Café, Study Groups & Meet Ups, and challenges, and one team member's title is "Content, Forum & Support Master!". The site also has a built-in translator with formal and informal Portuguese options, which the FAQ says works at any level along with Smart Review and the Verbs section.

Price, refunds and the app

The home page gives one headline price: €15 per month for "UNLIMITED access", covering both the website and the app, with "Cancel any time" and a "100% money-back guarantee". It shows the monthly price in other currencies too, $16.49 in US dollars, $21.99 in Canadian dollars, £13.39, ¥1764 in yen and ¥118 in yuan, with the note "(converted amounts are approximate)". The FAQ says a discounted yearly subscription is also available for learners who plan to be consistent.

There is no free trial. The FAQ explains that, due to high demand, the company reserves its server resources for paying subscribers, and points instead to its refund policy: if you sign up for a monthly subscription via the website and are not satisfied for any reason, you let them know and they refund the payment and cancel, "whether it's on day 1 or day 30". Website subscriptions are canceled from the Manage Subscription page, app-store subscriptions in the Apple App Store or Google Play store, and access continues for the full billing period after canceling.

The app runs on iPhones, iPads, Android devices and other mobile devices, and one subscription works everywhere. The company recommends subscribing through the website first, since it cannot provide direct support for subscriptions created through the app stores. Lessons need an internet connection, but podcast and Shorties audio and PDFs can be downloaded for practice on the go.

Who it suits

Practice Portuguese suits anyone whose Portuguese is for Portugal: people moving there to study or work, residents who want to move past survival phrases, travelers, and learners preparing for the CIPLE A2 exam. Beginners get a structured path through the Units, and intermediate and advanced learners get a deep archive of real speech up to C1. Members quoted on the home page include one who had tried to learn during eight years of living there before finding the site, and a traveler who learned enough before visiting Madeira, Portimão and Lisboa to bring "smiles to the faces of the people I spoke to".

The caveat is its focus. A learner who wants Brazilian Portuguese will need a different course, and anyone wanting to try before paying gets a refund policy rather than a trial.