3 comments about Falar Ler Escrever Portugues Text (Falar...Ler...Escrever...Portugues) (Portuguese Edition).

1. This is a good book for learning Portuguese, but reads more like a workbook than a text. All the basic tenses and sentence structures are demonstrated, but they are never really explained. If you have never learned a second romance language before, you will likely find this book frustrating. However, if you know Italian, Spanish, or French, for example, you should be able to fill in the gaps and make good use of this book.



2. Given the significant differences between Brazilian and European Portuguese, most Portuguese L2 textbooks are based on one of the two standards. This particular book is designed as a beginner's introduction to standard Brazilian Portuguese (BP) as used in printed newspapers/magazines and national TV newscasts. Grammar and usage topics that are peculiar to European Portuguese, e.g. second-person verb forms and certain rules for placement and contraction of pronouns, are avoided altogether, even though they may be still found in Brazil in formal literary language. Conversely, nonstandard grammar that is nevertheless common in educated colloquial spoken BP, e.g. the "você/te" combination or the use of the subject pronouns "ele"/"ela" as direct objects, is also ignored. That is a refreshing departure from the recent trend in Portuguese L2 textbooks to emphasize colloquialisms over so-called "correct speech". The drawback, however, is that certain dialogues in the book, although using basic vocabulary, may often sound a little bit too formal from a native speaker's point of view. In a classroom environment though, standard grammar notes as presented in the textbook may be easily supplemented by appropriate instructor's remarks on colloquial usage whenever it differs from the standard language (once the student has a good grasp of the standard, learning colloquial variations is fairly easy). Overall, I strongly recommend "Falar, Ler e Escrever Português" for customers who are serious about learning proper Brazilian Portuguese, as opposed to the substandard language/grammar found in other textbooks.



3. This Text book is part of a complete language course, together with the seperate Exercise Book, the sepearate Vocubalary (Glossario) and the Audio CDs for the Text book and the Exercise book. Of course that adds up to a high price, which is totally justified for the high quality the books and CDs offer.
   It is the most complete Brasilian Portuguese language learning course I have found. This combination of books and CDs is NOT designed for self-learners.
   The course is basically made up into two sections. Lesson 1 to 10 cover the basic structures. Lessons 11-18 concentrate on specific themes which brings you to an intermediate level.
   I have had lots of good learning in the class room becaus the Brazilian teachers feel very good about the absolutely idiomatic use of the language, i.e. it's really how people speak in Brazil! The stucture in the Text book is very clear and includes all the important themes of Brazilian Portuguese, together with very useful and concise information on brazilian culture. The Exercise book is an integrative part, because here some of the exercises are available to work over grammar and vocabulary that are scarsely covered in the Text book. The speed of the speach on the Exercise CDs is faster and closer to how Brazilians speak.
   There is only one weak point, that your teacher will have to provide the Grammar teaching, since the entire book is in Brazilian Portuguese and there are no real explenations on grammar.

5 comments about Portuguese (Brazilian), Conversational: Learn to Speak and Understand Brazilian Portuguese with Pimsleur Language Programs (Simon & Schuster's Pimsleur).

1. What a great way to get into a new language! I used the first level CDs in my car and my long commute has become really enjoyable. I am hooked and can't wait to order the next levels.
   
   I highly recommend this method!



2. Someone recommended Pimsleur brand to me, and I am very impressed with the Brazilian Portuguese conversational I CDs. I am on 10 out of 16 lessons, and I feel like I'm really speaking Portuguese! Each lesson is 30 mins long, so I can listen to it on my commute to work and it doesn't take any extra time out of my day. The price was a steal for what I'm getting out of it. I wish there was a Conversational II so I could continue my lessons!



3. I recently went to Brazil for a week with a group, and used this program along with learning a few phrases recommended by the group to prepare myself. I had about two months to study Portuguese, and I am really surprised at how comfortable I was with the language!
   
   I was easily in the top half of the group for how well I could speak Portuguese, and probably more in the top quarter (though many of the folks couldn't say anything in Portuguese). One man in our group had been studying Portuguese for a year and a half using Rosetta Stone, averaging 2 hours a night...though of course he could speak better than I could, I was amazed at how close I was to him in overall comfort level. I didn't have near the extent of vocabulary yet, but I could usually pick out the words that I did know even as the Brazilians were speaking at their normal speed, and I could communicate the essentials at restaurants and in most of our typical conversations.
   
   I highly recommend this program as a starting point for learning Portuguese. As others have said, it is not a complete program at all, but it gets you started with basic conversational phrases and an intuitive understanding of Portuguese sentence structure. For the price, it's a great launching point for long-term study, and adequate for cramming before a last-minute trip!



4. I got this audiobook for my boyfriend who is American and has been trying to learn portuguese. As a genuin Brazilian I can definitely say that it works great! He has been learning very fast and loves it!!! Totally recomend!



5. These CDs are great if you have a commute over 30 minutes or so, and can just pop them in and listen. They build on the words introduced in previous lessons and are a very effective introduction. The one thing I missed was a written lesson plan or list of the words used, so I could see the spelling. This was especially significant with Brazilian Portuguese, which pronounces letters very differently from English. (D is pronounced as a J, Rs sound like Ds, etc.)
   
   That said, there is quite a bit of variety in usage demonstrated (and requested,) so you do get to (just) start thinking in the language. It's an introduction, probably ok for vacation trips, etc., so plan on something deeper if you are going to stay longer (or have a deeper relationship!)

5 comments about Ponto de Encontro: Portuguese as a World Language.

1. By the time you have bought the course and the activities manual you have spent well over $100.00! The idea of incorporating both Peninsular and Brazilian Portuguese is far from being new. Manuela Cook's TY courses have taken this approach since the 1990s. I bought an earlier edition as a student and now use the current edition of Cook's Teach Yourself Portuguese with my own students. It's excellent and costs less than $30.00 for both Peninsular and Brazilian Portuguese.



2. This is a college textbook that assumes you will have an instructor and be attending a university. For just learning portuguese from scratch, it is difficult to assimilate all the grammar used in the preliminary chapter. It doesn't start with "See Jane run." I do have a study partner who is helping make this work. I do not recommend this for solo/independent study. Also, internet resources are required.



3. I don't like the format of this textbook because it is written in English. I always prefer to study a language by reading ONLY in the language I'm studying. A Portuguese textbook, expecially one that is aimed at students who are continuing into their 2nd semester of Portuguese, should be written entirely in Portuguese. There are plenty of excellent books that do so, like Panorama Brasil, Via Brasil, Passagens Passagens Portugues Do Brasil Para Estrangeiros: Livro Do Aluno, A Actualidade em Português (From Portugal), Novo Avenida Brasil, and Fala Brasil.Fala Brasil - Portugues Para Estrangeiros (Portuguese Edition)
   
   It's best to spend the little time you can devote to learning Portuguese to ACTUALLY READING ONLY IN PORTUGUESE. Buy a dictionary to help you, but this textbook has much too much English for my taste.
   
   Falar...Ler...Escrever...Portugues Exercicios: Um Curso Para Estrangeiros (Portuguese Edition)



4. I have read the other reviews on this site about this set and none of them taken the time to describe the entire set as a unit and how they are there to help you to really learn Brazilian or European Portuguese should you decide to use all of the resources available.
   
   The completeness of this entire set is impressive as they have left no stone unturned: textbook (that teaches either Brazilian or European Portuguese, or you can learn BOTH, per your preference), separate activity manuals for each of the two Portuguese language types, an answer key in one inexpensive edition that covers both activity manuals as well as the companion oral/visual language DVD for BOTH separate as well as equal Brazilian or European Portuguese, the DVD of Portuguese speakers talking about each of the topics, chapter by chapter, of the textbook for BOTH separate as well as equal Brazilian or European Portuguese, and a 3-CD audio set for the textbook itself with a very nice and clear index listing of every track with each chapter and section. They don't stop here either! They also have an on-line site for learning Brazilian and European Portuguese with audio, interactive activities, flashcard system and tests that, when completed, you can choose to send to your teacher, to the teacher's assistant, to a friend and to yourself in plain text or HTML formats!
   
   The text book "Ponto De Encontro: Portuguese as a World Language," is very well put together with sound step-by-step learning of either Brazilian or European Portuguese per your own choice. The chapters cover what one really needs to learn to be successful with their learning of Portuguese. By the 4th Chapter or Lesson, counter to one objection in an earlier review, most of the chapter, including instructions are written in Portuguese! Further on, they are entirely in Portuguese. There is a very good guide to the entire book on pages iii-xv, all aspects of each Lesson are described: communication, dialogues (described in Enlglish); introductory prose titles (described in Portuguese), grammar covered (described in English), further and more complex prose titles (described in Portuguese), Reading, speaking and writing exercises and training (described in both English and Portuguese); and, finally, geography lessons (listing regions in Portuguese).
   
   From 16 to 27 pages of activities for each chapter in the textbook, filled with consistently reinforcing material step-by-step and from involved activity to activity, you can not go wrong with this book. The textbook itself is 570 pages of instruction while the activity book has 442 pages. I have studied Russian as well as Irish and I have never seen, for either of these languages, an accompanying activity book in a series that would be as extensive and almost as lengthly as the original textbook. (Well, V Puti, a Russian set does this and is the only exception!) I have thumbed my way through the book (I am an English as a Second Language teacher by profession) and it is pedagogically sound in all elements and the activities are relevant to the language learning itself. It does not (as do some activity books) get too carried away with introducing way too much new vocabulary that is not relevant to the tasks and the textbook and guides the student through everything quite well.
   
   I would suggest that, along with the "Brazilian Student Activities Manual to Accompany 'Ponto de Encontro': Portuguese as spoken and used in Brazil" (Remember that there is also the "European Student Activities Manual for 'Ponto de Encontro': Portuguese as a World Language" for those learning Portuguese as spoken and used in Portugal) you should also get the "Answer Key to Accompany Brazilian and European Student Activity Manuals for Ponto de Encontro." If you are studying on your own without a teacher, this will be quite valuable. In many language sets, answer keys only come with the "Teacher's Edition" and this is a welcome addition to the set and can be purchased as "new" for only $8.00.
   
   I also have purchased the DVD of dialogues in Portuguese that includes the same dialogs with different speakers in a disk that includes all of the dialogues in both Brazilian and European Portuguese. Not only are the speakers native to each country or region, they are also filmed in each respective area, giving you the feel of each region for the Portuguese that you are studying. The activity manuals also include activities to go along with the videos on the DVD!
   
   Now, this entire set, new, can be rather expensive. I purchased the CD, DVD, and book used here on Amazon. I only bought the Brazilian Portuguese Activity Manual and the Answer Key as new items. This helped me to cut the overall cost of all new materials by a rather tidy sum such that I could purchase the ENTIRE set! Even at full cost for new here on Amazon, I really feel that this entire set is a bargain as you will definitely learn, through diligence and following the program that this set offers, to speak, to listen to, to read and to write Portuguese like a native (high intermediate to low-advanced) by the end of the series. Of course, beyond this set (things that you should also do as you are working with the set), learning can be achieved through regular reading of original texts, watching movies, watching Brazilian or Portuguese TV on-line, finding a Portuguese "friend" or two, or three or whatever on-line who uses Skype for regular conversational practice and (if you are lucky, as am I) you may also find a friend who is actually a language teacher who can help you with Portuguese grammar, colloquialisms, pronunciation and can provide more "cultural notes" that make learning any language more fun, entertaining, and immersive!
   
   Get the set, be dedicated, use it well, use Skype - don't be shy!, and do the work so that you can really achieve the great success in learning Portuguese (Brazilian, European or both) that this set offers!



5. The Ponto de Encontro textbook provides students with precise language skills from the first lesson. Although, because Spanish is my native language, it feels easier to connect the grammar and logic of the Portuguese language with Spanish, both being of the same origin. But generally speaking, the book is a really good reference source.

2 comments about Oxford Picture Dictionary: English/Brazilian Portuguese.

1. My six years old boy has just learned to read and write, in brazilian portugues, an he sleeps embraced to the book. Is it necessary to say more?



2. Its so hard to find GOOD Brazilian Portuguese language resources... If you're struggling to find a definitive textbook/guide or if you simply want to take your vocabulary to the next level: THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU!
   
   This book and "How to say anything in Portuguese" (which is out of print, I believe, making it VERY expensive on Amazon but totally worth paying $40-50 for a serious student of the language) are simply the two BEST resources for learning Portuguese. I would say I am an intermediate level Portuguese learner. I know all the basics for food, household items, clothese, etc but since I am moving to Rio in a month, I need to take my vocabulary to the level of fluency.
   
   The book is clearly organized with sections on nearly every aspect of daily life from "travel" to "food/cooking" to "technology" to "mailing letters/packages" to "Family reunions" to "fixing/buying a car" this book has everything. The labeling and organizing of the book isn't even the best part-- its the great, highly detailed drawings to accompany and identify the great specific terms it offers. For someone who need to communicate in real life situations, you need to know how to go to a computer repair store and say specific terms like "usb port" or "external harddrive" OR go to a grocery store and decipher the labels in Portuguese that identify the different types of meats and cheeses (Halibut, swiss cheese, rainbow trout!) OR pick up a perscription medicine and read the directions, ie "take with a meal" OR say to a tailor that you need your pants hemmed or let out. For the serious student, you need this reference around just in case you need to say "Parking garage" "health insurance card" "Orthodontist" "Frying pan" or "Community college" or a host of other words a part of daily life you won't find in a translation dictionary.
   
   That being said, this book would be nice if youre a beginner to the language or aren't seeking fluency, but it could definitely be overwhelming and isn't necessary at that level of learning. But for someone seeking fluency, someone who travels to Brazil often, or someone who is going to live in Brazil, this book should be a required reading!

5 comments about Larousse Concise Dictionary: Portuguese-English/English-Portuguese (Portuguese Edition).

1. I've been using this dictionary for about a month now and I have loved having it. In fact, I haven't found any problems with it. It's easy to use and it has a great informational insert in the middle of it about Brazil, the U.S. and Great Britain. I highly recommend it for anyone needing some Portuguese translation!



2. Among many dictionaries, this book is very detailed and has a lot of words. I used it in Brasil and it was very helpful.



3. After learning Spanish I bought this Portuguese dictionary and learned Portuguese in just 45 days using this dictionary and watching TV. It is a great dictionary. It is a little bit bulky but not heavy. You can take it with you wherever you go. Definitions are very clear and short with many example sentences and phrases on word usage.
   
   The only shortcoming of the book is that at the end of the book only the present tense verb conjugations are fully provided. For other verb tenses only Eu (first person) verb conjugations are provided. I needed to find the others from the internet and print it.



4. About as useful as I needed. A few words or expressions were not accessible. I could not find the correct translation for "skin flap".



5. very good and comprehensive dictionary. Only downside is that it has the Brasilian portuguese and not the Portugal language (where those differences exist). A combined Portugues and Brasialian dictionary and translation to and from English would be awesome, but this is not it.

5 comments about The Everything Learning Brazilian Portuguese Book: Speak, Write, and Understand Basic Portuguese in No Time (Everything: Language and Literature).

1. It's nice that there actually is an affordable and effective book for a beginner to learn quite a bit of Brazilian Portuguese. I thought this book was really well organized and a solid introduction to the language. There are exercises throughout the book as well to practice what you learned. There is also an audio CD which is helpful (A native Brazilian speaker repeats words and phrases which are also written in the book). The chapters are:
   
   1)Introducing the Portuguese Language (Why learn it, similarities to Spanish, European Portuguese vs. Brazilian Portuguese, tips on learning Portuguese, recognizing what you already know)
   2)The Sounds of Portuguese (Portuguese alphabet, accent marks, listening practice, consonants, stress pattern in Portuguese, oral and nasal vowels, typing in Portuguese)
   3)Beginning Conversation (Greetings, talking on the phone, saying goodbye, etc)
   4)Nouns, Articles, and Contractions
   5)Introducing "ser" (the verb "to be")
   6)Introducing "estar" (the other verb meaning "to be")
   7)Describing People and Things in Portuguese
   8)The Vocabulary of Numbers
   9)First Conjugation Verbs
   10)Second Conjugation Verbs
   11)Important Verbs to Know
   12)Verb Tenses: an Overview
   13)More Verbs
   14)Negative Words and Constructions
   15)Questions and Exclamations
   16)The Future and Other Tenses
   17)Imperative and Subjunctive Constructions
   18)Carnaval, Samba, Feijoada, and Futebol (Brazilian culture!)
   19)Means of Communication (In person, by mail, making phone calls)
   20)Traveling to Samba-Land (getting papers in order, hotel reservations, currency, a bit of information about the most popular cities...)
   
   I was mostly looking to learn the language, not the culture, and this book is indeed mostly teaching the language. I liked the bits of information about the culture though in this book and found it interesting.
   
   I definitely recommend this as a book to start off with to anyone serious about learning the language. I went through this while going through Pimsleur lessons for Portuguese and found it to be a great supplement to my learning (In my opinion, Pimsleur goes at quite a slow pace and this book helped me learn more about grammar in a shorter amount of time, as well as expressions, etc, without going at too fast a pace). I recommend it to travelers only if they want to spend some extra time learning a bit more than they absolutely "need".



2. without the CD I'm not sure this book will be that great. Amazon has a great product with the Kindl but I don't think 9.99 is a good value for this book since it is missing half the content...the audio part. So unless the publisher offers the audio portion as a free download with this Kindle version, then Amazon needs to come up with a way to blend these two mediums in the future.



3. I needed to learn Portuguese over the summer so I bought this program. It is VERY thourough and it has really helped me. The CD also helps with pronunciation throughout the lessons.



4. This book consists mainly of grammar theory and lists of examples to illustrate the grammar points. The audio is also on grammar. Here and there you will come across the occasional list of vocabulary like 'countries and nationalities' or 'professions and occupations'. Then you go back to grammar. There is no life to it! Positively boring!



5. Good book. You will learn the basics in portuguese. That being said, it's a very slow method: you will have to reach page 58 to learn "to be" (present tense) in portuguese. Moreover, each lesson begin with a very basic grammar explanation (what is a noun?, what is an article?). I find it a bit condescending (the author could have assumed that her readers went to elementary school).
   The CD is very helpful. I would not buy the book without it.

5 comments about PORTUGUESE in 10 minutes a day® with CD-ROM.

1. PORTUGUESE in 10 minutes a day® with CD-ROM (10 Minutes a Day)
   
   This book and CD Rom give a very basic introduction to Portugese and gives exceptions where needed when Brazilian Portugese varies from the European.
   
   Being a very visual person I really appreciated the colorful drawings and the interactive CD that gave you real life examples to associate the Portugese words with. It's far easier for me to remember how to say the words for blouse or cat or pharmacy or tea when I picture these things first. This is a far more natural way of learning a language than conjugating verbs and learning tenses. I tend to remember a word when I can associate it with an image, sound or smell.
   
   For those wanting to delve more deeply into the language I would recommend Berlitz for 1. a review of the basics and 2. total immersion - nothing helps the speed of learning like being forced to know the words to ask to go the bathroom!!
   
   Remember that Berlitz has several iterations: face-to-face, online and a brief CD (for this language). Keep an eye on [....] for special promotions and pricing to continue your studies.



2. Easy to use, and has the pronunciations which I find helpful. Geard toward helping you go to a foreign country for holiday.



3. Definitely a good book to introduce you to the language. Easy to pick up and do in short bursts. Colorful and engaging with plenty of fun exercises. Stickers are neat, but better if used with magnets or other medium so you don't worry about leaving residue when you peel them off. Also, the book is good for kids through adults.



4. A great little course for the beginner: fun, encouraging and well-thought-out. Especially good for someone to take to work and do while on breaks. The best little course I have found. I use it in combination with Rosetta Stone. Highly recommended.



5. One of the best language workbooks I have seen. Bright and easy to follow.

5 comments about Brazilian Portuguese: Lonely Planet Phrasebook.

1. Beware of serious pronunciation errors in this book. Although it was overall pretty useful, there were some glaring errors in areas where there likely shouldn't have been. Case in point, the phonetic pronunciation for tchau (goodbye) in the book is spelled out as "tee-show." At least in Bahia, it was pronounced by the locals just like the Italian "ciao." The word "vinte" (twenty) is spelled out "veeng-te" in the book, while again everyone we encountered in Bahia pronounced it "veen-chay." I don't know if these are regional differences in Brazilian Portuguese, but if so, they need to at least be addressed in the book. Take care when using the phrasebook to listen to the local speakers as well.



2. I just returned from a trip to Brazil, and though I know some Spanish, I had no previous exposure to Portuguese. This phrasebook proved invaluable in helping me bridge the gap, and contributed to me having an even better time, and blending in better with the locals.



3. Really handy! It's unbelievable the amount of rare phrases that are in this book that you can't find anywhere else (example: Pull my finger= Pushe meu dedo). It covers a wide variety of topics like food and sex and parties. However, I found that the pronunciations guide kinda sucks. I'm not sure if I learned a different accent of Brazilian Portuguese (my teacher is from Brasilia), but the phonetic pronunciations they include were way off (for example, they never mention the fact that 'te' as in 'arte' is pronounced like 'chee' as in 'cheese'). Also, the organization of the book could have been a lot better. It took me HOURS to find a basic phrase (I'm hungry) because it was not put in a section with food or anything food/restaurant related. But for the reasonable price and convenient size, it's definitely worth having.



4. Just got back from Rio and found this version of the guide book very helpful. I would have loved if there was an audio companion to this book. That would have been extremely helpful in getting the right pronunciations. Overall, a great pocket guide.



5. I thought this book was very good. It gave each phrase in portuguese, english and written out the way that you would pronounce it. I bought another portuguese book that did not have the pronunciations, and will never do so again if I can help it. In my opinion the english/portuguese dictionaries did not contain enough words in them. There were quite a few times where I didn't have access to the words I was looking for. Overall I think this is a good book and would definately stick with Lonely Plane Phrasebook in the future.

5 comments about 501 Portuguese Verbs (Barron's 501 Portuguese Verbs).

1. It took several days to receive the book and when I looked at the back of the book there was a sale price tag lot less than I pay for the book.



2. If this is the first time you are taking any language course I can tell you know that this is a must buy kind of book. I have bought from Amazon already the 501 Spanish, English, Italian, and now Portuguese verbs. It is very helpful and a lifesaver.
   
   As always I have no complaints about Amazon.com. I have been purchasing books for the last 5 years and so far I have had no problems either with the delivery time or the condition in which my books arrived.The description of the books are helpful so are the customer's review. You only need to use your common sense when you finally decide what to purchase.



3. Beware. The other reviews for this are apparently for the paper version. This book CANNOT be used on a Kindle 2. The verb tables are microscopic and the font CANNOT be changed for the tables since they are made to fit on one page.



4. Hands down this was one of the most useful reference books I had when learning Portuguese. This book gets right down to business in probably the most challenging part of the Portuguese language - verbs. There are about 10 pages or so that make up a foreword demonstrating how to use the book with some English and Portuguese examples then it goes into the verbs. In a one page per verb format each verb is conjugated in every form and tense that you would ever need to communicate effectively. Within the 501 verbs selected are 'ar', 'er', 'ir', and even 'or' verbs that provide guidance in learning to conjugate all types, regular and irregular, along with many of the cumbersome exceptions that don't seem to follow any consistent rules for conjugation.
   
   The book is great for beginners in that you can look up many common verbs and select your form and tense. However the full benefit of the book is realized when it is used to teach you how to conjugate by example so that you will know how to conjugate verbs that are not in this book. For example, look up 3 verbs in the book ending in 'ar' and note the similarities in how their endings change with form and tense then pick an 'ar' verb out of your dictionary and apply those same endings. With practice the rules of conjugating will start to click.



5. I am studying abroad right now in Brazil. This is a great book. It has helped me so much since verbs are the most important thing in speaking a language. I love this book and carry it to class with me to study. If you want to learn Portuguese, this book is a MUST HAVE!

5 comments about Essential Portuguese Grammar (Dover Books on Language).

1. This is a good essential grammar, concise, to the point, useful information. But... there is a but... it is too biased towards Peninsular Portuguese. With a better balance between Peninsular and Brazilian Portuguese, it would have earned five stars from me.



2. What can I say? The book covers the basics well. It is good as a basic reference for beginners, but is inadequate for anyone who wants the finer points. Same problem with most books in most languages, it seems. Some older books are better.



3. Very helpful when you know portugese or english word to find word in other language. Use this book often.



4. This is by no means a complete comprehensive grammar book, but if you want to get a feel of Portuguese grammar, and you don't have a lot of time to study, then this is a good book. It explains a lot of grammar, and is especially helpful if you don't have a lot of time to study every aspect of grammar. It gives you a lot of examples. I also have Essential German Grammar, and that is very helpful for me as I learn German.



5. This book is very easy to read and very thorough. each concept is explained very simply and concise. if there is any confusion on when to use a specific grammatical forms, this book will clarify. it has everything you need to know about portuguese grammer, even the stuff that nobody ever uses. my girlfriend, who is Brazilian, uses this book to check up on certain things from time to time. Like i said, this book is for all levels of learning. although, i would imagine that some high level purists would prefer a grammar book written in Portuguese to really immerse yourself. but, the grammar is all here in this book for all levels.
   
   the book is written in english for first language english speakers. if you dont speak english very well then some of the concepts might not make sense. only grammar included, not much vocab. you will learn a lot from the examples but to really learn portugues you'd probably need another tool to help you with vocabulary. not quite sure what those tools are, but one thing i heard of is to put post-it notes on things around the house with the portuguese word. not too bad... rossetta stone may be good for you. everybody learns differently, you need to find a method that works for you.