Rui and Joel talk about their experiences and personal preferences when it comes to camping in Portugal.   *A note to clarify the difference between pilha and bateria: pilhas: Usually smaller/simpler batteries like AA, AAA, 9V, or coin-shaped batteries. Used in things like remote controls, watches, flashlights, toys, etc. May or may not be rechargeable. baterias: Usually larger, more complex batteries. Used for more sophisticated devices that need consistent/higher power, such as laptops, smartphones, smartwatches, digital cameras, electric vehicles, portable power tools, external power sources, etc. Almost always rechargeable.

Damiana and Joel discuss the 2024 Olympics!

Do you prefer dining out or ordering in? Join us for a conversation about food, drinks, and dining in Portugal, with a special appearance from Rui's mom who shares a story about the ultimate Portuguese food faux pas.

Is Portugal really the best destination for tourism? Find out what the country has to offer and listen to what the experts think. Would you agree?

Listen to this dialogue about the 25th of April, a Portuguese national holiday commemorating the Carnation Revolution.

Have you tasted Lisbon's most famous sweet? Discover the history of the pastéis de Belém and find out if there really is a difference between this and the pastel de nata. Updated March 5 2015, special notice for members: Previously released as audio only, this classic episode has been brought to life with beautiful visuals by animator (and friend of Practice Portuguese), Wayne! A BIG thanks to Wayne for his countless hours of work in reimagining this classic Practice Portuguese episode. Enjoy!

Joel's back, "eh"! He reveals his level of Portuguese after six months of living in Portugal. Find the mistakes and leave a comment!

Improve your Portuguese by listening to native speakers! Use our videos and try the version with subtitles. In this episode, Rui wants to go to the movies, so he calls two friends. What will they decide?

Half Jesus, half chocolate! Portugal and its Easter traditions, in a video with subtitles so you can practice at your own pace.

In this episode we ask someone special to help us with marketing! Can you guess who it is? Try it with subtitles

As we promised, an episode with an article read at two speeds. Enjoy!

The first episode with dialogue only! Rui calls Avó Odete and Luís about the Oscars. You can subscribe now to access all the written content!

From now on, nothing will ever be the same...

Buckle up and join Joel and Rui for a conversation about car preferences and driving experiences. Check out our Driving unit for even more European Portuguese vocabulary and expressions related to cars and driving!

Don't miss this episode... we have a very special guest!

We present the second episode! The topics are: Síndrome do Sotaque Estrangeiro Como Sobreviver Muitas Horas no Avião We hope you enjoy it!

The video is free for everyone to watch, plus our supporting Members get access to a special version with subtitles for improving comprehension. ~~~ The articles in this first episode are: Fotografar Comida em Restaurantes O Sono e O Álcool We are proud to present the first of many episodes of the Practice Portuguese Podcast. We have many projects planned for European / Continental Portuguese learners, and is just the beginning. If you enjoyed this podcast, we would be very grateful if you would share a review in the iTunes Store. It will help spread the word and inspire us to continue making new episodes. Aproveita! iTunes Store description: Practice Portuguese is for the European Portuguese learner who wants to take the next step towards improving their listening and speaking skills. Don't worry if you can't understand everything at first. Just keep listening and your comprehension will improve with each episode. A melhor forma de aprender uma língua é ser exposto a diálogos da vida real com pessoas nativas dessa língua. Practice Portuguese é para estudantes de português europeu que procuram dar o próximo passo em conversação e compreensão oral.

Estamos de volta! Returning to the roots of where this all started back in 2013, Rui and Joel are reviving our flagship Podcast! Although we’re releasing video episodes, we’ll also keep our audio-only listeners in mind, so you can subscribe to our podcast feed in your favourite app and listen while on-the-go. In this episode, we dive into the art of gift-giving – all in European Portuguese, claro! We also discuss our favourite gifts to receive, and strategies for offering them to others. Thanks for being with us, and for encouraging us to return to this Podcast format. We’ve missed you too!

We didn’t know what to talk about, so Practice Portuguese team member, Molly, gave us a list of questions to answer! Topics include: pet peeves, where else in the world we’d live, binge-watching habits, favourite cuisine, biggest fears and much more! We also reveal some behind-the-scenes news of what the Practice Portuguese team has been up to these past few months.

Did you know the verb “dar” has at least 60 different meanings in Portuguese? 😱 The simplest translation is “to give”, but it also has many idiomatic meanings, which depend on the context. Today, Joel and Rui take a deep dive into “dar”, with some help from one of our Shorty episodes: Dar Uma Mãozinha. Joel also shows off his own study routine for vocabulary building, using Practice Portuguese’s latest “Smart Review” enhancements.

Are Rui and Joel still alive?! After many busy months, we're back to talk about everything that we've been up to, and what's next for Practice Portuguese in 2022. Special thanks to borderland.pt (@borderland.photo) for the fantastic job on our neon logo!

2021 has already been off to a busy start! Rui & Joel update you on everything that's going on, in Portuguese: • Rui & Joel get COVID swabs jammed up their noses… for TV • Rui quits something and joins something else within the same week (Huh?) • Our mobile app is on the way! • Appearances from Clara and Avó Odete

Have you been to the dentist lately? In this first-ever video podcast, we feature one of our latest Shorties and discuss useful vocabulary all about… teeth! While recording, we're interrupted by some personal text messages that we reveal and deconstruct for your learning pleasure!

We all have moments where we need some colourful language to express ourselves. (No, we're not talking about swear words, that's for another episode). Today we go through the whole colour spectrum while featuring the Shorty, "Um Lindo Bebé". Do you know how to say your favourite colour in Portuguese?

Featured Shorty: "Diário de uma Quarent(o)ena II." A lot has happened, to say the least, since we last recorded a podcast episode! We start out by challenging your comprehension with casual Portuguese conversation to get you up to speed on what's been happening with us personally as well as in the world... since we know we are definitely your primary resource for all things COVID-19! We spend the rest of the episode tweaking the pronunciation of our brave listeners who once again contributed their recordings. (Obrigado!) We review the pronunciation of the different R, S, E, and O sounds, perfecting the cadence and flow of Portuguese sentences… plus, you'll discover a word that even Rui has trouble pronouncing!

Rui and Joel discuss the cultural differences in conversation styles between Portugal and North America. Help them resolve their “argument” so that they don’t have to go to couples therapy. 😜

In this episode, we once again analyze record audio clips from our brave listeners! We listen to the Shorty, "À Busca de Doces", and explore how to make your Portuguese sound more native with pronunciation subtleties and word choice. We also clarify some other challenging concepts, such as the differences between "aí, ali, & lá".

Today, the tables have turned, because YOU, (our listeners) are the main voices of this special episode! European Portuguese learners from around the world bravely submitted recordings of themselves reading our featured Shorty, "Um Encontro". We listen to each one, while suggesting subtle improvements for perfecting their pronunciation, including some challenging vowel sounds, and rules of the letter "S", and more. A BIG "thank you" to everyone who bravely submitted their recordings. Let us know if you enjoy this and we'll do more of this in future episodes! (Learn more about the pronunciation of the letter "S" here: The Letters "S" and "C")

'Tis the season… to spread misinformation about the origins of Christmas and Santa Claus! In this special holiday episode, Rui and Joel explore the food and other traditions of Christmas in Portugal, while featuring one of our latest Shorties, "a Consoada". Boas festas a todos! 🎄

Dona Amélia, an old-fashioned woman who only believes in natural remedies, pays a visit to the pharmacy. Will the pharmacist be able to help her, despite her hearing difficulties?

Cláudio and Joana are a Portuguese couple who decide to take a trip to Tomar in a rental car. When it comes to driving, they can't seem to agree on anything. Will they make it to their destination without driving each other crazy?

In this episode, we deconstruct one of our latest "Shorties". We go through some useful food vocabulary, discuss verb and tense choices, and Rui irons out Joel and Molly's "estrangeiro" pronunciation! There's also some exciting news about Practice Portuguese, especially for those of you who might be in the Algarve next weekend.

Dona Gertrudes, a retired 65-year-old woman, has just a received a surprisingly large bill from her gas company. Upset and nervous, she attempts to sort the matter out on the phone.

Monica has just moved to an apartment in the Historic Center of Porto. She meets her neighbour Eduardo who tries to impose some unexpected rules. Will she be able to deal with these strict requirements?

To prepare for an upcoming birthday party that they'll be hosting, a modern grandma and her jokester husband stock up on groceries at the local supermarket. While taking advantage of every promotion they can, will they actually remember to pick up everything they went there for in the first place?

Eduarda, the mechanic, deals with a customer who thinks he knows exactly what's wrong with his car… when in fact, the biggest problem might just be the driver! (Special guest: Eliana Silva)

Joel and Rui discuss some of Joel’s views on adapting to life in Portugal, from the lack of “real salads” to the differences in work culture.

While making her way through her lengthy shopping list (containing useful food vocabulary, of course), Sra. Rosa shares her elderly wisdom with a young employee who is eager to help. Special Guest: Eliana Silva

This holiday season, a Practice Portuguese TV reporter takes to the streets to hear directly from Portuguese natives about their family Christmas traditions… until a particularly talkative woman steals the show!

With the holiday season approaching, Rui and Joel announce a special early gift for members of Practice Portuguese! Listen and find out exactly what is on "the Way"… Updated December 1, 2018: It's launched!

Salvador and Mariana (– no, Adriana! –) visit a hair salon to freshen up their looks, but quickly find themselves in a hairy situation! In this episode, you'll learn lots of new vocabulary and expressions that should come in handy the next time you find yourself going under the scissors…

Today we revisit Diálogo 29 to discuss some of the vocabulary and expressions surrounding the Portuguese housing market. There's also an extra listening challenge waiting for you in the second half, so stick around!

In this episode, we explore the Portuguese apartment rental market with James, a young adult of Portuguese descent looking for a new place. To find some leads, he recruits the help of his friend, Luís. However, Luís happens to be going through a bit of drama with his ex-girlfriend, so let's see if he's able to be of any help…

After listening to our last podcast on foreign words derived from Portuguese, a Japanese member, Ryoko, came to our rescue with recordings of every Japanese word we mentioned, plus a bunch of new ones for good measure. Join us as we explore surprising similarities between Japanese and Portuguese in this bonus episode! ("Arigato" once again to Ryoko Kawaoka for her generous time in preparing the list and recordings for this episode!)

In this unscripted dialogue between Rui and Joel, we discover words in English, Spanish, French and Japanese that apparently derived from Portuguese vocabulary… Come for the comprehension practice, stay for the butchered non-Portuguese pronunciations!

Hoping for a calm, vegetarian dining experience at a local Portuguese restaurant, Sr. John gets thrown off guard by unprofessional service and a problem with his order! Find out how he deals with these challenges, and learn lots of vocabulary and expressions to use the next time you're dining out.

"Ronaldo" is one of the first names that pop up when discussing Portugal, wherever you are in the world. Regarded as one of the most important football/soccer players of all time, he's earned his place as not only a top Portuguese celebrity, but also as an important symbol of the country. Neither Rui nor Joel are fans of the ol' sportsball, which made exploring the new vocabulary and expressions even more interesting! (Cue the hate mail, "futebol" purists!).

Joel talks about career choices and adapting to life in Portugal. (Listeners: Rui & Joel are outside filming, so the sound in the background is a nearby water feature.)

Today we learn about one of the most important symbols of Portuguese culture, found all over the walls and buildings throughout the country – azulejos (tiles). As always, we explore new vocabulary and grammar, and correct more of Joel's "pronúncia de estrangeiro!"