One-on-One Portuguese Lessons via Video Meetings – Packages

Yes, absolutely! All of Street Smart Brazil’s language instructors are native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese, born and raised in Brazil. Additionally, our instructors are fluent in English and college educated. They have professional experience in Brazil and abroad, and are trained with the Street Smart Brazil approach to deliver an excellent learning experience. They are also very friendly and passionate about sharing our language and culture. Meet our instructors here. 

Our webcam lessons are as effective as lessons in person. You meet with your instructor real-time, face to face, in a video-conference. You will be totally engaged with your instructor. We use Skype or Google Hangouts with video. Both are free. You can see and hear your instructor just as if she were sitting across from you. You will receive your class materials ahead of time via email. You can print them or have them on your screen during your lesson. And we use the chat screen as our white board. We invite you to book a trial session to see for yourself how well it works.

You can take classes whenever you have time to fit them in your schedule. When you choose one-on-one lessons, you can set your pace. With that said, consistency and practice are key to learning and developing fluency. We recommend starting with at least 1 hour per week. Practicing regularly between meetings will speed up the learning process.

If you are getting ready to take the Celpe-Bras exam, how often you take classes will depend on how soon your test is and how advanced your Portuguese is.

Learning a language is challenging, but Portuguese is not particularly difficult. The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) of the US Department of State says Portuguese is among the easiest languages to learn, side by side with Spanish. Their scale of difficulty is based on the length of time it typically takes to achieve General Professional Proficiency in speaking and reading. You can learn more about this here.

Other articles that share this point of view that Portuguese is a very learnable language:

• Seven Easiest Languages to Learn for English Speakers<
• 9 Easy Languages for English Speakers
• How To: Use Your Spanish to Learn Portuguese

We encourage you to try for yourself!

No, there is no registration fee and no charge for class materials. You just pay for your lessons.

The quality and variety of class materials that we use cannot be found in any other Portuguese language course. We use our exclusive original content workbook in combination with materials from textbooks, the web, and other resources. There is no additional charge for the materials. We believe that you will learn better by using a variety of learning tools.

With that said, if you are interested in buying a book, we have a review of the best books to learn Portuguese on our website. You will also find a list of additional materials including books, movies, and CDs at our Amazon Store.

Yes, you will always have study materials and homework. The more you practice between sessions, the faster your Portuguese will advance. With that said, we understand that many of our clients are very busy. How much homework you will do between sessions is a personal decision. We are here to help. If you cannot do any homework, your instructor will work with you through the exercises during your sessions. That is perfectly fine too.

There are differences in pronunciation and grammar between Brazilian Portuguese and Continental Portuguese. The main difference is in pronunciation. Imagine a foreigner learning English in the US and then traveling to England or Australia. This person will need to adjust to how the language sounds in the new country. The same is true for Brazilian and European Portuguese.

For additional insight into this issue, we recommend reading the blog posts below. They were written by an American who learned Brazilian Portuguese and then moved to Portugal:

• Portuguese Life – Differences Between Brazilian and Continental Portuguese
• Pray for My Portuguese
• Portuguese Life – Part 2

The best way to choose which language you should learn is by considering who you will be communicating with when using the language. If you will be communicating with Brazilians, then Brazilian Portuguese would be the best option.

For one-on-one lessons, you need to inform us of any cancelations or changes in schedule at least 48 hours before your class. This is because last-minute notices do not allow us to fill the time slot saved for you. Please call or send a text message directly to your instructor if you need to cancel or change a class. More advance notice is appreciated. Our business hours are Monday-Friday 9:00am – 5:00pm Pacific.

Lessons canceled without a 48-hour advance notice will be charged. No-shows will be charged.

When you cancel a lesson with 48-hour notice you have a nonrefundable credit for a makeup class. Credits are valid for 45 days from the original date of the cancelled lesson. After 45 days credits will be forfeited. This applies to all payment plans.