Língua da Gente : Portuguese Language Learning Podcast

Abstract

Welcome to Língua da Gente, our series of audio podcast lessons that are produced at the University of Texas at Austin, with tremendous support from the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, the College of Liberal Arts, and COERLL, (The Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning). Língua da Gente falls under the umbrella of BrazilPod, where we find all of the other UT-sponsored materials related to the learning of Portuguese.

In Brazil, the term língua da gente (literally ‘language of the people’) refers to the way that people actually talk in everyday speech. And that, in essence, is the object behind this series. We hope to provide practical lessons that demonstrate how people really speak, and we do this by presenting brief, slice-of-life dialogs, which focus on some daily situation, scenario, or task that we encounter every day.

Each audio podcast, generally between 8-12 minutes, includes the presentation of a brief dialog, a line-by-line English translation, and more in-depth analysis of the pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and cultural content in the lesson. Discussion blogs also accompany each lesson, providing community interaction for comments and questions. In broad terms, the lessons are subdivided into three levels of difficulty: Beginning, Elementary, and Intermediate. Additionally we have a cultural show that covers current events and related social issues.

Língua da gente is designed to provide a modular approach to language learning. That is to say, Língua da gente can be used as a stand-alone study tool or it can be incorporated into regular organized courses. The materials are not bound to any specific textbook, and they serve for independent learners as well as students who are enrolled in language courses. All the lessons are completely independent one from another, and as such learners can study as many or as few as they desire. Generally we try to release three new lessons each week, with the end goal of providing hundreds of lessons, and fresh new ones all the time.