Find your voice
in European Portuguese!

My unique approach helps voiceless foreigners reach fluency in European Portuguese so they can effortlessly hold more meaningful conversations and finally feel at home in Portugal.


As an expert language coach and a polyglot whose native language is European Portuguese, I have personally mastered and simplified the art of learning my mother tongue, so that, with my full support and guidance, you can feel comfortable in Portuguese.

Do you want freedom to communicate and truly connect with the Portuguese?

Let’s not waste any more time. Take the first step today!

Write your awesome label here.

Struggling to understand "real" Portuguese?
Find your voice in European Portuguese by listening first.

When you start by training your ears to naturally spoken Portuguese, speaking is inevitable.
And that’s when you start feeling like yourself in Portugal.
fluency in European Portuguese
(“I was in my happy place. It’s in these moments that I feel you changed my life. Thank you for teaching me to speak - you opened my eyes to a new world I was not aware of”)

Find your voice
in European Portuguese!

My unique approach helps voiceless foreigners reach fluency in European Portuguese so they can effortlessly hold more meaningful conversations and finally feel at home in Portugal.


As an expert language coach and a polyglot whose native language is European Portuguese, I have personally mastered and simplified the art of learning my mother tongue, so that, with my full support and guidance, you can feel comfortable in Portuguese.

Do you want freedom to communicate and truly connect with the Portuguese?

Let’s not waste any more time. Take the first step today!

Write your awesome label here.

understanding

Is European Portuguese impossible to understand?

No. The logic is there and when explained in funny metaphors, it sticks!
Portuguese stress and the Queen of Portuguese
This Dutch Unschooler is also fluent in Spanish and could speak some Portuguese when she joined The Language Unschool.

Not to mention it can save you time and a lot of frustration:
understanding to understand spoken European Portuguese
Above all, know that not being able to understand spoken Portuguese is not your fault!
metaphors to understand spoken European Portuguese
Even wearing hearing aids won’t stop you:
understand European Portuguese even with hearing aids
I know you may not dare to speak to your doctor in Portuguese yet, but this Med student HAD to understand the doctor and patients during her internship in order to graduate. Luckily, it only took her 3 weeks of Unschooling to notice a difference:
understand your doctor in Portugal
I was a bit skeptical that the change had happened so suddenly. After double checking it with her, she confirmed:
how the Portuguese speak
Sometimes it’s about understanding what people around you are talking about. You definitely feel more part of the group, even if you can’t say much yet.
understanding conversations in Portuguese

Cinderella Portuguese

Are you doomed to staying stuck in the “Cinderella Portuguese” bubble?

You may understand your teacher, or a beginner’s super clear podcast, but when you actually step outside, real Portuguese sounds like another language.

It’s normal to hold on to what feels easy, to what seems like progress. But if it doesn’t reflect reality, is it worth your time and effort?
Cinderella Portuguese
Going to a wine tasting event is different when you understand the guide’s jokes and even manage to eavesdrop on other people’s conversations.
understanding jokes in European Portuguese and even eavesdroping on conversations
It’s as if you’re finally touching the world around you.

This amazing feeling may even start with understanding a spoken ad at the supermarket. Yes, understanding Portuguese can save you money too!
save money because you understand European Portuguese
Things start really shifting when you go from:

 “Portuguese sounds like noise” to
 “I can hear individual words here and there” to
 “I now get how words get smushed together and, after listening with the right strategies, I now hear every single word, even though each word wasn’t spoken individually or clearly.”
connected speech in European Portuguese
This Unschooler said it really nicely:

learning how to listen made it feel it was less about studying, and “more like I’m finally coming home to fluency and my Portuguese roots.”
reconnecting to your Portuguese roots via the language
Even when you don’t have Portuguese roots, but your partner does, family gatherings can be an extra struggle and a moment of seclusion instead of celebration.

What if you could go from attending Christmas in December alone in your corner not talking to anyone, to spending Easter understanding conversations around you and actually sharing a bit about your life?
conversing with family in Portugal

pronunciation

And you know what happens when you shift your focus to listening?

Your pronunciation improves because you’re paying attention to how we speak.

You finally let go of how you think words on paper should sound like and instead actually sound not only clear but, most importantly, you sound like we do.

Mind you, the shift won’t go unnoticed.

People around you will notice it and start seeing you with new eyes.

Your neighbour, the lady you see everyday at the café, the guy at the gym’s reception might not even be able to put their finger on it, but boy do you sound clear.
improved pronunciation in Portuguese because you've been listening first
Do you realize what you’ve just done? You showed you care!

That’s what listening first does.

Also, no native needs to struggle anymore trying to understand the extra vowels you were adding to your Portuguese.

The shift can even happen after a lot of pronunciation work elsewhere (because you've been listening).
better pronunciation in European Portuguese

conversations

Will you ever stop freezing when a Portuguese native speaks to you?

Yes, there is hope, I promise.

When you listen to natural Portuguese created in a way that helps you notice and integrate how we speak, you train your ears and build trust in yourself again.

Then, when you leave the house and listen to the real thing, your nervous system isn’t triggered anymore by hearing Portuguese at normal speed.
stop panicking when you hear European Portuguese

And even when you still cannot understand people, what do you do about it?

This Unschooler is putting my tips into practice. By changing his approach, people simplify what they’ve said or repeat it, which gives him another chance of trying to understand them.
deer-in-the-headlights in European Portuguese and tactics to change that

This brings up the question:

Will you ever be able to use the grammar and vocabulary you know and have conversations?

Learning more “textbook Portuguese” doesn’t guarantee you will understand native speakers.

Besides, all the hard work you’ve put in makes you feel like it was all in vain and you’re stuck to reading only Portuguese.

But if you learn to listen first, while noticing the structure of the language, magic happens!

Yes, the Portuguese are friendly, but not everyone is comfortable speaking in your language. The moment they see you’re improving, they’ll gladly support you.

This Unschooler was living in a village for 9 months before she dared to have a conversation with her neighbours.

Why?

Because, after 3 weeks since joining The Language Unschool, her listening comprehension had improved to such a point that that’s when she simply couldn’t hold her Portuguese inside of her anymore!
starting to have conversations in European Portuguese because you can understand nativesthe first conversation in European Portuguese with the neighbours
It’s the best feeling ever when you connect with people without thinking or stressing first. Or even without having an intermediary in the way like a phone.

A language allows you to speak up for a family member visiting you or conversing with a stranger for 10 minutes without stressing about grammar (your teacher wasn’t there so who cares anyway?).
a 10 minute conversation in European Portuguese while travelling throughout Portugal
After 7 years of studying and 6 weeks of Unschooling, this couple finally had a 30-minute conversation with the neighbours about architecture!
a half hour conversation in European Portuguese after 6 weeks of listening

content

Is the content boring?

I’ll dare to say in the beginning you can’t be very picky, at least until you get to a point where native content begins to be more comprehensible and then you can follow your interests.
Having said that, you still have the power of choice when it comes to the teacher who will support you.

If you vibe with their personality and sense of humour, then you’re bound to enjoy the content.
funny stories to help you understand European Portuguese
The stories and scenes in the program are relatable yet silly.

They’re true stories (or are they?) almost always with a twist.

I will surprise you with words you didn’t think you needed to learn, but in time you’ll see why they’re useful.

Learning becomes fun, even after years of trial and error, not because you’re getting high scores in random quizzes, but because:

 you finally enjoy the process,
 you’re making progress, and
 Portuguese has become part of your life, not a study session you dread.
excited to learn European Portuguese because the content is fun

oh, my memory!

Can’t remember or recall words you’ve learnt?

Since I can’t do brain surgery and fix your brain becoming old, I had to think of something else.
That something else seemed to be flipping the script from

 “I’m getting old and my memory isn’t what it used to be” to

 “I need to work out the muscle in my head to make it stronger and use the best strategies to make new info stick short- and long-term.”

This Unschooler is over 70 and dared to change the name of the first phase of my program, Portuguese Start, to “Rich Program”.

It’s ok. I know she got a lot out of it.
easy to remember words in European Portuguese after 70
One strategy we can’t ignore these days is AI. So I built a tool that helps new words stick in your long-term memory.
AI tool to help you remember words in European Portuguese

the switch

Will people ever stop switching to English?

Sometimes it’d make things easier, and certainly more comfortable, if the whole of Portugal switched to English.

But since that’s unlikely to happen, this Unschooler isn’t even a native English speaker and finally, after doing other courses, managed to go through phone calls and a doctor’s appointment fully in Portuguese.

She didn’t learn a lot more grammar with me; it was the work on listening that allowed her to speak, be understood and understand back.
managing phone calls in European Portuguese and doctor's appointments because you've been listening first
Sometimes it’s a matter of knowing how to ask for clarification without giving up too early.

It’s about what to listen out for.

The philosophical conversations about the meaning of life will come, but these first steps feel sooo good!
three phone calls in European Portuguese without switching to English

connect

Deeper connections ARE possible!

The best surprise (and reward) is when you have an unplanned 90-minute deep conversation with a woman you barely know. 
deep and long conversations are possible in European Portuguese
Even when you’re travelling on the other side of the world in Uzbekistan and you not only make a taxi drive pleasant, but also allow a woman to get emotional when retelling you all about the years she had lived in Portugal. 

All because you speak Portuguese.
speaking European Portuguese even when you're travelling far away
One story that I will never forget is that of a woman who had studied left and right, who could already speak, but who still struggled to understand.

That was not the main issue, though.

What was blocking her from truly connecting with people was her aversion to the way Portuguese sounded. Not liking the sound of a language is a major turn off, I find.

But when we worked together on unveiling how we speak it was like a new world just opened up to her.

She no longer talked about moving out of Portugal.

She was finally enjoying the life she had dreamt of living in Portugal, simply because she had learnt to listen.
finally living the dream in Portugal because you've learnt to listen and enjoy the language

Have A General Inquiry?

If you have a general inquiry and would like to speak with me directly, you can contact me via email at:
catarina@thelanguageunschool.com

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