Portuguese language question

I believe the double r is a rolling tongue like in Spanish. Google translate has an audio option. Type in Car for English, translate to Spanish, and then click the speaker icon to hear it.
Also, unless you are buying an expensive car, the people are bound to get the gist of your speeh ;-)
I haven't used it for a while, but there is a website Transparent Language that will send you a Word of the Day for whatever language you want - free. It also will speak the word for you.
I do believe that listening to a language is the best help to familiarize yourself with a language. If your library has it, sign out Portuguese language audio options - cd's or mp3 downloads.

Hi Teresa, I recently learned a trick using Google that helps with pronounciations. If you Google "caro in Portuguese", you will see a symbol for sound in the top-right corner. Click on it (make sure volume is up) and you will hear the pronunciation. The difference between caro and carro is very subtle. To me it sounds like the rr in the word word carro is pronounced like the r in "merci" in French.

It’s a matter of emphasis on the consonants.
It doesn’t only apply to R and double RR but all consonants. Unfortunately in the English language that slight difference is hard to discern but it exists. For example think of of the following examples in English. The first word in each pair has a double RR that sounds different (more emphasized) from the single R in the second word. In Neo Latin languages that emphasis on the double consonant is even more pronounced and discernible.

ARREST
A REST
Or
ARRIVE
ARISE
Or
ARROGANT
AROMATIC
Or
IRRATIONAL
IRANIAN
Or
ARRANGE
A RANGE
Or
BORROW
BOROUGH
Or
CORRAL
CORAL

I took private Português lessons for almost two years after moving here and admit it took me about six months to be able to say the Portuguese ‘r’ even close to correct. If you are American, I would be surprised (and jealous) if you can learn it on your own.

The good news - if you are doing the RS tour, you will be almost totally in tourist areas where the vast majority of the people speak English. Learn as much as you can to show respect to the Portuguese people, but don’t worry about having exact pronunciation.
Even now, when I speak in my, still limited, Português, 99% of the people with whom I interact start speaking English.

I have been speaking Portuguese for over 30 years, and in this instance caro would sound like “car-doo” (with the tongue roll and emphasis on “car”) and the carro would sound like “car-who”. The emphasis is again on the first part, “car”.

The big thing to understand is spoken Portuguese in the Azores differs from the mainland, and actually differs from island to island and even village to village. This may seem odd, but trust me, it is. I can generally tell where a person is from (Azores, mainland, or Brazil), but not which village which would be impossible), including Brazil, after a few sentences. It will not be an issue for you by not speaking Portuguese. Try to learn a few words of greeting (bom dia, boa tarde, boa noite) and thank you (obrigada) and you will be treated well and complimented with your effort.

Hope you have a wonderful trip!

Thanks, all. I know I don't have to be completely perfect and will probably have an atrocious accent, but I always remember Colin Firth's story about the important pronunciation difference between 'pene' and 'penne' and how he learned he'd been ordering 'angry penis' instead of pasta in Italian restaurants for years. :D

Teresa,

As someone else suggested, this might work for you - https://www.duolingo.com/course/pt/en/Learn-Portuguese . Another option you could try is Babbel although I believe that's a subscription service.

You might be able to find Pimsleur or other courses at your local library that will get you up to speed with the basics. Pimsleur worked well for me with Italian. It won't provide fluency by any means but you'll be comfortable with the usual greetings and basics.

Of all the "romance languages", I find Portugese the most difficult one to both understand and speak.

Good luck!

Duo Lingo is a fee app that might help you understand pronounciation and a few key words.

Memrise.com has EUROPEAN Portuguese language courses.
Free.
Good enough to get started and they are EUROPEAN and not BRAZILIAN.
I paid for Pro and did 170 hours for fun in preparation for a 3 week vacation in Portugal.
Was disappointed to find that everyone in Portugal speaks English.

Well... I've never thought of that!

If you intend to learn some portuguese be sure you're learning portuguese from Portugal. And even in mainland we have different accents.

We understand brazilians very well because we listen their music and see their soaps on tv. They do not understand portuguese at all. Although it's the same language.

When something happens in Azores (Açores) ans it's on the news on tv, we use subtiles otherwise it's impossible to understand. And with Madeira it's also a litle bit difficult.

Some words in Portuguese are difficult! Perhaps you can find something on a sport channel where you can hear the name of the portuguese soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo. The r in the word Cristiano is pronounced as a single r in the midlle of a word, the r in the word Ronaldo is pronounced as rr.

But wait until you have to pronounce nh, like in the word "apanha" (pick up), lh like in the word alho (garlic), ão and there is a very good one for this, it's the name of the market in Porto and also of some streets and of the metro stop: Bolhão - you have lh followed by ão (bolhão means big bubble but no one uses the word).

As the others said, you will not have any kind of trouble if you don't speack/understand portuguese. People under 50 learned english at school (it is mandatory), so at least you will be able to make yourself understood.

Helena

I'm relatively competent at learning to read and write European languages, and I'm not bad at oral comprehension. Speaking is an entirely different matter. There I struggle, simply not hearing some important differences. For example, I don't hear any difference between the pronuncuations of the "r's" in the word pairs in Roberto's very lucid explanation. No wonder my pronunciation is bad!

acraven, I do! Concerning Roberto's example I pronouce the words differently! Although neither of them looks like when I pronouce the r or rr in portuguese. So, I think I pronounce it wrongly. Anyway, to have the pronounce, you must listen. But I think the sound of the rr is very much understandable in the word REVENGE if you say it with anger.

R at the beggining of a word sound like rr at the midle of a word. Made with throaten. The single r in the midle of a word is made with your tongue.