10 Songs Every Portuguese Learner Needs

Porto, Portugal

If you’re anything like me, you’ll spend a good portion of your day listening to music, whether it’s while you work, while you walk or while you wait around.

So why not turn your downtime into learning time?

Listening to music in your target language is one of the best ways to surround yourself with the sounds of the language without ever needing to jump on a plane.

So, following in the footsteps of 10 Songs to Fast Track Your French, here are 10 songs in Portuguese to keep your language sharp over the holiday break!

How Music Helps You Learn A Language

When you learn a language by ear, you go through three different stages:

Stage 1: Capacity (Hearing & Pronunciation)
Stage 2: Conversation (Speaking & Understanding)
Stage 3: Command (Reading and Writing)

Listening to music in your target language means not only are you practicing your capacity for hearing and pronunciation, but you’re also (when you sing it back) practicing your spoken command as well.

The first time you listen to a song, don’t worry so much about the lyrics. The second or third time you listen, start to try and sing along.

The best thing you can do with songs is trying to ‘flowverlap’ – which is where you record yourself singing alongside them and try and match the syllables exactly. Don’t worry if you’re not a great singer – that’s not important!

What’s important is that you’re mimicking the sounds correctly.