#other friends have also given me the actual files or multiple versions like transparent ones to make graphics with

[firstenchanterorsino]

Commissioning your artist friends is the best because you are supporting your friend, you're both being happy over this thing, and you usually get to do more things with the commission you very likely wouldn't get from an artist you don't know

[ellie-mnop]

Hey! Sorry if this is bothering you or anything but I was wondering how you are learning? And if it’s online do you mind linking me to some?🙏🏻

Hi! I’m using several different tools and methods and resources to learn! I’m not sure whether you mean for Portuguese in particular or if you are looking for stuff that can be applied to other languages you’re trying to learn, so I’ll give you everything I have!

Grammar/Guided Practice:

Duolingo: This is the first thing I started using. Most people have heard of it already. It teaches grammatical concepts along with vocabulary and stuff, in a sequence made up of various themes, and the “Clubs” feature provides more open ended questions to practice writing skills. It doesn’t provide much in the way of explanations of new concepts, but every sentence has a comments section where you can ask questions and look at explanations other users have written. It doesn’t have speaking practice for Portuguese, although I think I have heard that it does for other languages, or used to, or something. https://www.duolingo.com/

LingoDeer: This is one I just started using and I’m really enjoying it. It works in a way that’s similar to Duolingo, although it provides more actual explanations of things instead of hoping for you to figure it out yourself, which is nice. It also has speaking exercises, which you record and play back to compare your pronunciation to an official example, which I find really helpful. It was designed with Asian languages in mind, and the website hasn’t been updated to point out that they very recently added betas of some other languages, but don’t worry, Portuguese is available. The activities are more interesting than those on Duolingo, but the sentences are less so, and there are no comments sections. https://www.lingodeer.com/

VerbSquirt: I installed this app because I needed more practice with verb conjugations than Duolingo was giving me. You choose the category and tense you want to practice, and it gives you some verbs, and you conjugate them as fast as you can from a multiple-choice list. You get more points for going faster. I don’t usually like or do well with games that rely on going as fast as you can, but I’m okay with this one because nothing bad happens if you don’t get a high score. It also teaches you the meanings of the verbs you’re working with, so it’s an alright way to get a little extra vocabulary too. The paid version is the same but with more words available. I think it’s based on European Portuguese (it includes conjugations for “tu” and its icon resembles Portugual’s flag) but I haven’t been confused by it even though the rest of the resources I’m using are Brazilian. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.jandaya.vrbsqrtenptfree&hl=en_US

Conjuga-me: This one is not an app for practicing anything, but I’m putting it in this category anyway because it’s still grammar. You put in a verb, and it shows you all of the conjugations in all of the tenses, and emphasizes, through text color, which forms are irregular or use special spelling rules. It helps, if you’re not sure about a conjugation you need and want to look it up. http://www.conjuga-me.net/

Explanations and Information:

Transparent Portuguese and Street Smart Brazil: These are two different websites, but I’m listing them together because they way I use them is very similar. They are blogs with interesting articles about various aspects of the language, such as grammar concepts, the usage of certain words, regional variations, or cultural concepts. They also have various resources to practice. For example, Transparent regularly posts articles to listen to and read, and sometimes posts songs with explanations of the lyrics, and Street Smart Brazil does articles with links to things, like movies in Portuguese on Netflix. Transparent has a Word of the Day every day, too, which is neat, and Street Smart has a YouTube channel. https://blogs.transparent.com/portuguese/ and https://streetsmartbrazil.com/blog/

I also sometimes use explanations of things on YouTube, but I mostly find those individually, I can’t think of any channels to recommend or anything.

Vocabulary and Dictionaries:

Reverso Context: This is a very helpful resource to look up words, because when it gives you a word, it also gives you a whole bunch of examples of that word used in various sentences. That way, you can see if the word has the connotation you want, what prepositions are used with it, and so on. http://context.reverso.net/translation/

Wiktionary: This one can be a little unwieldy to use, because all of the pages have so much information, but it’s very helpful. The lists of translations that are on the page of any given English word specify which definition they are translating, so that if a word has multiple meanings, you can find the one you want, and it has pronunciations in audio and IPA. (I can’t read IPA, but it’s helpful in finding out more about a particular sound I’m having trouble with.) https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Main_Page

Wikipedia: Specifically, the menu on the top or side of any Wikipedia article that allows you to view the version of an article in any language it has been written in. The title will be translated too, and so you can find out what that concept is called in the language you select. This is helpful for finding translations of titles or multi-word terms that might not be translated word-for-word, like “data storage” or “The Land Before Time”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

TinyCards: This has all of the vocabulary lists from DuoLingo, if you’re looking for a way to practice the vocabulary you learn from there. It’s just a flashcard app, but it’s a pretty nice one, I like it. https://tinycards.duolingo.com/en

Talking To Native Speakers:

HelloTalk: Initially, when I had questions about what I was learning, I asked my friend Sofia, because she is a native speaker and offered to help and stuff. Unfortunately, I cannot send you a link to install her. However, the next thing I did to find more people to talk to was install a language exchange app, where the point of it is to talk to people who already speak the language you are trying to learn, and who are trying to learn a language you already speak. There are many such apps, and I mostly just installed HelloTalk because it was the first one I heard about, but I like it a lot. I have met several lovely people there, and it’s easy to find people to talk to – I actually get more messages than I can answer. https://www.hellotalk.com/

Media And Content To Practice With:

Radiooooo: Useful for finding songs to listen to. I use it by choosing a country that speaks Portuguese, and a decade with a style I enjoy. Then, when it gives me a song I really like, I screenshot the title and artist so that I can find it again to add to a playlist or use other ways. Doesn’t work on Firefox. http://radiooooo.com/

Letras.com: A lyrics website, useful in conjunction with Radiooooo or with any other method of finding songs. Looking at the lyrics while listening to the songs helps with focusing on the words, and with building reading and listening skills together. https://www.letras.com/

Turma da Mônica: Comics are a nice way to practice reading, because the pictures help with figuring out what’s going on and confirming your understanding of what they text says. These comics are pretty cool and cute, and there are a lot of them. The ones at the link are free online on the official website, and there are also many that have been published in print if you can get those somehow. http://turmadamonica.uol.com.br/quadrinhos/

Games: I went through and checked the menus of the games on my phone and the store pages of the ones in my Steam library, to find out which ones I could play in Portuguese, and I recommend doing that, to find choices that correspond to your taste in games. Some of the ones I found include Battle for Wesnoth (a partial translation, you have to edit your preferences file to get it), Bridge Constructor, Game Dev Tycoon, Knights of Pen and Paper (this one was developed in Brazil, actually), Stardew Valley, Terraria, and on the phone Galaga Wars, and My Tamagotchi Forever. I haven’t tested all of them yet.

YouTube: I don’t have an overarching method or anything of finding YouTube videos to practice with, I just put in search terms that sound interesting in Portuguese. I’ve watched news clips, interviews, sing-along videos of kids’ songs, videos about Pokemon, videos where kids try different foods, all sorts of things. I don’t understand most of what I watch yet, but I repeat the videos however many times I need to try to catch what I can.

I’m sure I’m forgetting some things, but this is most of what I use and do.