Essential Portuguese Vocabulary for Travel

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Portuguese can look surprisingly readable on a menu or a street sign. What a nice head start!

Now, can you picture hearing it at full speed in a taxi? That's a whole other adventure. That's why it pays to arrive with a handful of Portuguese phrases for travel you've actually practiced out loud.

The phrases you'll reach for

Here's the basic Portuguese for travelers you'll use again and again:

• Getting around: Bom dia and Boa tarde (good morning, good afternoon), Onde fica...? (where is...?), Quanto custa? (how much is it?), and Obrigado or obrigada (thank you; men usually say the first, women the second).
• At the hotel and the restaurant: Tenho uma reserva (I have a reservation), A conta, por favor (the check, please) and Pode repetir, por favor? (could you repeat that, please?).
• Brazil or Portugal: some everyday words change. A bus is ônibus in Brazil and autocarro in Portugal; a cell phone is celular in Brazil and telemóvel in Portugal. Knowing which one to use saves you a few puzzled looks.

Your ear and your pronunciation

Here's the thing: beyond vocabulary, what you'll want to train most is your ear and your pronunciation. Nasal vowels, and the way syllables seem to melt away, especially in European Portuguese, grow by listening and speaking.

Cooking dinner? Put on some Portuguese music and sing the chorus. Out for a walk? Whisper the phrases from the list. Honestly, your ear gets used to it on its own.

That's where a personalized class makes the difference. A tutor brings you the variety you'll actually hear, role-plays the meeting or the hotel check-in with you and helps you polish things the moment they come up.

That's how you learn to understand and answer in real time, which is exactly what the trip will ask of you.

Before you land

If your ticket is already booked, start speaking before you land. Find your Portuguese tutor on Holapoly and book the 55-minute trial class at 50% off.

I'm off to sunbathe on a palm tree. Parrot tip: an obrigado or obrigada said with a smile opens every door.

Poly