UniLang

Hi, everybody. Lately I've been learning Portuguese with the Assimil book. I've already fisnished the book, and I think that I have no problem understanding written Portuguese. About the oral understanding, I've been in Portugal many times and I think that I can grasp the meaning of the conversation when I get used to the accent. So far I never had any problem of understanding, because either I understand their Portuguese, or either they understand my Spanish.

But now I want to enroll in a course of Portuguese. I was thinking that maybe after a placement test, I could aim for a second level, since I think that this is not like taking Japanese from scratch. But in the language academy they have said to me that the placement level will be only an oral test, that is a conversation with the teacher, and that he is from Brasil.

I'm scared all of a sudden. I have no practise at all in talking in Portuguese .Do you think that I should try the test or that I will make a fool of myself? I'm scared about the accent, I don't know if I'm capable of doing it well. I mean, I think that when I try to speak in Portuguese I sound like a Spanish (we don't have any accent here, we sound very serious and formal when speaking).

And moreover, he is from Brasil. I think their accent is even stronger than in Portugal : Any Portuguese here or people from Brasil who could advise me? Should I try the oral level test and aim for a second level, or should I start from scratch?

If you speak Spanish natively and have already finished the Assimil course, why would you start from scratch?

If you want, you can record a small text and I can review it for you. Also, I didn't quite understand from your text, but if you're aiming for European Portuguese, then that course might teach you things that are quite different from what you've learned before...

Thank you for your answer (obrigada ). It makes me feel more confident. You're right, I should try the oral test. But first I have to practise with the accent "by myself" in order to get used, and I will see how it goes. And thank you for your offer of reviewing my recording, but first I have to "work" a litlle more on my accent

You seem to be a perfectionist!
But if you keep on waiting until you have a perfect accent, you'll end up never actually speaking the language. So don't worry too much, it's not as if anyone is going to laugh at you, we're quite used to hearing foreigners and different accents.