Brazil (Brasil) 
I'll post the lessons here. Questions and answers of the exercises should be posted here, leaving more advanced topics to the Portuguese discussion group. Here we start our introductory lesson, on the alphabet and pronunciation.
(I’ll be using SAMPA for phonetic transcriptions in this course)O alfabeto e pronúncia portuguesa
(The alphabet and the Portuguese pronunciation)
Portuguese orthography certainly doesn’t figure among the most regular ones, but you don't need to worry about it, for I'll be using SAMPA untill you feel like you've used to it.
Vowels:
A - [a]
Ex: casa (house) = [‘ka.z@]
à - [ã]
Ex: maçã (apple) = [ma’sã]
E - [E] , [e] or /i/ (unstressed)
Ex: perto (near) = [‘pEx.tU] queimar (to burn) = [cej’max] come (eats) = [‘ko.mi]
É - [E]
Ex: é (is) = [E]
I - /i/
Ex: cinco (five) = [‘si~.kU]
O - [o] , [O] or /U/ (unstressed)
Ex: oito (eight) = [‘oj.tU] nove (nine) = [‘nOvi] como (how) = [‘ko.mu]
Ó - [O]
Ex: jóia (jewel) = [‘ZOj@]
U - /u/ , /U/ (unstressed)
Ex: duas (two fm) = [‘du.@s]
Note on the diacritics: they are: acute (á), tile (ã) and circumflex (â) (the fourth one, the grave (à) won't be discussed by now):Acute (á): always marks stressed syllable. It also changes “o” and “e” into /O/ and /E/ respectively. It can happen above any vowel.
Tile (ã): can only be placed above “a” and "o" to mark nasalization. It doesn't necessarily mark stress.
Circumflex (â) always marks stressed syllable and when happens above “a”, “e” and “o”, it informs that they should be pronounced /ã/ , /e/ and /o/ respectively.
Some Diphtongs (don't get scared if they seem too many, notice that they are very regular):
Ai = [aj]
Pai = father [paj]
Au = [aw]
Mau = bad [maw]
Éi = [Ej]
Coronéis = coronels [ko.ro’nEjs]
Ei = [ej]
Lei = law [lej]
Éu = [Ew]
Chapéu = hat [Sa’pEw]
Eu = [ew]
Leu = he read [lew]
Iu = [iw]
Viu = he saw [viw]
Ói = [Oj]
Herói = hero [e’rOj]
Oi = [oj]
Foi = he went [foj]
Ou = [ow]
Vou = I’ll go [vow]
Ui = [uj]
Fui = I went [fuj]
Ãe = [3~j]
Mãe = mother [m3~j]
Ão = [3~w]
Pão = bread [p3~w]
Em = [e~j]
Bem = well [be~j]
Õe = [õj]
Põe = puts [põj]
Ea = [ja]
Área = area [’arja]
Ua = [wa]
Água = water [‘agw@]
Oe = [we]
Coelho = rabbit [‘kweLU]
Ian = [j3~]
Criança = child [kri’3~s@]
Note: all vowels are nasalized when followed by a nasal consonant:Antes = ['ã.tSis] (before)
Entre = ['e~tri] (between)
Banho = ['bã.JU] (shower), etc.
Consonants:
All consonants that are not cited here have the same pronunciation as in English:
C - [s] before /e/, /i/ [k] otherwise
Ç - [s] can’t happen before ‘e’ or ‘i’
D - [dZ] before /i/, [d] otherwise
G - [Z] before /e/, /i/ [g] otherwise
H - no sound
J - [Z]
Q - only happens followed by ‘u’ | qua = [kwa], quo = [kwo] etc
R - [h] at the beginning of a word, [r] between vowels, [G] after ‘n’, [x] before a voiceless consonant.
Rr - [h]
S - [s] at the beginning or the end of a word, [z] between vowels or followed by a voiced consonant
Ss - [s]
T - [tS] before /i/, [t] otherwise
X - this can be a very irregular letter, see omniglot for further details (no need to worry though, since it doesn't crop up that often).
Nh = [J], like Spanish “ñ”
Lh = [L], like Spanish “ll”
Ch = [S], like English "sh"
Note: the letters K, W and Y don’t exist in Portuguese alphabet and are only used in foreign words.I’ll post the first lesson soon. By now, just try to get used to the pronounciation.
United States (United States) 
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Serbia (Србија) 
