Are you struggling to find those sounds that you hear in Portuguese words? Do you know that there are a bunch of Portuguese Sounds that you can also find in English?
Some of the sounds seem almost impossible to pronounce – but you can find them in many of the English words you already know!
1. Portuguese Words with the ‘lh’ sound in Portuguese
This sound might have you stumped. But fear not! You will be pleased to know that we have this sound in English!
However, let’s make one thing clear. The first letter is an ‘L’ not an ‘I’. I think that this is what confuses people the most. It is no wonder they find it hard to say!
Secondly the letter ‘h’ does not sound at like a litter ‘h’ in this sound.
To be able to say these words correctly we have to get that ‘lh‘ just right.
Let’s take a look at the word ‘million‘ in English. Think about how it is pronounced. It is kind of like Milyon, right? So maybe an easy Portuguese word to start with would be ‘milhão’ (mee-lyaw(n)).
Let’s try the next words! Read as you listen. Word is spoken twice. Listen and repeat.
Filho – son
Milho – corn
Bacalhau – cod fish
Melhor – better
2. Portuguese Words with the ‘nh’ sound in Portuguese
You may have seen or heard a few Portuguese words with this sound. A common word, which is often mispronounced is, ‘vinho’ (wine), now that is one you don’t want to get wrong!
So where do we have that sound in English? Interesting enough, it is found in a few words! The word ‘onion’ comes pretty close and also the word ‘news’ (said the British way, not the American way)
So let’s take a look at a few Portuguese words with that sound!
Listen and repeat! 😋
Vinho – wine
Minha – mine
Vizinho – neighbour
Conhecer – to meet / to know
Key to Success
So you can see that these sounds do exist in English and it was just a question of Sourcing them! These are the key to language learning.
My Portuguese language courses focus more on listening and imitating. The reason for this is because that is how I learned. My pronunciation is also pretty good and I am often mistaken for a native speaker!
Take a look at the Portuguese courses in the link below – which are based on the method I used when learning Portuguese! Browse through the courses and find the course for you!
Start learning Portuguese today!! In six weeks time you could be speaking like a native!
Do you know how to pronounce the Portuguese word ‘está’? Take a look at this article. How to pronounce ‘está’ correctly!
For more pronunciation tips and lessons take a look at the YouTube channel!
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me: portugueseinsixweeks@gmail.com