A few months ago, after coming into a fair amount of free time after graduating college, I decided to fulfill my dream of finally learning how to speak Portuguese. In college I studied Spanish and linguistics, and completed a capstone project that compared the verb tense structures of Castilian Spanish, Galician Spanish, and modern Portuguese (exciting stuff, I know). Anyway, my obsession with languages in an academic setting has made me fascinated with the prospect of adding another language (or more) to my repertoire, and the large Brazilian population in my hometown has led to my lifelong desire to learn Portuguese.

After a good amount of researching different language learning programs, I ordered the Living Language: Brazilian Portuguese Compete Edition from Amazon and for less than $30 I received the Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced course books, nine audio CDs that correspond to the lessons in the books, and a blank notebook to use alongside the exercises in the books. So far, I'm about 2/3 of the way through the Beginner program and I feel like the Living Language program is going to take me as close to fluency as you can get without immersion. With the variety of exercises, the integration of phrases and vocabulary, and the accompanying audio I feel like I'm truly learning the language and making steady progress to being able to successfully communicate in Portuguese.

If you're looking for a language learning program that has everything you need without breaking the bank, look no further than Living Language! I definitely intend on keeping this blog updated with my exploits in language learning and generic linguistic nerdiness, so be on the look out for more language related posts!

Interested in a more in depth review? Want to hear about my foray into learning French? What languages have you always wanted to learn and what's been stopping you? Let me know in the comments!