Need Podcasts To Learn Portuguese? These Are My Favorites

Podcasts are a great tool for Portuguese learners, as they offer invaluable listening practice that you might otherwise miss with books and apps.

Many of them also delve into cultural aspects, offering you a valuable insight into the Portuguese-speaking world.

It can be a mission to find the highest quality podcasts for Portuguese, so I’ve put together a handy list of the best podcasts for learning the language (my personal favorites).

Best podcasts to learn Portuguese 🇵🇹 🇧🇷

Portuguese Lab

For beginners who want to learn European Portuguese, this podcast is perfect.

I especially like this podcast because the host, Susana Morais, has a lovely clear voice.

She teaches grammatical structures slowly and comprehensibly, which is critical for beginners as they’re just starting to grasp the language.

Morais switches between English and Portuguese, so listeners can hear the language in context from a native speaker, but also understand what’s going on.

Portuguese Lab covers everything from basic verb tenses to common mistakes to pronunciation.

Some episodes even cover essential phrases for use in everyday scenarios.

Plus, there are short stories and dialogues for once you start feeling a little more confident in your listening abilities.

Todo Mundo Pod

The Todo Mundo Pod is designed specifically with language learners in mind, so it’s extremely useful if you’re a beginner.

It’s full of valuable tips and guidance that cover all aspects of the Brazilian Portuguese language and culture, which creates an immersive and enriching listening experience.

This podcast will teach you things that others won’t, providing you with an insight into the workings of life in Brazil.

Although the podcast is completely free, there is a paid option which gives you access to the transcripts of each podcast, so you can download them and follow along as you listen.

Their website also contains useful information that supplements each episode.

The downside is that European Portuguese is absent in the Todo Mundo Pod.

Students who want to learn this variant are perhaps better-off with another podcast in this list.

Learn Brazilian Portuguese - LinguaBoost

LinguaBoost’s podcast for Portuguese students is a quick and easy way to pick up Brazilian Portuguese.

Readily accessible on a variety of podcast sites, this podcast offers an audio course for beginners.

Each episode consists of around 10-15 minutes of listening and speaking exercises, which will help improve your pronunciation and get you speaking like a Brazilian native in no time!

With an emphasis on real-world vocab and phrases, this podcast focuses on teaching you conversational dialogue, which proves very useful for when it comes to speaking to a real-life human!

The big catch, though, is that you cannot solely rely on this podcast.

Its limitations mean that it neglects reading and writing skills.

Beginners with no prior knowledge of the language may additionally struggle to visualise the words and phrases being taught, so prospective learners must use this podcast as a supplement to other resources.

However, when utilised effectively, this podcast can be a great way to practice your pronunciation.

Portuguese With Leo

Portuguese With Leo is a highly rated podcast available for free on Spotify, the Podcast App, or wherever you get your podcasts from.

Although it is aimed primarily at intermediate-level speakers, beginners can also benefit from this podcast, as Leo speaks clearly and slowly.

This means you won’t get lost when you listen, and will be able to follow along easily, even if you don’t quite know every word.

This podcast is exclusively for students of European Portuguese, and trains your listening and speaking skills through short 15-minute episodes.

This is perfect for if you’re always on the go, and is a great way to maintain your Portuguese skills on the bus, on the train, or even in the shower!

Portuguese With Leo also offers other resources you can use, such as YouTube videos and free guides to commonly used vocab in Portugal.

With all this on offer, Portuguese With Leo is a great way to supplement your Portuguese learning!

Café Brasil

This podcast is aimed at intermediate-level speakers and upwards, because it’s not a podcast that explicitly teaches you grammar or vocab (although you’ll pick up a lot of vocab just from listening).

Café Brasil is hosted by Luciano Pires, who talks smoothly and clearly about topical issues on politics, society, and Brazilian culture.

This gives the listener an enriching experience learning about cultural issues and everyday life in Brazil.

Learning a language isn’t just about the words - to truly know a language you need cultural understanding, which is what Café Brasil can help with.

The podcasts range in length from short, ten-minute dialogues or stories to full-length interviews and conversations which last up to two hours! This is great because it gives you the flexibility to choose what works for you.

Can’t fit a whole hour of podcasts into your day? Pick a short five-minute story!

Carioca Connection

This podcast is great for those who want to build upon a basic knowledge of Portuguese, because the short conversations in each episode are not too complicated, but not too basic either.

Carioca Connection is hosted by Alexia, a native Brazilian, and Foster, an American learning Portuguese.

Each episode they talk about something different, ranging from Brazilian culture to the Portuguese language to popular culture.

For example, recent episodes have covered how to learn Portuguese by watching Netflix shows, and the differences between tempo and hora (both meaning ‘time’, but used in different contexts).

They discuss more contemporary issues in a jovial and conversational manner, something which is important for a podcast because it makes you want to stay and listen.

What’s more, each episode is only around 15-25 minutes long, so it fits easily into your day-to-day schedule.

Durma Com Essa

For more experienced Portuguese speakers, this podcast is great to practice your listening skills.

Durma Com Essa (‘sleep with this’) is a news podcast affiliated with the Brazilian news outlet Nexo.

It offers succinct yet sophisticated episodes so listeners can catch up on the most pressing issues in Brazil.

Each episode is around 10-20 minutes long and focuses on one issue of current affairs which often, but not always, pertains to Brazilian culture.

The hosts provide balanced arguments and unbiased explanations of each issue, giving concise and clear details.

This podcast is best for advanced speakers of Portuguese, or those who want to push themselves to learn about contemporary Brazilian issues.

How do I choose the best Portuguese podcast for me?

Luckily, all the podcasts in this list are worthwhile listens, so you won’t have to go trawling through Spotify to find one that’s half decent.

Even so, here are a few things you should consider before selecting a podcast:

Language experience.
What level of Portuguese are you at? If you’re just beginning, look for a podcast with a host that speaks slowly and clearly in both Portuguese and English. There’s no point diving into monolingual podcasts if you’ve got no prior experience of the language, and there’s no shame in starting from the very beginning!
Time.
How much time in your day can you spare for podcasts? If it’s not much, there are plenty of podcasts with short episodes that will work for you. If you’re someone who enjoys relaxing with a longer podcast, there are ones with longer lessons and dialogues.
Aims and objectives. What do you want to get out of the podcast? If your aim is to improve your grammar, look for podcasts that teach you tenses, structures, etc. If it’s cultural knowledge you’re after, look for podcasts with more topical conversations.
Dialect preference. Going to Portugal in a few months for a long holiday? Look for podcasts that speak in European Portuguese. Off travelling through Brazil? Seek out Brazilian Portuguese podcasts.

In summary

This summary should get you off in the right direction:

Best for beginners: Portuguese Lab
Best for Brazilian Portuguese: Carioca Connection
Best for European Portuguese: Portuguese With Leo
Best for culture: Café Brasil

Obviously, the best podcast for you will depend on your particular preferences, but the ones listed here are sure to prove helpful in some shape or form.

Portuguese is a great language to learn, and it unlocks a big part of the world for you.

Podcasts are a fun way of supplementing your language learning without taking up too much of your spare time.

They’re best utilised alongside other Portuguese resources such as online courses, because while they provide valuable listening practice, they will always be limited in what they can do for your reading and writing skills.

Still though, I hope you enjoy listening to whichever podcast you end up choosing.

Let me know which podcasts you’re using in the comments below!

And, as always, boa sorte!

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