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Short Stories in Brazilian Portuguese for Beginners: Read for pleasure at your level, expand your vocabulary and learn Brazilian Portuguese the fun way!
"Olly's top-notch language-learning insights are right in line with the best of what we know from neuroscience and cognitive psychology about how to learn effectively. I love his work - and you will too!" - Barbara Oakley, PhD, Author of New York Times bestseller A Mind for Numbers
An unmissable collection of eight unconventional and captivating short stories for young adult and adult learners of Brazilian Portuguese.
Short Stories in Brazilian Portuguese for Beginners has been written especially for students from high-beginner to low-intermediate level, designed to give a sense of achievement, a feeling of progress and most importantly - enjoyment! Mapped to A2-B1 on the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for languages, these eight captivating stories are designed to give you a sense of achievement and a feeling of progress when reading.
What does this book give you?
- Eight stories in a variety of exciting genres, from science fiction and crime to history and thriller - making reading fun, while you learn a wide range of new vocabulary
- Controlled language at your level to help you progress confidently
- Realistic spoken dialogues, to help you learn conversational expressions and improve your speaking ability
- Accessible grammar so you learn new structures naturally, in a stress-free way
- Beautiful illustrations accompanying each story, to set the scene and support your understanding
- Pleasure! Research shows that if you're enjoying reading in a foreign language, you won't experience the usual feelings of frustration - 'It's too hard!' 'I don't understand!'
Carefully curated to make learning a new language easy, these stories include key features that will support and consolidate your progress,
- A glossary for bolded words in each chapter
- Full plot summary
- A bilingual word list
- Comprehension questions after each chapter.
As a result, you will be able to focus on enjoying reading, delighting in your improved range of vocabulary and grasp of the language, without ever feeling overwhelmed. From science fiction to fantasy, to crime and thrillers, Short Stories in Brazilian Portuguese for Beginners will make learning Brazilian Portuguese easy and enjoyable.
An unmissable collection of eight unconventional and captivating short stories for young adult and adult learners of Brazilian Portuguese.
Short Stories in Brazilian Portuguese for Beginners has been written especially for students from high-beginner to low-intermediate level, designed to give a sense of achievement, a feeling of progress and most importantly - enjoyment! Mapped to A2-B1 on the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for languages, these eight captivating stories are designed to give you a sense of achievement and a feeling of progress when reading.
What does this book give you?
- Eight stories in a variety of exciting genres, from science fiction and crime to history and thriller - making reading fun, while you learn a wide range of new vocabulary
- Controlled language at your level to help you progress confidently
- Realistic spoken dialogues, to help you learn conversational expressions and improve your speaking ability
- Accessible grammar so you learn new structures naturally, in a stress-free way
- Beautiful illustrations accompanying each story, to set the scene and support your understanding
- Pleasure! Research shows that if you're enjoying reading in a foreign language, you won't experience the usual feelings of frustration - 'It's too hard!' 'I don't understand!'
Carefully curated to make learning a new language easy, these stories include key features that will support and consolidate your progress,
- A glossary for bolded words in each chapter
- Full plot summary
- A bilingual word list
- Comprehension questions after each chapter.
As a result, you will be able to focus on enjoying reading, delighting in your improved range of vocabulary and grasp of the language, without ever feeling overwhelmed. From science fiction to fantasy, to crime and thrillers, Short Stories in Brazilian Portuguese for Beginners will make learning Brazilian Portuguese easy and enjoyable.
224 pages, Paperback
Published December 3, 2019
227 people are currently reading
106 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
February 28, 2021
I've been a fan of graded readers for decades, even when they'd fallen out of fashion in language learning materials, so I was excited to find an easy reader for Portuguese at my local library. This is a decent graded reader - or maybe just an easy reader, not really graded - but not stellar. It has some issues. Some are problems that it shares with most other books of its type: the stories are mostly inane and uninteresting. I can grin and bear it for the language practice, though.
My biggest issues are:
* No native speakers seem to have been involved in this book in any meaningful way. I have to wonder whether I'm learning authentic Portuguese here or if this book suffers from translation-ese.
* This is a series in which every book is just a translation. If you want to read Richards' Russian reader, for example, it's the exact same stories. Aside from the recycled content bothering me, because he did it this way, it's super obvious that this is just fill-in-the-blank content. It's not authentic, culturally appropriate material for each language, it's just churned out and smoothed over to fit the language on the cover.
* Olly Richards is one of the current "cool kids" in the online polyglot community, so publishers who sell language materials are banking on him to make money. I can't blame them for wanting to make money, but before you buy his products, think carefully whether he's really the best person to create language learning materials. Wouldn't you be better off with a Portuguese book written by Portuguese native speakers or people who live in Lusophone countries?
* So many pedagogical issues I can't even list them all here, including no apparent concern for word frequency. Graded readers and easy readers are typically built around difficulty levels, which are generally determined for any given language by word frequency and grammatical features. Among other things, he can't possibly have considered word frequency when creating these books because they wouldn't be the same for every language.
Overall, it's better than nothing, and it has the benefit of being easily available in the US. I think I'd be better off ordering more authentic materials from Brazil or Portugal, however.
My biggest issues are:
* No native speakers seem to have been involved in this book in any meaningful way. I have to wonder whether I'm learning authentic Portuguese here or if this book suffers from translation-ese.
* This is a series in which every book is just a translation. If you want to read Richards' Russian reader, for example, it's the exact same stories. Aside from the recycled content bothering me, because he did it this way, it's super obvious that this is just fill-in-the-blank content. It's not authentic, culturally appropriate material for each language, it's just churned out and smoothed over to fit the language on the cover.
* Olly Richards is one of the current "cool kids" in the online polyglot community, so publishers who sell language materials are banking on him to make money. I can't blame them for wanting to make money, but before you buy his products, think carefully whether he's really the best person to create language learning materials. Wouldn't you be better off with a Portuguese book written by Portuguese native speakers or people who live in Lusophone countries?
* So many pedagogical issues I can't even list them all here, including no apparent concern for word frequency. Graded readers and easy readers are typically built around difficulty levels, which are generally determined for any given language by word frequency and grammatical features. Among other things, he can't possibly have considered word frequency when creating these books because they wouldn't be the same for every language.
Overall, it's better than nothing, and it has the benefit of being easily available in the US. I think I'd be better off ordering more authentic materials from Brazil or Portugal, however.
January 3, 2022
Sou falante nativa de português brasileiro e comprei esse livro para meu namorado falante nativo de inglês.
Lemos todos os capítulos juntos e notei que o nível dele melhorou consideravelmente.
Porém, notei vários erros de português no livro (será que alguém o revisou antes da publicação?); e gostaria que o autor tivesse melhor finalizado a história da água mágica. :)
Lemos todos os capítulos juntos e notei que o nível dele melhorou consideravelmente.
Porém, notei vários erros de português no livro (será que alguém o revisou antes da publicação?); e gostaria que o autor tivesse melhor finalizado a história da água mágica. :)
October 31, 2024
eu realmente tentei me convencer de que essas historias são interessantes. (essa merda me levou um ano pra ler e eu desisti quando tava nos 3/4)
July 27, 2025
Excelente libro para practicar los primeros pasos del Portugués.
Toda la serie de esta editorial para aprender idiomas es super recomendable.
Toda la serie de esta editorial para aprender idiomas es super recomendable.
November 20, 2023
The chapters and stories are very short. Each story has three chapters of 5-6 pages each. They are light and inconsequential, but relatively entertaining despite being predictable at times. The language is very simple. The book advertises itself as a graded reader, but I found the level to be very consistent throughout. The book was probably below my level.
I do not mean to say that the consistent simplicity is bad per se; I was still able to pick up on a lot of things, without it ever feeling like a struggle. I was able to breeze through, which is very motivating. I think many 'nature methods' are too sequential and move too quickly. Once you forget something you need to go back, and they can be quite tedious and often still require that you learn things by heart, but if you had a bigger quantity of texts on various topics, you could read widely and for pleasure without struggling but still continually learning new things. Ultimately, I think if you want to do the 'nature method' properly, you should create a big series of books at different grades on different topics which can be read independently and are worth reading besides just being a learning device.
There were a small number of minor errors in the book, mostly visually (such as a space before a comma rather than after), and most notably on page 158 it says 'and' instead of 'e'. There were a couple of instances where my mother (who is a native Lusophone) said that the phrasing seemed to be not quite idiomatic Portuguese but seemed to be an Anglicism, but they were minor and rare, and there are a lot of idiomatic (Brazilian) Portuguese phrases used. The language is simple enough that it doesn't really matter whether the writer is a (near) native speaker. Some of the stories were pretty generic and seemed like they were recycled from other books in the series for other languages, but others seemed to be written for this book specifically. Sometimes very obvious cognates with English were glossed, and most of the words I did end up having to look up were not, but they were usually not that important or could be gathered from context later if I did not feel the need to look up every word I didn't know immediately. The questions were very easy, but I was probably not the intended audience.
I do not mean to say that the consistent simplicity is bad per se; I was still able to pick up on a lot of things, without it ever feeling like a struggle. I was able to breeze through, which is very motivating. I think many 'nature methods' are too sequential and move too quickly. Once you forget something you need to go back, and they can be quite tedious and often still require that you learn things by heart, but if you had a bigger quantity of texts on various topics, you could read widely and for pleasure without struggling but still continually learning new things. Ultimately, I think if you want to do the 'nature method' properly, you should create a big series of books at different grades on different topics which can be read independently and are worth reading besides just being a learning device.
There were a small number of minor errors in the book, mostly visually (such as a space before a comma rather than after), and most notably on page 158 it says 'and' instead of 'e'. There were a couple of instances where my mother (who is a native Lusophone) said that the phrasing seemed to be not quite idiomatic Portuguese but seemed to be an Anglicism, but they were minor and rare, and there are a lot of idiomatic (Brazilian) Portuguese phrases used. The language is simple enough that it doesn't really matter whether the writer is a (near) native speaker. Some of the stories were pretty generic and seemed like they were recycled from other books in the series for other languages, but others seemed to be written for this book specifically. Sometimes very obvious cognates with English were glossed, and most of the words I did end up having to look up were not, but they were usually not that important or could be gathered from context later if I did not feel the need to look up every word I didn't know immediately. The questions were very easy, but I was probably not the intended audience.
February 16, 2024
I was more than sufficiently prepared to read at this level after studying Pimsleur Levels 1-5, PortuguesePod101.com podcasts (absolute beginner, beginner, and some upper beginner), three semesters of GLN "frequent flyer" (Level 4) courses over the past 4 years, some self-study with textbooks (Routledge's Colloquial, R. Oliveira Slade's Português Basico Para Estrangeiros, E.E.O.F. Lima & S.A. Iunes's Falando, Lendo, Escrevendo), some reading in the graphic novel Dois Irmãos, and two weeks traveling in Brazil (reading half a dozen kids books while there).
The stories are quite simple, there chapters each, and I would have preferred stories that teach a bit about Brazil's history, culture, or geography. Still, I learned a few new words, and got some good practice reading (aloud).
The stories are quite simple, there chapters each, and I would have preferred stories that teach a bit about Brazil's history, culture, or geography. Still, I learned a few new words, and got some good practice reading (aloud).
May 12, 2020
Art last, beginners stories that adults can enjoy
This is the first collection of short Portuguese stories that I've enjoyed reading for its own sake. The short stories have strong concepts and although the language is straight forward the themes are complex and interesting enough to make them an enjoyable read. all the stories have an element of mystery to them and I enjoyed not knowing what the next plot twist would be. I highly recommend both this book and the audio book which are pitched at a great level to help learners improve their understanding of real Brazilian Portuguese. More like this please!
This is the first collection of short Portuguese stories that I've enjoyed reading for its own sake. The short stories have strong concepts and although the language is straight forward the themes are complex and interesting enough to make them an enjoyable read. all the stories have an element of mystery to them and I enjoyed not knowing what the next plot twist would be. I highly recommend both this book and the audio book which are pitched at a great level to help learners improve their understanding of real Brazilian Portuguese. More like this please!
August 18, 2025
It was so much fun to read Portuguese. I understood it all, but I also learned a few new words and expressions, and it's just great if you know some Portuguese.
However, and I know this is because beginners need to be able to understand, the stories weren't so interesting. I understand that they need to be simple, but they all felt rather similar, and if anything happened that could be sort of captivating, it was like "He was really scared. Suddenly, everything was okay again. He wasn't scared anymore".
So, in short, I liked that I could understand this, but it was a little bit boring to me. I hope I'll soon be able to read regular books in Portuguese haha.
However, and I know this is because beginners need to be able to understand, the stories weren't so interesting. I understand that they need to be simple, but they all felt rather similar, and if anything happened that could be sort of captivating, it was like "He was really scared. Suddenly, everything was okay again. He wasn't scared anymore".
So, in short, I liked that I could understand this, but it was a little bit boring to me. I hope I'll soon be able to read regular books in Portuguese haha.
December 7, 2025
Ça a eu le mérite d’être mon premier livre lu en portugais, malgré mon niveau débutant.
Le reste : AU SECOURS. Les histoires sont d’un ennui! On est là pour travailler la langue, donc j’attends pas le chef d’œuvre du siècle, mais un minimum de scénario, de logique c’est trop demander.
Surtout depuis que j’ai appris que c’est juste les mêmes histoires traduites dans toutes les langues, quelle opportunité manquée d’avoir des histories en lien avec la culture, la mythologie des pays.
Le reste : AU SECOURS. Les histoires sont d’un ennui! On est là pour travailler la langue, donc j’attends pas le chef d’œuvre du siècle, mais un minimum de scénario, de logique c’est trop demander.
Surtout depuis que j’ai appris que c’est juste les mêmes histoires traduites dans toutes les langues, quelle opportunité manquée d’avoir des histories en lien avec la culture, la mythologie des pays.
September 1, 2021
Another enjoyable read from Olly
Much like his previous books, I really liked it. The stories were fun to read about, and very useful in terms of learning new vocabulary. I have to admit, I did get lost at time and didn’t always understand the stories, but that’s just me. If you’re learning Portuguese, this books for you.
Much like his previous books, I really liked it. The stories were fun to read about, and very useful in terms of learning new vocabulary. I have to admit, I did get lost at time and didn’t always understand the stories, but that’s just me. If you’re learning Portuguese, this books for you.
March 7, 2023
Great for Intermediate Learners
Just the right reading level for me.
I’m supplementing my conversational classes on Italki with this book. Easy to read with summaries , review questions and vocabulary after each chapter. Have also been following the author on YouTube for a while so the book was a pleasant surprise.
Just the right reading level for me.
I’m supplementing my conversational classes on Italki with this book. Easy to read with summaries , review questions and vocabulary after each chapter. Have also been following the author on YouTube for a while so the book was a pleasant surprise.
May 14, 2023
É um bom livro para aprender ou melhorar a sua língua. O jeito de ler esse livro é que você ler cada capito dois vezes. Eu já lei esse livro em francês ano passado, então eu lei cada capito quatro vezes. As histórias esta interessantes, mas não taã interessantes. Vale a pena primeira vez.
October 16, 2023
I read this to brush up on my Portuguese. There were some good vocabulary words to pick up, and it was practice, but I didn't find the stories to be very well written from a narrative perspective.
July 23, 2024
Perfect to learn Porgutuese
This is an amazing book for all levels of learners of Portuguese. I am loving the stories! I’ve been studying Portuguese for 1 1/2 years, and this is perfect. I wish I had had it a year ago. But never too late!
This is an amazing book for all levels of learners of Portuguese. I am loving the stories! I’ve been studying Portuguese for 1 1/2 years, and this is perfect. I wish I had had it a year ago. But never too late!
July 26, 2024
The stories are quite strange and there are a lot of typos, but this book is a good way to quickly improve your reading skills. When I started I had to translate the texts word for word, but in the end I was able to read sentences without thinking.
January 1, 2021
The stories are weird. There are simple books that area available and translated that would do a better job.
December 31, 2021
Nice choice of stories for varied vocabulary and usage. Would recommend to Portuguese learners.
June 29, 2022
David ate when he found Armando’s dad. I was on the edge of my seat
February 21, 2023
Gostei muito deste livro. Ele me ajudou aprender o portugues. Obrigado!
August 7, 2023
Perfect to start off reading in another language
May 3, 2024
este é o primeiro livro que leio em português :) Eu recomendo muito este livro, as histórias naõ saõ muito longas e saõ fáceis de entender
September 29, 2024
Very helpful for starting out! Would love a more difficult edition.
June 4, 2025
6.5/10.
July 3, 2025
Great book for beginners!
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews