Filomena Pascoal on Teaching Portuguese: Consistency, Confidence, and Funny Misunderstandings

In this episode, Filomena Pascoal - an experienced teacher of 38 years and a longtime mentor to the hosts - introduces her work teaching Portuguese to foreigners and English to Portuguese adults, running private one-to-one lessons and EU-sponsored A1/A2 group courses (including online courses with Expats Portugal - https://expatsportugal.com/fun-portuguese-language-course-for-expats-in-portugal-portuguese-language-course/).

She also does certified translations (including French–Portuguese) and accompanies clients to places like town halls, banks, doctors, and even court to interpret and boost their confidence. Philomena describes her flexible, student-centered teaching style, using videos and podcasts alongside books when helpful. Her top advice for learners is consistency, practicing regularly, and not fearing mistakes; she warns against translating directly from English and encourages speaking with simple vocabulary.

Filomena shares humorous stories about pronunciation mix-ups (debaixo/beijo; casado/cansado) and a “Sumol/small/some more” misunderstanding.

00:00 Welcome and Introductions

00:52 Meet Filomena Pascoal

02:33 Teaching and Translation Work

05:39 Teaching Style and Courses

09:34 Advice for Learning Portuguese

11:35 Pronunciation and Funny Mixups

20:13 Closing Thanks and Weekend Plans

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