Portuguese at A1: what actually works

Real native speakers pronouncing any word, free. When the robot voice in your app sounds off, this is the human check. A tiny tool you'll use forever.

A huge free database of example sentences with audio across dozens of languages. Perfect for mining real sentence context for your Anki deck instead of memorizing naked words.

The same beginner story, told and retold with rising complexity, in dozens of languages — free. A perfect first reading + listening loop for any language.

Fine for keeping a daily habit and a few hundred words. But the gamified tap-the-translation loop isn't comprehensible input — it builds streaks, not fluency. Use it as a warm-up, then go get real hours.

Streaks ≠ fluency — it's a habit toy, not real input.

More grammar-serious than Duolingo and the dialogues aren't bad. Still a structured-drill app, not input — useful as a paid supplement for early grammar, not the engine of your learning.

Paid drills, not real input. A supplement at best.

The famous one. Picture-matching with zero context or culture, priced like a textbook. It won't hurt you — but your hours buy far more on free comprehensible input. Skip it.

Picture-matching, no real context. Expensive for what it is.

Clean app with a nice native-speaker-corrects-your-writing feature. But it's still a lesson-and-quiz treadmill — fine for structure, not a substitute for hours of real input.

Lesson treadmill. The peer-correction is the only edge.