English Pronunciation for Brazilian Portuguese Speakers
Your strengths first, then the fixes that change how clearly you are understood.
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First language
If your first language is Brazilian Portuguese
These are the patterns Brazilian Portuguese speakers bring most often. Nothing here is a mistake — it is your first language doing exactly what it always does. Each row says where the fix lives.
| The challenge | What often happens | Go to |
|---|---|---|
| A vowel escapes at the end | 'book' → 'booki', 'dog' → 'dogui' | see the tip |
| The TH sounds | 'think' → 'tink' or 'sink', 'this' → 'dis' or 'zis' | The TH Sound |
| R at the start | 'red' → 'hed' | The English R |
| The dark L | 'Brazil' → 'Braziw', 'full' → 'fuw' | The English L |
| Ti and Di | 'party' → 'parchy'; 'day' starts like 'djay' | see the tip |
| The -ED ending | 'walked' → 'walk-edji', or the ending drops | The -ED Ending |
| Ship vs sheep | the short and long 'i' blur into one | Long vs Short Vowels |
| The NG sound | 'sing' nasalises the vowel and loses its ending | The NG Sound |
| The H sound | 'house' → 'ouse', 'happy' → 'appy' | Silent T and H |
A note on sources. The book has one Portuguese section covering both Brazilian and European Portuguese. Rows drawn from the book are the book's Portuguese rows rather than variety-specific ones — this site draws a distinction the book does not.
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The Brazilian Portuguese guide
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