5 Podcasts To Listen To If You’re Learning Portuguese

Listening to podcasts in the language you’re learning is a fun and educational way to mix up your studies. Our team of language experts helped us compile a list of Portuguese podcasts to recommend to you based on your level of proficiency. There’s something for everyone on this list — shows about news and politics, stories of inspiring women, discussions about science, and more. We’ve also included sample episodes so you can get a feel for each podcast before you commit.

Portuguese Podcasts For Beginners

Todo Mundo Pod

If you’re learning Portuguese as a beginner, this podcast is a great place to start because it’s specifically designed for language learners. The show features short episodes that alternate between Portuguese language tips and topics about Brazilian history, culture and politics. The host speaks relatively slowly, so you can pick up vocabulary while also hearing a native speaker’s pronunciation. The podcast itself is free, but if you become a paid member, you can download PDF transcripts of every episode and follow along with the text.

Check out this episode about things to do in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Histórias de Ninar para Garotas Rebeldes

This podcast is slightly more challenging but could still be a good resource for beginners. Based on the book Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Tales of Extraordinary Women, this short series tells stories about inspiring women and their incredible accomplishments. The 15-20 minute episodes are spoken at a slow pace and are fairly easy to follow. This podcast is adapted from the English version, which might be useful to listen to for comparison. 

Here’s an episode about tennis star Billie Jean King:

Portuguese Podcasts For Intermediate Learners

Academia CBN – Mario Sergio Cortella

A good choice for intermediate language learners, this podcast is all about daily life and human relationships in modern Brazilian society. Each episode is very short — roughly two minutes — so it’s not too much to digest at once, although the vocabulary can be a bit high-level. Regardless, it’s a great way to learn how to discuss important issues and to get a sense of Brazil’s cultural climate.

This episode on the importance of managing our sleep schedules will give you a taste of what the show is like:

Naruhodo!

While the name of this podcast is actually a Japanese word that’s roughly equivalent to “Eureka!” or “I see,” it is, in fact, a Portuguese podcast for intermediate learners. The show features a “curious layman” and a Ph.D. scientist who cover various topics, ranging from whether hypnosis works to the origins of Black Friday. The show is often funny and always informative, and the description accompanying each episode gives you a good sense of the topic being covered.

Here’s part one of the hypnosis episode:

Portuguese Podcasts For Advanced Learners

Durma Com Essa

This final podcast is for those of you who are at an advanced level of Portuguese proficiency. Durma Com Essa (“Sleep With This”) is a daily news podcast from Brazilian online journalism outlet Nexo. Each episode is approximately ten minutes long and does a deep dive into the biggest or most thought-provoking news story of the day. Listening to this show will simultaneously improve your language skills and inform you about current events in Brazil and around the world.

This is a recent episode about the spread of coronavirus: