Novo Portugues sem Fronteiras: Student's book + CDs (2) 1 (A1-A2) - New Editio Paperback – 5 Oct. 2011

Bought the book as the course book for a course - it served its purpose. However if you were trying to use this as a teach yourself guide you would really struggle. Many of the exercises have more than one answer. Despite being a post 2011 edition it is not fully up to date with the way the language has been modified in the new internationally agreed written form. Some of the exercises are far from clear as to what is required.the whole book is written entirely in Portuguese with a dictionary at the back for English French Spanish and German. The CDs are a real assest but the second one is not numbered as the book suggests causing problems when you want to access a track. Don't buy a second had older (first edition) version of the same book as the written language will be completely out of date.It covers what you need in a first course and there are few real competitors If you already have a good knowledge of a romance language you may cope as a self study guide - I would recommend it as it has a good set of exercises and is very good value for the money- but it is best used with a teacher. It is for european portuguese not brazilian. If you dont have a teacher use duolingo app. which is free along side this.

We bought this book as we were given an older edition without the CDs and thought we'd give the pronounciation a go.But for absolute beginners, the speakers in the CDs talk too fast! The gaps left for you to speak are very minimal and don't give you time to think. There also seems to be some inconsistency with some pronounciations though we accept regional accents would account for this. With no instructions, it's a bit of a disaster to know what you should be doing during these oral practices and keep up with the fast pace at the same time.The older edition dictionary at the back was intended for French, German and English. This newer edition also includes Spanish. With the English translation being in the final column, never easy before, it's now very difficult to follow the line across the other three languages to find the English meaning.The book did need updating and we liked the more modern coverage of the units especially with photos and not drawings. Whereas I struggled with the new layout - paler colours meant the various divisions seemed less clear? - my husband like them and didn't find them a problem.With both the new and the old editions, we don't like the fact that there isn't an "answers section" so you can check whether you're correct or not. Presumably these are in the teacher's companion and therefore really this book is more suited for classroom use. But we still think it's the best book of its kind for those wishing to learn Portuguese.Compared with the older edition, the book itself is very cheaply made. I'm not so sure it'd last constant turning of pages.Ordering this from Portugal, we were pleased that the sellers, also in Portugal, took the initiative and sent the book direct to us - it only took three days and not the expected two weeks - and not send it to the UK and then back to us. But it still looks like Amazon charged us UK post and packing though we're possibly quibbling cents here! :-)