Pronounce Portuguese Perfectly

Our beginner-friendly books use simplified English phonetics to make European Portuguese pronunciation easy for kids and parents alike. Each book includes the most common words and phrases for its category, with every word broken into syllables and the stressed syllable highlighted—making learning fun, natural, and stress-free!

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The most helpful parts of the book are the phonetics and the opening introduction to Portuguese sounds that would surprise native English speakers. Really fun way to learn!

★★★★★

-Lauren Durst

A Fun & Easy Way to Learn

Portuguese is Not Intuitive

Learning to speak Portuguese can be difficult if you don't have the right support.

Does this sound familiar?

You've purchased a bunch of books to learn the vocabulary but have no idea how to pronounce it
You listen to YouTube videos but it's hard to pinpoint some of those sounds or how to make them
You have no idea how to pronounce anything with an accent mark and there are a lot of accent marks
You try and talk to locals but they talk too fast and drop off syllables and sometimes even whole words

About us

My name is Virginia, and I’m the creator behind Thrifty Explorations—a labor of love inspired by my family’s move from the U.S. to Portugal. Like many parents making the leap to a new country, I found myself navigating not just the logistics of an international move, but also the emotional journey of helping my children feel at home in a new culture, with a new language.

Learn more

I created this business because I know first-hand how overwhelming—and also how magical—it can be to start fresh in a place like Portugal. I wanted tools that would make learning European Portuguese accessible, engaging, and fun—especially for native English-speaking families like mine. When I couldn’t find quite what I was looking for, I decided to build it myself.

My background is in product management and development, which means I’m no stranger to identifying problems, crafting thoughtful solutions, and bringing them to life—while keeping the big picture and the little details in balance. Running this business allows me to merge my professional experience with my personal mission: to help families feel confident, connected, and excited as they embrace a new language and a new life.

Every book, post, and product is designed with love, care, and a deep understanding of what this journey feels like—because I’m living it, too. My hope is that these resources not only support your language learning but also help you and your family thrive in your beautiful new home.

Children's books

Learn:

The Alphabet
Numbers & Colors
Common Phrases
Calendar Terms
Directions & Getting Around
Family & Friends
Names of Common Places

Fruits & Vegetables
Aquatic Animals
Transportation
Pets & Animals

Coming soon:

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Pronunciation Guide

Six pages of charts, illustrations, & helpful tips and tricks to assist you on your language learning journey.

Customer reviews

Discover what our clients think about our products & services

I've been living in Portugal for 2 years and have had a hard time learning to speak the language. I bought these thinking children's books might be an easier way to learn and I was right! The phonetics are made simple without all the weird symbols that I don't understand and the first page explains some of the sounds/ pronunciations that we don't have in English. Plus, it even shows which syllable needs to have the "stress" as she calls it. I've become much more confident in speaking after studying with these books.

Janna Harding

We are learning to speak a bit of Portuguese before our trip there to visit with family! These books have been a great help to us and made the activity fun at the same time! Children naturally are drawn the illustrations and the guides for pronunciation are clear and simple to follow. It all adds up to an enjoyable experience and helps prepare us for our upcoming activity. As a retired teacher and principal I am thrilled to know there are books like this series to encourage others to delve into a new experience.

Mildred Dana

★★★★★

I was surprised by how beautiful the artwork is in these books and how easy/fast it was to learn how to count in Portuguese! The most helpful parts of the book are the phonetics and the opening introduction to Portuguese sounds that would surprise native English speakers. Really fun way to learn! This would make a great gift for kids or anyone planning to visit Portugal.

My family loves these books. We even reached out to her for some advice and suggestions on our move to Portugal. She has been a huge help in alleviating the fear of the unknown and helping us prepare for living abroad. We're very grateful!