Kotro

I don't think there's a case for a single word "everytime". I'll blame it's overuse on artistic license.

That's great, Tombo! And I agree it can be fun for adults as well - just the other day I was watching a clip on the Tube and couldn't help but think some of the jokes were a bit racy for the target young audience. 

Website io9 hasthis interesting article on language learning. A lot of their points are well familiar to us, by it's still a nice reed nonetheless:

http://io9.com/what-is-the-fastest-way-to-learn-a-foreign-language-1599824986?utm_campaign=socialflow_io9_facebook&utm_source=io9_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

I've used Linguee during my translation work, it's a good, most of the time reliable source for translation  examples, but you have to be very careful using it, and not take the given translation for granted. But used properly it can be immensely helpful to unblock that bothersome expression you're stuck on.

Constantly, it's the main reason I don't know more languages. Fear of not being able to fully devote myself or comprehend a new language, or that I will never be able to achieve a good level to make the time (and occasionally money) investment worth it - then all I'll be left with is useless basic knowledge and a lot of time wasted.

But... You must conquer your fears. Thinking like that will only hamper your development, sometimes the best thing is to take a leap of faith and just jump into the work.

Still didn't get a chance to pick up a Murakami, all his books are so damned expensive (must be because of the demand for translators). I think I might pick one in English, they seem to be cheaper, but are the translations any good?

Quite frankly, when it comes to Italian I would star by reading the news. Italian in novels can be quite symbolic and prone to misunderstanding.

Never heard of Titãs before. They sound interesting. I'm really not that much into MPB (apart from stuff like Tropicalia, or Veloso's Transa), but I really enjoy Brazilian rock from the late 60's and 70's. Stuff like:

Casa das Máquinas

Bacamarte

Módulo 1000

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlqUBM_TRbM

Many mentioned, but not the simplest one: "I see", meaning "I understand".

Any feedback on Rosetta Course? Is it also available for Android?

Why settle for songs?  Here's what I consider to be one of the finnest Brazilian albums:

Chico Buarque, Construção, 1971 

I honestly don't think much of Google Translate. As many have said, it is really not reliable when translating long sentences or full paragraphs, since a lot gets lost. You might get the general gist of what is being said, but if you're not careful a single misstranslated word can change the meaning of a whole sentence. But worse than that, I find it unreliable even when translating single words - I've often found that it gave words from the same semantic family but with whole different meanings. In that aspect I think I still prefer the old Babelfish for machine translation.

Use this topic to share any links for online tools to learn Portuguese, both European and American. Please add the link followed by the variant it helps teach. If you can add a summary of what it is, or your own experience using it, even better!

Here's a couple to get the ball rolling!

http://www.learn-portuguese-now.com/ - an interesting repository of links and hints for anyone trying to learn American (Brazilian) Portuguese.

http://www.101languages.net/portuguese/ - this is a great website for learning languages; this is their Portuguese entry.

Portuguese would be similar to Spanish, only with less letters and Ys.

Masculine: Sou teu.

Feminine: Sou tua.

And yes, it sound as corny and outdated in Portuguese as it would in any other language. 

Yeah, if you need to carry them to classes, visual dictionaries can be a (literally) a pain in the back. If at home, though, nothing beats a good collegiate dictionary. For everything else there's the Internet.

I've occasionally tried my hand at picking up comics and graphic novels in languages I'm trying to learn or perfect. I find them a good halfway point between "technical" books, i.e. non-fiction (which I find have a more direct and understandable approach to language) and most kinds of novels (which are often less direct, more riddled with methaphors, a freer style or cultural references one might not get immediately).

Just recently I picked up cult graphic novel Le Transperceneige to work on my French. Haven't got started, though. 

Stephen Fry's autobiography Moab is My Washpot, detailing his first 20 years of life, is one of the finest books I've had the pleasure of reading. I also greatly enjoyed Rick Wakeman's Grumpy Old Rock Star, but that's more a collection of anecdotes rather than a chronologic telling of his life.

I find them worthy to read just as much as any other kind of literature. Mind you, just by calling them "literature" means I have a very good opinion of them. I don't think they are being snubbed as much as they used to, they are increasingly gaining respect - Persepolis is a good example. It's just that they still represent a niche market that publishers aren't interested in tapping into and promoting just yet.

Alan Moore's Watchmen has been mentioned, I'd like to add V for Vendetta and, especially, his masterpiece From Hell, a graphic novel I hold up as one of the great works of literature of the 20th century.

Era uma vez uma jovem menina chamada Ana Maria que gostava muito de comer gelados com sabor a morango. Um dia, ela decidiu que já estava farta de comer gelados, por isso foi procurar outra coisa que lhe agradasse.

Decidiu então partir à procura de uma nova experiência, fugiu para a floresta encantada onde se pensava haver uma fonte de chocolate. Na floresta

I know that technically it is the proper way to say it, but I hate the word "vomit" over the word "throw up". It's just something about the word that makes the situation even more gross than it is to begin with! Another word that I don't like is "slurp". Random? yes... But still two of the words in the English language I really don't care for.

And yet there is nothing gross about "vomit" - plus I'm sure you use a vomitorium all the time.

Living in Portugal, where one is surrounded either by sea or by Spain, one would think the language is quite familiar to us. To some people closer to the border it naturally is, but to me it's almost unintelligible. Apparently they can understand us just fine. Regarding the speed of speaking, I once met a fellow from Uruguay and I had a much easier time understanding him than I did my visiting neighbours.

Where to begin? French cinema is among the best in the world, and it's not all drowsy romances ans slapstick comedy (though that's quite good as well). One of my favorite filmmakers is Jacques Tati, but if getting aquainted with the language is the main goal he might not be a good choice, since there isn't much speaking on his movies. Some recent ones I've enjoyed are:

- 8 Fêmmes and Swimming Pool, by François Ozon, another favourite French filmmaker;

- Delicatessen and Un long dimanche de fiançailles, by Amèlie director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, both on par, if not better, than that one;

- Mortel Transfert, one of my favourite dark comedies ever;

I think these are a good list. I'm sure someone will point you to some classics.

Era uma vez uma jovem menina chamada Ana Maria que gostava muito de comer gelados com sabor a morango.

Um dia, ela decidiu que já estava farta de comer gelados, por isso foi procurar outra coisa que lhe agradasse.

Decidiu então partir à procura de uma nova experiência, fugiu para a floresta encantada onde se pensava haver

Era uma vez uma jovem menina chamada Ana Maria que gostava muito de comer gelados com sabor a morango.

Um dia, ela decidiu que já estava farta de comer gelados, por isso foi procurar outra coisa que lhe agradasse.

The other series which I have started with is 'Culture' by Iain M. Banks, starting with Consider Phlebas. This might be of interest to you, too.

I already had that on my shopping list, ever since I heard about the author's death (I admit he was unknown to me prior to it). How are you finding it? I undertand it might be more in the hard sci-fi spectrum...