How can a non native Portuguese speaker distinguish continental Portuguese from Brazilian Portuguese?

[111kg]

I'm just wondering, because they sound pretty much the same to me.

[Fegg]

Maybe the melody? Also, and this is a tip I use, notice the pronunciation of the "d". In Brazil d sound is stronger, closer to a "t"/"ts" sound.

[Fran Kloh]

So, this video may help you a little bit on that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GrrrJWkEpM

Also, I've once read that Portuguese people pronounce more strongly the consonants of the words, while Brazilians tend to enunciate more the vowels. 

Brazilians use the gerund (gerúndio) form of verbs while Portuguese people don't. So to say something like "We are dancing" would go like this:

PT) "Estamos a dançar."

BR) "Estamos dançando."

The melody of both accents is also very different (and that's also true for other accents within each of these two groups as well) but you can only pick that up by listening to a lot of Portuguese!

I hope that helps and if I remember anything else I'll post it in here.

[Lingua Franca]

The easiest way to distinguish European Portuguese from  Brazilian Portuguese is by the sounds that Brazilian Portuguese has but European Portuguese doesn't.

e.g.

Di is pronounced J like in Jeep

Ti is pronounced chee like in cheese

Te is pronounced chi like in chip

There are certain sounds that are used in the same manner in European Portuguese as they are in Brazilian Portuguese. In Brasilian Portuguese you don't end its words with hard "L's" and is replaced by a "u".

Portugal is pronounced Portugau in Brazilian Portuguese.

If anyone can remember anything else, please add.