DLI Portuguese Headstart Course

The DLI Portuguese Headstart program is a short, intensive introduction developed by the Defense Language Institute for learners who need usable Portuguese quickly—before or alongside longer basic courses. It focuses on high-frequency situations: greetings, introductions, directions, simple transactions, and other patterns you can apply in Brazil, Portugal, and other Lusophone settings. The emphasis is on listening and speaking with supporting text, not on full literacy or advanced grammar.

As a free Portuguese course, it is well suited to motivated self-study, tutoring, or classroom warm-up. You work through compact modules with dialogs, drills, and self-checks so you can build confidence in real-world exchanges without committing to a full semester-length curriculum first.

Course Materials

PDFs

• Getting to Know You (1.0 MB)
• Numbers and Money (984 KB)
• Time Expressions and Dates (666 KB)
• Getting About (1.1 MB)
• At the Restaurant (1.2 MB)
• On the Road (2.7 MB)
• Finding a Home (1.4 MB)
• A Medical Emergency (802 KB)
• Portuguese-English English-Portuguese Glossary (1.2 MB)
• Cultural Notes Portugal (1.2 MB)
• Cultural Notes The Azores (3.1 MB)
• Manual of Administration (7.2 MB)

Audio Files

#	Audio
01	Tape 01 Getting to know you (12.4 MB)
02	Tape 02 Getting to know you (8.5 MB)
03	Tape 03 Numbers and Money (12.0 MB)
04	Tape 04 Numbers and Money (7.5 MB)
05	Tape 05 Time Expressions an (11.3 MB)
06	Tape 06 Time Expressions an (16.2 MB)
07	Tape 07 Getting About (12.1 MB)
08	Tape 08 Getting About and A (10.8 MB)
09	Tape 09 At the Restaurant (12.3 MB)
10	Tape 10 On the Road (11.7 MB)
11	Tape 11 On the Road and Fin (6.0 MB)
12	Tape 12 Finding a Home (9.7 MB)
13	Tape 13 A Medical Emergency (11.8 MB)
14	Tape 14 A Medical Emergency (7.4 MB)