I'm Learning Portuguese And Building the Tool I Wish Existed

I'm Geordie. I'm a typical American: monolingual, never really needed a second language, got by just fine with English everywhere I went.

Back in university, I actually convinced my advisor to accept FORTRAN as my "foreign language" requirement. Clever, right? I thought so. But it's also emblematic of how I approached language learning: as something to work around, not embrace.

I'd tried French a few times over the years. I had good reasons: French ancestry, parents who met on an American airbase in France during the Cold War, colleagues in Ottawa, a French-Canadian former father-in-law. But nothing stuck. Grammar books, vocabulary lists, apps—it all felt like homework.

Then came the 2024 election. Without delving into political specifics, the outcome prompted a profound personal decision: it was time to leave the United States. What's happening and continues to happen in America is not something I want to be part of.

Here's where my story takes an ironic turn. Back in university, there was a foreign language requirement—one that I cleverly circumvented by having FORTRAN accepted as my "second language." Growing up in America, monolingualism felt perfectly normal, even practical.

I had made some half-hearted attempts at French over the years. There were compelling reasons: French ancestry, parents who met on an American airbase in Toul during the Cold War, colleagues and friends in Ottawa, and a French-Canadian former father-in-law. But nothing ever stuck.

My partner and I had been watching expat videos together since the pandemic—initially more for entertainment than any serious emigration plans. We were particularly drawn to Spain after my transformative 2003 trip to the Spanish Riviera around Málaga with my now-deceased sister. The vibe there had left a lasting impression.

When the election results crystallized our decision to leave, Spain became our destination. Unlike many previous elections that hadn't gone my way, this felt fundamentally different—darker. We committed to becoming expats.

Despite having a Cuban immigrant mother, María had never learned Spanish, so she was excited to embark on this linguistic journey alongside me. Without backgrounds in traditional language learning methodologies, we approached Spanish acquisition with typical American enthusiasm: download every app, dive into Duolingo, subscribe to countless YouTube channels.

Then we discovered Dreaming Spanish.

As we moved from dreaming about expatriation to actually planning it, the realities of international bureaucracy emerged. While researching visa requirements, citizenship pathways, and the practical logistics of relocation, it became clear that Portugal might be a better fit than Spain.

Spanish citizenship is notoriously difficult to obtain, the visa requirements are more stringent, and Spain doesn't allow dual citizenship with the United States. As we explored alternatives, Portugal kept emerging as the superior option—a revelation that exposed my own American ignorance. I knew about as much about Portugal as I did about Indonesia, which is to say, practically nothing.

But Portugal seemed genuinely interested in welcoming American immigrants. Having lived on the barrier island of St. Pete Beach for 20 years, I understood the complex relationship between locals and transplants in paradise. That old '80s bumper sticker—"Tourists go home, but leave your daughters"—captures an attitude I'm sure is universal from the Algarve to Andalusia. I get it.

Here's where my language learning journey hit a snag: there is no "Dreaming Portuguese." While Portuguese language apps and YouTube channels exist that follow Krashen's methods, I had been spoiled by Pablo Román's excellent team of teachers and elegantly simple approach.

That's when I decided to build LinguaMama. The motivation was multifaceted: it's an engaging exercise of my technical skills, combining coding, computational linguistics, and graph database expertise I've developed over decades. It's also an opportunity to create something I can pursue while living in Portugal and transitioning into a new phase of my career.

But perhaps most importantly, it's a tool to help me learn Portuguese—and to solve the same problem for countless others who find themselves linguistically stranded in their chosen new homelands.

Think about how you learned English (or whatever your native language is). Did your mom hand you a grammar book when you were two? Did she quiz you on verb conjugations?

No. She just talked to you. Told you stories. Pointed at things. "Look, a cat!" Over and over. Thousands of times. You absorbed patterns naturally without thinking about rules.

That's comprehensible input. That's how LinguaMama works. Not grammar drills. Not vocabulary flashcards. Just content you can mostly understand, repeated until it becomes second nature.

I'm an engineer. I've built systems for 30 years. If something doesn't exist and I need it, I build it.

I needed "Dreaming Portuguese." It didn't exist. So I'm building it.

LinguaMama is the tool I wish existed when I started learning Portuguese. Same content, repeated viewing, comprehension first. No gamification. No guilt about streaks. No "fluency in 90 days" hype.

I use it every day. Not because I'm testing it. Because it's the best way I've found to learn Portuguese.