Instant Brazilian Portuguese Vocabulary Builder

While a book to help learners learn Portuguese words is welcome, this book is not helpful. Needless to say, any good vocabulary builder for learners should focus on the most common words - the words you use in everyday speech. This book instead focus on words that are similar to English words. I can see at least two major reasons why this is a bad idea:

1. The words that are very similar to English are precisely the ones we DON'T need much help with. I guess that Portuguese words like 'central', 'crucial' or 'global' don't present much of a problem for an English speaker to understand or remember. Words like 'olhar', 'fechado' or 'verão' might be harder to learn


2. Since much of the scientific vocabulary of English derives from Latin and French, these are the kind of words that are similar in English and Portuguese. So right from the start you will learn Portuguese words like 'inaugural', 'latitudinal', 'gastrointestinal' or 'adverbial'. Call me old-fashioned, but I've found the Portuguese words for 'hi' (oi), 'how are you?' (tudo bem?), 'day' (dia) or 'and' (e) to be just a bit more helpful... ;-)

I can see what the author has been trying to do, list the words that are similar in both languages, but I find it misleading to call it an instant vocabulary builder and market it to learners who will have very limited use of it.

The book came in excellent condition and included the CD even though I bought the book used.