Portuguese

An awesome language. It's similar enough to other Romance languages so the vocabulary and grammar are familiar and not too difficult. There are some fun quirks such as the three subjunctive moods that seem so unnecessary to an English speaker, but are in regular use in everyday contexts. The pronunciation (especially Portugal Portuguese) is very different sounding, almost Russian, and it's fun to listen to something that sounds so strange, but is actually a very understandable Romance language.

Native materials I've used at each stage:

A1-A2

Porquinha Peppa - Yes, it's a show for 5 year olds, but they speak slower, clearer, and repeat things so it's perfect for beginners.
Stranger Things: O Outro Lado - Graphic novel. I was familiar with the story and despite more advanced vocabulary (like the word 'prey') it was understandable enough.
A Ilha by Mayte Alvarado - Absolutely beautiful graphic novel. Felt like meditation leafing through the pages, enjoying the art and the sparse words.
A cidadela misteriosa by Susana Morais - A1 graded reader. Felt hard when I first started it but a very fun story, great audio. Have reread it several times.
Fênix Veríssimo - Yesss, fan translation of the Phoenix Wright games!! Really fun detective point and click style game and lends itself really well to language learning as you need to cross-examine witnesses and identify contradictions in their statements.
Enigmatis - Hidden object game series. I got really into these games because they are a fun way to pick up vocabulary for common household objects, and the dialogue is short and not too difficult to follow. The story is silly and dramatic but low-key fun.
Abyss: The Wraiths of Eden - Similar to Enigmatis but underwater and even stupider story. But it was enjoyable enough to play.
Sacra Terra: Angelic Night - The story was hard to follow with lots of esoteric vocabulary about religion and sins. But the hidden object gameplay served its purpose.

B1+

Poemas de Amalia Rodrigues - Bilingual poetry. Also good for A2 level as the sentences are short. Really lovely to read out loud.
O Diário de um Banana - Diary of a Wimpy Kid, really funny. The illustrations help a lot but the language is past beginner level--you'll see all three subjunctives used frequently.
O baú das coisas perdidas by Susana Morais - A2 reader. Not as charming as A cidadela misteriosa but entertaining enough and useful.
Descender by Dustin Nguyen & Jeff Lemire - Discovered a new favourite graphic novel series when I picked this up second-hand. Cute little robot boy, great sci-fi adventure!
A casa no bosque by Susana Morais - B2 reader, big jump in difficulty as there is no English, just Portuguese translations. I had to reread this several times before I could follow what was going on. Again, a fun story.
Disliga a televisão - Sketch show parodying Portuguese TV. This was above my level but I found it so funny I persisted and intensively watched it in 10 minute segments.
Uma Aventura by Isabel Alçada & Ana Maria Magalhões - Portugal's version of The Famous Five. I've read the na Amazonia and na Madeira books. It's nice simple language so that you can often figure out words by context. It's great for learning about culture and history because the books feature real locations. Fun adventure books that you can read quickly.
O Indispensável da Mafalda by Quino - Argentian comic books. Can be hard as you need to understand basically every sentence to get the jokes.
Contos Brasileiros - Free audiobooks of out-of-copyright Brazilian short stories. Only read a couple of these, they are nice to listen to and read at the same time. The language isn't as hard as the cultural background. I don't know enough about late 1800s Brazil to understand the context of some of the stories.
Morangos com Açucar 2023 - Silly teen drama but I'm having fun watching it. No subtitles in any language sadly which makes it harder to watch but I can get the gist of it.
Rowan de Rin by Emily Rodda - Read your childhood favourites in your target language!! Despite the language being slightly archaic fantasy style, I've found it surprisingly easy since I remember so much of it in English. Really really fun rereading this.

Mutsumi no

Portuguese