Lingua Viva is Lisbon’s conversation-first language school: nine languages, groups of max eight, and teachers who get you talking from the very first class — in Chiado and live online.
4.9 · 620+ Google reviewsCAPLE & Cambridge exam prep centre
olá!
Hello, said in the ten languages taught at Lingua Viva: Portuguese, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Japanese, Mandarin, Arabic, Greek and English.your first class, minute oneconversation clubhome since 2012 Max 8 per class Est. 2012
Português
English
Español
Français
Deutsch
Italiano
日本語
中文
العربية
Years teaching in Chiado
0y
years teaching in Chiado
Languages taught
0
languages under one roof
Learners taught
0+
learners since 2012
Exam pass rate
0%
first-time exam pass rate
“Grammar is the map. Conversation is the walking. We do the walking.”
The Lingua Viva Method
You learn a language by using it.
Founded in 2012 in a single room above a Chiado bookshop, Lingua Viva grew on one stubborn belief: fluency is built out loud. Four principles run every class we teach.
principle n.º 1
Speak from minute one
Seventy percent of every lesson is student talk time. You’ll introduce yourself before you learn the verb “to introduce” — your teacher makes sure the need comes first.
principle n.º 2
Tiny groups, max eight
Eight seats per class, six on average. That’s small enough for your teacher to catch every mispronounced “ão” — and for nobody to hide at the back.
principle n.º 3
CEFR-aligned, end to end
Every course maps to the Common European Framework, A1 to C2. You’ll always know your exact level, what’s next, and how many hours it takes to get there.
principle n.º 4
The city is the classroom
Monthly “street lessons”: ordering at Mercado da Ribeira, fado nights in Alfama, gallery visits in French. Language lives outside the workbook — so do we.
Languages
Nine languages, one school, zero boring classes.
Every language runs from A1 to C2 with native and near-native teachers. European Portuguese is our home turf — we teach the Portugal kind, not the textbook kind.
olá!
Portuguese A1–C2
From pastel de nata small talk to your A2 citizenship exam — European Portuguese, for real life in Portugal.
GroupPrivateOnlineNext group: 12 Jan
hello!
English A1–C2
Cambridge-aligned English for work and study, with dedicated B2 First and C1 Advanced exam tracks.
GroupPrivateOnlineNext group: 12 Jan
¡hola!
Spanish A1–C2
Castilian and Latin American teachers, DELE prep, and a tapas night that counts as homework.
GroupPrivateOnlineNext group: 19 Jan
salut!
French A1–C2
DELF/DALF track, phonetics clinics for that tricky “u”, and an opinionated film club.
GroupPrivateOnlineNext group: 12 Jan
hallo!
German A1–C1
Goethe-exam preparation with a grammar method that has made cases bearable since 2012.
GroupPrivateOnlineNext group: 26 Jan
ciao!
Italian A1–C1
Gesture-rich, food-fuelled Italian with CILS exam prep and dangerously good espresso debates.
GroupPrivateOnlineNext group: 26 Jan
こんにちは！
Japanese N5–N1
JLPT N5 to N1 with calligraphy sessions, karaoke Fridays, and zero romaji after week four.
GroupPrivateOnlineNext group: 19 Jan
你好！
Mandarin HSK 1–6
Character-first method, HSK 1–6, and tea-house conversation trips in Martim Moniz.
GroupPrivateOnlineNext group: 19 Jan
مرحباً!
Arabic A1–B2
Modern Standard Arabic with dialect tasters and a script bootcamp in your first month.
GroupPrivateOnlineNext group: 2 Feb
Courses & programmes
Pick your format. They all talk back.
Every format follows the same conversation-first method and CEFR roadmap. Mix and match — your level and progress carry across all of them.
Evening group courses
Our signature format: twice a week, 90 minutes, max eight classmates at your exact level. Terms run 10 weeks, Monday–Thursday evenings.
Humour, irony, subtext. B2 is where colleagues forget you’re not a native speaker — until you ask them to, for solidarity.
Lead meetings, negotiate and present with ease
Understand native-speed conversation, slang included
Write clear, detailed text on almost any topic
Pass Cambridge B2 First, DELF B2 or DELE B2 with our exam tracks
C1 — Advanced idiom season!
Debate, literature, academic writing. C1 opens university admissions and senior professional roles across the Lusophone and Francophone world.
Express yourself fluently without searching for words
Use idioms and colloquialisms naturally — and know when not to
Produce clear, well-structured academic and professional writing
Pass Cambridge C1 Advanced, DALF C1, DELE C1 or CAPLE C1
C2 — Mastery the summit!
Near-native precision: register, rhetoric, regional flavour. Our C2 students include translators, diplomats and one very competitive poet.
Understand virtually everything heard or read, effortlessly
Summarise arguments and texts, reconstructing nuance and tone
Express yourself spontaneously with precise shades of meaning
Sit C2 Proficiency, DALF C2 or CAPLE C2 with examiner coaching
The teachers
Certified, native-fluent, and slightly obsessed.
All 23 Lingua Viva teachers hold teaching certifications (CELTA, CLTA, CAP or equivalent) and a fierce loyalty to your pronunciation. Meet four of them.
Founder
Mariana Costa
Portuguese · Founder
Lisbon-born. Collects idioms the way other people collect vinyl — and makes you use three per class.
Tomás Ribeiro
Spanish · French
Former conference interpreter. Runs the film club and defends its choices with alarming passion.
Aisha Bello
English · Exam prep
Certified Cambridge examiner. Her mock exams are famously harder than the real thing — on purpose.
Claire Dubois
French · German
DELF/DALF specialist. Believes the four German cases are “a gift” and will convince you too.
Pricing
Honest prices, no enrolment fees.
All group plans include materials, the placement test, street lessons and hybrid online access. Pay the full term once, or split it over three months.
Full term save 6%3 monthly payments
Conversation Club
For busy lives — keep the language warm with one lively session a week.
14-day money-back guarantee Freeze up to 4 weeks per term Private lessons: €34/h, packs from €320/10h
Student stories
They came for the grammar. They stayed for the talking.
SM
“Eight months ago I couldn’t order a coffee without switching to English. Last week I argued a bill with my landlord — in Portuguese — and won.”
Sarah MeyerBerlin → Lisbon · Portuguese A2 → B2
JW
“Passed the CIPLE A2 first time with 87%. Aisha’s mock exams are harder than the real thing — which is exactly what you want on exam day.”
James WhitfieldManchester → Lisbon · Citizenship exam track
AR
“Our daughter counts down the days to Saturday kids’ club. She now corrects our French at dinner. We’re proud and slightly annoyed.”
Anaïs & Rui DuarteParents · Kids French club, 2 years
MS
“Lingua Viva runs Spanish for 22 of our engineers. Their placement testing put everyone in exactly the right group on day one — zero dropouts this year.”
Miguel SantosHR Director · Corporate programme
Admissions
From curious to enrolled in four steps.
No enrolment fees, no lock-ins, no level guessing. Most students go from first email to first class within a week.
Free1
Take the placement
A 15-minute online test plus a short chat with a teacher. You get your exact CEFR level the same day.
Free2
Join a trial class
Sit in on a real group at your level — in Chiado or online. Meet the teacher, feel the pace, judge the jokes.
3
Pick your schedule
Choose the group, days and format that fit your life. Evening, weekend, hybrid — your call.
4
Enrol & start talking
Materials, level report and street lessons included. You’ll speak in class one — we insist.
The honest answers. Anything else, call us — a human answers during school hours.
yes, a real human!
Every student starts with a free 15-minute placement: a short written test plus a chat with a teacher. We place you in a group at exactly your CEFR level — from complete beginner (A1) to mastery (C2). No guessing, no sitting through things you already know.
Eight students maximum, six on average. We close enrolment per group the moment the eighth seat is taken — and open a parallel group instead of squeezing in extra chairs. That ratio is why our students actually talk.
Three safety nets: join a parallel group the same week at no cost, catch up with the shared class notes and homework sheet, or — for online students — watch the lesson recording within 7 days. Falling behind is optional.
Every finished level includes a CEFR-aligned level report from Lingua Viva. For official certificates, we run six-week prep tracks for CAPLE (including the A2 citizenship exam), Cambridge, DELE, DELF/DALF, Goethe, JLPT and HSK — with mock exams under real conditions.
Yes — every enrolment is hybrid. Join the classroom in Chiado or the same live class online, week by week, at no extra cost. Your teacher, group and progress stay exactly the same.
Term fees split into three monthly payments with a small instalment adjustment — or pay upfront and save 6%. Life happens: freeze your course for up to four weeks per term and rejoin the next group at your level. And if the first two weeks aren’t for you, our 14-day money-back guarantee applies.
Contact
Come say olá.
Book a free trial class, ask a question, or just test your Portuguese on us. We reply within one working day.
