2025 Yearly Recap at Portuguese with Carla & Friends

Once again, we are reaching the end of the year and, like most people, we like to make a year-end recap. At Portuguese with Carla & Friends, we believe in continuous growth and improvement. Looking at what we did in 2025 can help guide us into the coming year.

And what an extraordinary year 2025 was. Our community grew, and so did our team. With your help, we developed incredible new tools to help you learn Portuguese. We faced challenges and built more meaningful relationships, in and outside the business.

2025: A Year in Review

Come with us on a journey to explore all the new things we made happen together! Reflect with us on the accomplishments, milestones, and precious moments we shared during the past year.

The Portuguese with Carla & Friends Community

One of our pillars is our incredible community, so that is where we will start our year recap. First of all, we want to thank each of you who are with us on social media, follow our blog, and receive our free weekly newsletter. Your presence is key to supporting and guiding our efforts to help you learn Portuguese.

YouTube

YouTube is, without a doubt, our most significant social platform. We showcase the Portuguese language and culture through videos with dynamic transitions and a tailor-made music track. Showing customers and other users how valuable our unique approach to Portuguese learning can be for them is a priority for us.

In 2025, our YouTube channel reached 64 thousand followers. We were thrilled to see how you interacted with our video clips. We loved reading your comments and learning which type of content resonates most with you.

Instagram and Facebook

One of our goals for 2025 was to create content that was more meaningful for you. Although we do not teach European Portuguese on Instagram, we know how crucial it is as a support network.

Especially after our makeover, we have been striving to create a space focused on you – our audience. We are curating feed posts and Instagram stories that you can value and engage with. You can explore the benefits of learning Portuguese and grow your appreciation for this incredible language. You can find and save bits of Portuguese knowledge and learning tips.

More importantly, you can share your personal growth and success stories with us, your friends, and loved ones. As a result, we surpassed 2000 followers on Instagram. Our Facebook community also grew and now counts over 4000 followers.

Creative Ideas Turn into New Tools

You know us, we are always looking for opportunities to improve. More importantly, we are constantly searching for ways to make your learning process smoother and more enjoyable.

Vocabulary Builder

One huge advancement we made this year was with Vocabulary Builder. Many of you know we used to use Memrise word packs to help you practice Portuguese words. However, Memrise announced it would no longer support the use of community courses through the app.

So, instead of choosing another vocabulary platform, we decided to break all conventions and create our own. Vocabulary Builder is the result of months of planning, testing, and improving. It is a free on-site flashcard platform, completely personalized to your journey.

The best part is that you were our biggest supporters in creating this incredible tool. In fact, we have implemented several of your suggestions, such as:

• native human audio for words, not AI
• spaced repetition
• the option to skip a word if you already know it
• short learning sessions
• the ability to review any pack you have learned
• various exercises to learn each word (multiple choice, audio, writing, etc.)

Knowing this new tool matches your learning needs made all the effort worthwhile. For example, here is what Charles, one of our new users, said about it: “I love the vocabulary builder, and it has been a huge help.” Another user, Rosemary, wrote: “I like the quizzes and vocabulary builder, which feels like learning without any effort.”

AI.mália

AI-powered tools have become part of everyday living. Of course, they can not replace humans. But they can give you the leverage you need to reach your language-learning goals faster. With that in mind, we trained an AI assistant specifically for European portuguese learners.

At the end of last year, we launched our AI Chat Coach. Tom, one of our users, said: “I tried the AI chat for the first time, and it works wonderfully. Now I can have really useful conversations in real time and learn immediately from my mistakes without losing time with checking in dictionaries or grammar books.“

This year, we decided to take things to the next level. Your AI Chat Bot has become AI.mália. It now has a face inspired by one of the most iconic Portuguese artists of all time. More than that, it has expanded from a personalized tool for practicing Portuguese into a real companion to guide you throughout your journey. And we are already receiving positive feedback. For example, another user, Giselle, wrote: “I’ll be trying out AI.mália more as the engine seems to work much better than what I’ve encountered on other platforms.“

A Brand New Face

2025 brought the most significant change to date. It was a milestone we were incredibly excited to share with all of our clients and users! Portuguese with Carla became Portuguese with Carla & Friends.

Our new name and branding reflect our growth. As a team, we are dedicated to supporting you, listening to your needs, and constantly improving The Journey. The new design, colors, and fonts deliver a more premium feel. Thus, your Portuguese learning experience is visually more polished and aligned with the quality of our content.

The Journey 2.0

Along with a fresh face, we also launched an improved version of our European Portuguese course – The Journey 2.0. It includes a brand new dashboard, so you know exactly where you are in the course and where to go next.

Additionally, you got another new tool – the Learning Snapshot. With this feature, you get a literal snapshot of your progress in European Portuguese. In an instant, you can know what you have already accomplished in different knowledge areas. Besides, it guides you toward other features like AI.mália and Vocabulary Builder, so you know what to do to keep growing.

Here is what you gain with this new and improved version:

• Clarity: Instantly see your progress and next steps.
• Confidence: Practice with tools that simulate real-world conversations and measure your growth.
• Motivation: Celebrate milestones and feel the satisfaction of moving forward.
• Support: A bigger team, a stronger brand, and a course that evolves with you.

Your Thoughts and Opinions

You are the inspiration behind all of our work. Whether it is a new tool, blog article, or video content, our focus is your unique journey toward fluency in Portuguese. That is why your feedback is so important to us.

We love reading about your progress and personal experiences. We also can not wait to celebrate with you whenever you hit new milestones. Here is what some of you had to say about The Journey this year.

I enjoyed all of the different avenues available for learning Portuguese. The format is fun and made simple to learn. The explanations are very helpful. The situations are also helpful in real life. I enjoy the program. I like its flexibility. I can do 15 min/day or an hour. I enjoy the combination of learning avenues. – Kerri

I like the videos and your conversations with me as a learner. I felt like you were right there with me, cheering me on and making me feel that it is okay to not get everything right. I feel really encouraged that I will be able to carry on better conversations with my husband’s family when we return to Portugal next year. – Gloria

Learning a new language is not really my thing. I am the type who gets bored and loses focus very quickly. I moved to Portugal recently and have been really struggling getting my head around the language. I finally came across Portuguese with Carla and decided to give it a try. I must say that in just two weeks, I am starting to understand when I hear others speak Portuguese. I now feel I am on the right track. – Brandon

Thank you so much for your kind words and honest feedback. Some of you even took the time to record and send us a recap video of your experience with The Journey. We want you to know that we truly appreciate you with all our hearts!

What’s Happening in The New Year

We are already planning more incredible surprises for the upcoming year. We know that you are aiming for fluency in Portuguese, and we are here to help you get it.

For starters, we are investing in gathering and preparing more learning resources for all platforms. We are creating more free templates and study guides to launch during this new year. For example, you will watch a brand new video series with more culturally relevant content than ever.