In Portugal, the letter 's' at the end of a Portuguese word is pronounced 'sh' [ ʃ ] most of the times. Exceptions: 1. When the next word starts with a vowel, the sound becomes [z] - "olhos azuis" 2. When the next word starts with one of these consonants: (b, d, g, j, l, lh, m, n, nh, r, v, z) the sound becomes [ Ʒ ] - "casas distantes"

Hi Barney, yes it does depend on the region/ country. What I can say to you is to research some words in the Forvo website and compare the different regional accents to see which one is more pleasant or useful to you :)

yes really depends on the region and country. For example in Portugal where I'm from, people tend to have different accents and specific expressions. Also the Português from Azores or Madeira and even Brazil sounds different, but it's not hard to get it after awhile. There are many Portuguese movies you can find on YouTube , both classics and modern. I can feed you some if you wish.

As a rule of thumb, in Portugal it's pronounced as SH and in Brazil as S. But there are regions in both countries that do the opposite. In Portugal, I think in the north and maybe in Madeira they use a normal S sound. In Brazil, Rio de Janeiro and Pernambuco are the two states I can think of that pronounce it as SH in all circumstances as in Portugal standard accent. Some other states here, such as mine, do pronounce it as a normal S in all circumstances, except when the S comes before a T or a D, in which cases we may pronounce it as SH as well. So, it's up to you and the accent you pick out to speak with.