Portuguese, an ancient language with a rich history, is the sixth most spoken language in the world. It is one of the languages falling under the category of “Romance Languages”. Here are some interesting facts about Portuguese.

Portuguese Facts

1. This language evolved from Latin and was declared the official language of Portugal in 1290. Currently, Portuguese is the official language of nine countries, with more than 230 million speakers worldwide.
2. After Spanish and English, it is the third most spoken European language. It was made one of the official languages of the European Union (EU) in 1986.
3. Even though it originated in Portugal, there are more Portuguese speakers in Brazil than any other country where this language is spoken.
4. Hundreds of words from the Portuguese language are derived from Arabic. Portuguese vocabulary also absorbed words from Italian, French and some African and South American languages.
5. It is one of the five main Romance languages, including Italian, French, Romanian and Spanish.
6. Even though Portuguese language has superficial similarities to Spanish, it is more closely related to Galician (a language spoken in northwestern Spain). Portuguese speaking people can understand Spanish easily.
7. Portuguese language involves a system of facial and body movements for communication.

Is there a Difference between Brazilian and European (Portugal) Portuguese?

Basically, these two languages are the same; however, there are few differences in terms of spellings, use of terminologies, verb tenses, accents and pronunciations.

• Brazilian Portuguese is similar to the 18th century Portuguese language and has influences from Indian and African languages.
• Brazilian Portuguese vowels sound longer and wider whereas in European Portuguese, words are pronounced with a more closed mouth and less pronunciation of vowels.
• In European Portuguese, the term ‘tu’ is used exclusively for family and friends whereas in Brazilian Portuguese, ‘voce’ is used for addressing most people in informal as well as some formal situations.
• Brazilian Portuguese is phonetically pleasing to some due to its open vowels whereas European Portuguese is more mumbled. Many people find it easier to learn Brazilian Portuguese.

Tips to learn Portuguese Quick and Easy

Portuguese is the fastest growing European language in the world after English which means, learning this language can open up doors of opportunities. But if you are travelling to Portugal or Brazil on a holiday and you want to learn the basic phrases and terms, you can use a language app.

LearnPortugueseQuickly by AlterGyan is an offline language learning app that you can install on your phone or tablet and learn Portuguese on the go. Since it contains 1200+ phrases and terms in Portuguese, voiced out by a native speaker, you can also learn to pronounce each word. This Portuguese app contains exciting features and quizzes to make Portuguese learning easy and fun for you.