Where is Portuguese spoken? What language is spoken in Portugal? General information about the Portuguese language
For lovers of the Portuguese language and Brazilian TV series, carnivals and travel, it will be very interesting to know In which countries do they speak Portuguese? .
“Captain obvious” - Portugal. The main country where this language was historically formed and, accordingly, it was from here that its spread throughout the world began. Portuguese is one of the most widely used European languages. Speakers of this language are often called “ Lusophones ”, but do not confuse this concept with “ losers”, because Portuguese-speaking people are very proud of this “title”. The name comes from the Roman province of Lusitania, roughly corresponding to the territory of modern Portugal.
Of course in Brazil also use this language and, in fact, the lion’s share of Portuguese speakers live in this country, and that’s more than 200 million people! Brazilian and European versions of the language have their differences
not so much in grammatical structures, as in pronunciation and spelling of words. Since the process of globalization has accelerated in recent years, and Brazil occupies a key position in the South American market, and is gaining momentum in the global market, the Brazilian version of Portuguese is becoming increasingly popular. 
In which countries is Portuguese spoken, besides these two widely known to the public? Residents of Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Macau and East Timor also speak Portuguese. It so happened historically that Portuguese came to the territories of these states and took root for a long time since the times of colonization.
So we got acquainted with information about which countries speak Portuguese. But even if you live in Russia or other CIS countries, knowing the Portuguese language will allow you to reach a completely different - higher quality level of your life and career.
The Portuguese language originated back in 218 BC. with the arrival of the Romans on the Iberian Peninsula. Today it is the official language of nine countries. It is the fifth most common in the world and the most popular in the southern hemisphere of the planet.
1. Portuguese has a lot in common with, but does not come from it, as many people mistakenly believe. The main reason for the similarities between these languages is that the bulk of the vocabulary of each is of Romance origin.
2. Spaniards practically do not understand the spoken language of the inhabitants of Portugal, but at the same time they can read texts written in Portuguese without any difficulties.
3. The formation of the Portuguese language was greatly influenced by the languages of those peoples with whom Portuguese sailors and traders came into contact. That is why it contains many other languages - Arabic, and not only.
4. The Portuguese alphabet includes 26 letters, including letters with diacritics. It is noteworthy that letters such as K, V and Y are not typical of the traditional Portuguese language, and therefore they are used only in words of foreign origin.
5. Every year, on May 5th, Portuguese Language Day is celebrated. This holiday exists in all countries where this language is spoken.
6. There are two varieties of the Portuguese language - Portuguese proper and Brazilian. They differ in lexical, phonetic composition and even spelling. So, in Portugal, spelling remained unchanged for centuries, but in Brazil it transformed over time, adapting to the actual pronunciation of native speakers. In 2008, by decision of the Portuguese Parliament, certain changes were made to the Portuguese spelling in order to bring it as close as possible to the standards of the Brazilian one.
7. In Brazil there is a Museum of the Portuguese Language. It is located in the city of Sao Paulo. A special feature of this museum is the use of interactive panels that provide useful information about the development of language in an entertaining way.
8. All those people who speak Portuguese are called Lusophones. Accordingly, the territories in which this language is widespread are united under the name Lusophonia. This word comes from the Latin Lusitania (Louisitania) - this was the name of the ancient Roman province located on the territory of modern Portugal.
9. Portuguese has many dialects. The oldest among them is Galician. It is spoken by about 4 million people living in the northwestern part of the Iberian Peninsula. By the way, it is believed that it was in Galicia that the Portuguese language and culture originated.
10. Residents of the municipality of Miranda do Douro (located in northeastern Portugal) speak a unique Miranda language or Mirandes (lhéngua mirandesa). It is one of the varieties of archaic Portuguese, which in vocabulary and phonetics is as close as possible to Spanish. Today, the number of native speakers of this language is only a couple of thousand people. However, since 1999, Mirandes has had official status. Moreover, a local newspaper is even published on it.
11. In Portuguese there are many words that resemble Russian words in their spelling, but have a completely different meaning. These include elétrico - tram, autocarro - bus and many others.
It is no exaggeration to say that Portuguese is one of the most beautiful and diverse languages in Europe. No wonder the Brazilian poet Olavu Bilak called it “beautiful and wild.” And the world-famous Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes gave it an even more interesting definition - “sweet tongue.” And in some ways these great people were undoubtedly right.
Portugal is located in the very west of the Iberian Peninsula. Its official history goes back more than 900 years. Portugal is considered one of the oldest countries in the world that has managed to keep its borders unchanged. Its only neighbor is , with whose borders lie in the north and east. In other directions, Portugal is washed by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. This country is visited annually by tourists who enjoy all the possibilities of recreation provided. Many of them prefer to go to Madeira to fully enjoy the constantly warm climate, or to the Azores. For most of those traveling to this country for the first time, it is very important to find out what language is spoken in Portugal.
At the beginning of the 8th century, the Iberian Peninsula was invaded by Arabs and Berbers, who were called Moors. Part of the population went north, thereby keeping their language and dialect pure. And those who remained submitted to the Arabs and changed the official language to the language of the conquerors. Such people were bilingual and were called Mozarabs, that is, “subordinate to the Arabs.” Thanks to them, not only Portuguese, but also Arabic was enriched with new words. Arabic words that entered the Portuguese language mainly denoted new objects and concepts and were nouns.
Since the 15th century, the country began to discover previously unknown lands. In world history, this time is known as the “Age of Discovery.” Portugal paved the sea route to the mysterious India, made some of the African states and regions, as well as Brazil in South America and other islands, even Macau, currently a special administrative region of China, its colonies. Of course, such an active policy to seize new territories could not do without the spread of Portuguese as the main language for all colonies. Therefore, it is considered official for countries such as Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Cape Verde and other small countries and individual areas.
Features of the Portuguese language
Portuguese belongs to the Romance languages of the Indo-European family. To be even more precise, to the Ibero-Roman subgroup. Portugal has a written language based on the Latin alphabet, which is currently one of the most widespread, and consistently ranks 6-8 in the world in terms of the number of speakers. It is spoken by more than 200 million people. All people who speak this language, consider it their native language or define it as official in their country and are able to communicate in it are united by a single term - Lusophones. The word comes from the name of the Roman province of Lusitania, located in ancient times on the territory of Portugal. All territories of Portuguese-speaking countries and regions are usually called Lusophonia.
Portuguese is considered a pluricentric language. It is spoken in several independent states and communities, and each of them separately develops its own norms. But Portugal and Brazil differ in their varieties of Portuguese. Moreover, there is a noticeable tendency for the European version to move closer to the Brazilian one, and the Portuguese language is becoming monocentrized. There are also creolized varieties of Portuguese spoken in some countries in Africa and Asia.
The closest language to Portuguese is the modern Galician language, from which it originated. Galicia is the northwesternmost autonomous region of Spain. Another very close language is Spanish. However, the composition of vowel sounds, among which there are open and closed, brings it closer to French and Catalan (a linguistic variant of Spanish).
Interestingly, in 2008, the Portuguese Parliament decided to change the spelling to bring it closer to the Brazilian version of the Portuguese language, since its rules were closer to the real pronunciation of words and phraseological units.
It will be interesting for tourists and guests of the country to know that the residents of Portugal, in addition to their native language, are fluent in English, French and, of course, Spanish. Moreover, Spanish-speaking staff are often involved in hotel services, while in the capital and other large cities - English-speaking staff. In a number of areas neighboring Spain, many Portuguese can speak Spanish fluently, and almost everyone understands it. But the Spaniards have a much more difficult time learning the language of their western neighbor. Residents of the Azores have a good command of English, and its knowledge is typical for people of all ages. In addition to Portuguese, the country has another official language - Miranda. It is commonly spoken in Miranda do Douro and surrounding areas. In order to understand what language is spoken in Portugal, you need to remember that on January 1, 1986, the country joined the European Union, and in 2002, the euro was approved as the currency. All these factors have significantly influenced the life of the Portuguese; the influx of tourists has increased, and in connection with this, communication with people who have come from various parts of the planet has increased.
The official language of Portugal is Portuguese. Today it is one of the main languages in the world, ranking sixth in terms of the number of native speakers (about 240 million). It is the language with the largest number of speakers in South America and is spoken by almost the entire population of Brazil. It is also the official language in Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe, Guinea-Bissau, East Timor and Macau.
Portuguese is a Romance language. Despite the fact that it is very similar to Spanish, and these two languages have 90% in common (in vocabulary and grammar), they are still completely different languages. The Portuguese are proud people and do not like it when foreigners from non-Spanish speaking countries speak this language in Portugal.
Given that many words can be spelled almost identically, pronunciation varies significantly. This is because Portuguese has several nasal diphthongs that other languages do not have. Spanish is well understood, but it is not always the best language to use unless you are from a Spanish speaking country yourself.
It should also be mentioned that pronunciation in Portugal is significantly different from Brazilian pronunciation. The differences mainly lie in pronunciation. There are several vocabulary differences, so sometimes Brazilians have difficulty understanding a European Portuguese accent.
But the Portuguese have no problem understanding the Brazilian dialect, because the pop culture of this country (soap operas and pop music, for example) is very popular in Portugal.
English is spoken in many tourist areas, but not everywhere. Portuguese often watch American films with original English dubbing and subtitles in Portuguese. Therefore, many speak English quite well, and also due to the fact that English is studied in schools.
Main tourist languages of Portugal
In the major tourist areas you will almost always find someone who speaks the major European languages. Hotel staff are required to speak English, even if only a little. French has almost disappeared as a second language.
German- and Spanish-speaking people are rare. About 32% of Portuguese can speak and understand English, while 24% understand and speak French. Despite the fact that Spanish is well understood, only 9% of people can speak it fluently.
Portuguese belongs to the Romance group of the Indo-European language family. The written language is based on the use of characters from the Latin alphabet.
Portuguese emerged from the Galician-Portuguese language and today is the second Romance language in terms of the number of people speaking it, after its neighboring Spanish, in addition, Portuguese is consistently among the ten most common languages in the world, occupying 6-8 places according to various sources. Nowadays, in total, more than 230,000,000 people in the world speak Portuguese; by the way, there is a special term for them - Lusophones, and all territories in which Portuguese is the main language are united by the term Lusophony.
Portuguese has many similarities with other languages of its group. The closest language to it is the Spanish language, however, in comparison with Spanish, the Portuguese language is more conservative, it uses many ancient phrases, in addition, Portuguese has more phonetic borrowings of Celtic origin, and the pronunciation of some sounds makes it similar to the Catalan and French languages. However, in terms of lexical composition it is still much closer to Spanish.
The year of origin of the Romance group of languages is considered to be 218 BC, when the Romans, who came to the Iberian Peninsula, brought there the Latin language, from which the entire group subsequently developed.
The development of the Portuguese language was somewhat influenced by the Germanic tribes that at different times captured the peninsula during the “Great Migration.” The Arab conquerors had more influence on Spanish speech than on Portuguese; this can easily be explained by the fact that the people who lived in Portugal two centuries earlier than the Spaniards conquered their lands, after which the Galician-Portuguese language became the main language throughout almost the entire territory of the country, however The culture of the Mauritanians managed to penetrate deeply into the everyday customs of the inhabitants of Portugal.
In the 14th–16th centuries, Portuguese travelers began to spread the language throughout the world. Thanks to the colonization of Asian and African settlements and the emergence of mixed marriages between the aborigines and the Portuguese, as well as the activities of Catholic missionaries, the Portuguese language is successfully taking root in Africa, America and Asia.
During the Renaissance, numerous borrowings from Gallic and English came into the Portuguese language and the linguistic norms of Portugal and Brazil began to diverge.
Portuguese is the official language of Portugal, Brazil, Guinea-Bissau, Angola, East Timor and Mozambique, and the vast majority of speakers today live in Brazil.
There are subtypes of the Portuguese language - classical Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese. The difference between them is due largely to phonetic and lexical features; in addition, in Brazil there are northern and southern dialects, and in Portugal itself there are three dialectical varieties of the language.
Related languages
The peculiarities of pronunciation make it difficult for native Spanish speakers to understand Portuguese, although written Portuguese is most often understood by Spaniards, Spanish speech is easily understood by Lusophones, especially in places where Spanish had the greatest influence on the development of Portuguese, such as southern Brazil.
Story
The first written evidence of the origin of the Portuguese language is found in the 9th century. In records from this period, texts written in Latin begin to use some Portuguese words, a mixture linguists call pro-Portuguese.
In the 12th-14th centuries, at the beginning of the development of the Portuguese language, the Galician dialect from which it arose was the language used by poets in Christian Spain. Following the recognition of Portugal as an independent state in 1143, the Galician dialect began to be used as the basis of the classical literary language at both the Galician-Portuguese and Spanish courts.
In 1920, the Galician-Portuguese ruler, King Dinis, founded a university in Lisbon and ordered that the then considered vulgar language be called Portuguese and used in all official writing.
