People around the world speak Portuguese widely. Around 220 million people speak this language across the world. It is the official language of many countries like Portugal Brazil, Angola and Mozambique. Moreover, countries like Guinea-Bissau Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe and East Timor have also recognized it as an official language. People living in Asia, Africa and Europe widely speak this language. Additionally, Portuguese immigrant communities living in North America and Australia also speak this language.
Let’s have a look at some interesting facts about this language.
Portuguese is one of the Romance Languages
The Portuguese language originated from Vulgar Latin. Roman soldiers that lived in the Iberian Peninsula speak this language in old times. It is from the group of Romance languages and they include Spanish, Italian, French, and Romanian.
Portuguese has its Roots in Galician-Portuguese
People living in the Northwestern part of the Iberian Peninsula speak Galician-Portuguese widely. It is now a modern-day Portugal and Galicia in Spain. This language served as the basis for the modern-day Portuguese language.
Only 5% of Portuguese Speakers Reside in Portugal
Although Portuguese is the official language of Portugal but only 5% of people living in Portugal speak this language. The majority of Portuguese speakers are present in other countries rather than this language’s home country.
Portuguese and Spanish are Mutually Intelligible in Written Form only
The written forms of Spanish and Portuguese are similar and can be understood by people who speak any one of them. People who speak Spanish and Portuguese can only understand about half of what the other person is saying. On the other hand, Portuguese speakers usually understand Spanish better than Spanish speakers understand Portuguese. If Spanish speakers need to differentiate the written form of Spanish from Portuguese then they can take assistance from Spanish translation services.
It is one of the Growing European Languages
According to UNESCO, Portuguese is growing quickly and has the potential to become a language used for international communication. Portuguese is ranked sixth number in widely spoken languages in the world and is used in many places across South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. As there are so many Portuguese speakers worldwide. Therefore, you must learn this language.
Portuguese is Greatly Influenced by Arabic
The Islamic Moors from North Africa and the Middle East captured Portugal and Spain in the eighth century and they made Arabic the official language of the Iberian Peninsula. This continued until the Reconquista in the 13th century, during which Portugal and Spain were retaken by Christian forces. As a result, Portuguese is greatly influenced by Arabic.
Difference Between the European and Brazilian Portuguese
As American and British English is different. The same is the case with Portuguese from Portugal and Portuguese from Brazil. The most notable difference between the two is the use of the second-person pronoun. In Portugal, people commonly use the pronouns tu and vós.In contrast, these pronouns (especially vós) are rarely heard in Brazil, where the preferred pronouns are você and vocês. Therefore to differentiate between the European and Brazilian Portuguese, Portuguese translation services can be of great help.
K W and Y were Added in Portuguese language in 2009
Do you know that K, W, and Y were not a part of the Portuguese alphabet before? Therefore in 2009, Portuguese-speaking countries sign an Orthographic Agreement. In this agreement, K, W, and Y are added in Portuguese alphabets.
The Portuguese Language Sounds Like the Russian
According to the experts, the similarity between Russian and Portuguese intonation is because they are both stress-timed languages. This means that stressed syllables are uttered at regular intervals, and unstressed syllables are said more quickly to adjust to this rhythm. So, while the intonation of Russian and Portuguese may sound very similar in terms of rhythm, this does not necessarily mean that the two languages are similar.
Portuguese Verbs
As we know that verbs are used to denote a state or an action. They can be modified according to the tense. You will be surprised to know that in the Portuguese language, there are six different endings of Verbs. They are associated with persons and numbers.
Portuguese has a Longest Word Containing 29 Letters
The English longest word is “antidisestablishmentarianism”. It has 28 letters. Whereas the longest word in Portuguese is “anticonstitucionalíssimamente”. It contains 29 letters. The meaning of this word is the unconstitutional way.
English Text gets Longer when translated into Portuguese
If you want an English website to be translated into Portuguese then you should be aware of the fact that text expands from 15 to 19%. Therefore you should design the layout of a website with ample space. You must hire a professional translation agency for this purpose because expert translators know about text contraction and expansion.
Wrapping Up
The above-mentioned interesting facts about the Portuguese language can force you to learn this incredible language. Whether you want to do international business or want to travel around the world can open new doors of opportunities for you. What do you find most interesting in the Portuguese language?
