As we mentioned in our previous blog, nowadays there are several reasons why you might want to learn Portuguese. It’s a language that’s spoken by more than 207 million people in Portugal and Brazil.
If you’re studying Portuguese you might have wondered why they don’t speak Spanish in Brazil and this is exactly what we want to talk about today in this Glorick blog.
What’s the official language of Brazil?
Despite the fact that in Brazil there are many different languages, Portuguese is considered the only official language in the country. It’s used by more than 200 million Brazilians and as a result of that, Brazil is the only American country to establish an official language that’s different to Spanish.
How many languages are spoken in Brazil?
As we mentioned previously, despite Brazil having just one official language, many other languages coexist within the country. Before colonisation, more than 1,300 languages were thought to have coexisted in the country, although today it’s estimated that there are 150 languages in Brazil, as well as various dialects.
As well as the indigenous languages previously mentioned, it’s important to point out that there are other immigrant-languages that coexist with Portuguese and the other dialects that have developed over time. Specifically, although it might surprise you, one of the most widely spoken foreign languages is German, followed by Italian, Arabic and Japanese.
Do they speak the same Portuguese in Brazil and Portugal?
Despite the fact that in Portugal and Brazil they speak the same language, it’s important to mention that there are differences between the languages, both in the way that they are written and spoken.
Portuguese in Brazil is known colloquially as Brazilian Portuguese, it’s different to the language spoken in Portugal due to the influences from African and Tupian languages. As a result of that, Brazilian Portuguese is different to its European counterpart in, above all, its accent, the Brazilian accent is considered to be more open and nasal.
As well as the accents, it’s important to highlight that there are also differences in grammar, spelling and vocabulary, given that some words are completely different in both languages.
So, is Spanish spoken in Brazil?
To end this article, we would like to solve that biggest doubt that people have and it’s that, despite Portuguese being the official language of Brazil, more than 6 million people also speak Spanish. Despite there being many Brazilian students who are interested in learning another language, many of the Spanish speakers in Brazil are native.
Furthermore, it’s important to mention that in the last few years, Spanish has become a very important language for businesses in areas that share borders with Venezuela, Colombia and Argentina, among others.
As a result of Brazilians’ strong interest in learning Spanish, since 2005 it has been a mandatory subject in the 3 years that secondary school lasts.
If you’re thinking of studying Portuguese, at Glorick we offer online business-Portuguese courses that will help you to learn the essentials in a didactic way.
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