What’s the difference between Portuguese in Brazil and in Portugal?

by Target Language Translation Services

- November 04 2021

Portuguese is one of the world’s most widely spoken languages, placing sixth behind Chinese, Spanish, English, Hindi, and Arabic. There are two main kinds of Portuguese: Brazilian (spoken in Brazil) and European (spoken in many countries in Europe, including Portugal).

European Portuguese is the variant spoken in Portugal and is more similar to the dialects spoken in Africa and Asia. Given the size and population of Brazil, however, the Brazilian Portuguese set of dialects are the most famous around the world, including online and in the entertainment industry. Some compare the distinction between European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese to that between American and British English, or between Latin American and European/Castilian Spanish.

While they have some similarities, there are certainly many differences in intonation, pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary.

History

Countries tend to follow the linguistic developments of the mother country with a bit of delay because of the geographical distance. Portuguese was not regarded as the official language in Brazil until 1758, whereas the colonization really began in the 16th century. Over time, changes occurred in the language because of increasing contact with European and Asian immigrants.

The other countries colonized by Portugal speak a Portuguese more akin to the mother language. Why? Many of them are African countries, so they don’t have external contact from other cultures that could have impacted their way of speaking. Secondly, compared to Brazil, those countries gained their independence much later and had more contact with Portugal during their early development.

Differences in the pronunciation between the Portuguese varieties

Portuguese pronunciation differences

While Brazilians speak sounding the vowels longer and wider, Portuguese pronounce the words with a more closed mouth and not pronouncing the vowels so much. That is definitely the most difficult part for the Portuguese speakers especially for Brazilians because they do not have much contact with the Portuguese from Portugal.

In addition to the mouth and pronunciation of the vowels, there is the pronunciation of some consonants that’s also different, especially the S at the end of a word. In Brazilian Portuguese, an S at the end of a word is pronounced as SS but in Portugal, it is pronounced as SH. For example, in Brazil, the word dois would be pronounced ‘doiss’ but in Portugal, it would be pronounced ‘doish’. Since Brazil is such a big country, the accent can change from north to south and specifically in Rio de Janeiro and in cities in the northeast, the pronunciation of the S is similar to the one in Portugal.

There are still many other differences even in these regions.

The main difference lies in the pronunciation of vowels or more specifically how Portuguese people eliminate the unstressed vowel between consonants of a word when they speak.

For example, the word padaria (bakery). In Brazil it would be pronounced just how it is written but in Portugal, this word sounds more like pad’ria.

Another important difference in the pronunciation of words is the T’s and D’s.

In Portugal those consonants are pronounced always in the same way but in Brazil, when by an i or an e, change their sound to G and Chi respectively. For example the word dia (day) and tapete (rug), when pronounced by Brazilians, sound like gia and tapeche.

Portuguese grammar differences

Brazilians are not just creative in football or in carnival; they are also creative in their language.

It is common to hear in Brazil nouns that suddenly become verbs. For example let’s use the Portuguese phrase dar os parabéns (to congratulate). In Brazil, this phrase would simply become a verb called parabenizar.

Brazilian Portuguese is also open to assimilate foreign words.

American words such as brainstorm, media and etc. already belong to the daily communication of the people in Brazil.

In the Portuguese from Portugal, the Latin roots of the language are kept and another thing that makes it more difficult to insert foreign words in Portugal is the huge resistance that the Portuguese have in order to keep the same traditional structure of the language without adopting international words.

Vocabulary changes in Brazilian Portuguese

Brazilians and Portuguese use quite different vocabulary that makes it more difficult for them to comprehend each other.

European Portuguese has more words from Classical Romance languages – particularly Spanish – while Brazilian Portuguese has influence from the American indigenous and slave languages.

A good example is the word for pineapple: in Brazil it is called abacaxi while in Portugal it is called ananas.

There are also words that are written exactly the same, pronounced exactly the same, but the meaning is completely different.

Sometimes those differences can generate an awkward situation.

For example the word propina.

In Portugal propina means the fee that college students must pay to go to school. In Brazil propina means bribe.

Conclusion

Many of these differences are dumbfounding to speakers from different continents and may occasionally lead to a communication breakdown, but if you remain curious and aren’t afraid to ask questions you will quickly resolve any misunderstandings. Portuguese and Brazilians still speak the same language, but it has evolved in slightly different ways over the years because of cultural and historical differences.

This article is reprinted from The Mezzofanti Guild and Mondly.

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