The Portuguese Language
Portuguese (português, also língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated
in what is today Galicia (Spain) and northern Portugal. It is the official language
of Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and São Tomé
and Príncipe, and co-official with Chinese in the Chinese S.A.R. of Macau and Tetum
in East Timor.
Portuguese is a major world language, being ranked fifth among the world's languages
in number of native speakers (over 200 million), and first in South America (186
million, over 51% of the population). It is also a major lingua franca in Africa.
It spread worldwide in the 15th and 16th century as Portugal set up a vast colonial
and commercial empire (1415–1999), spanning from Brazil in the Americas to Macau
in China. In that colonial period, many Portuguese creoles appeared around the world,
especially in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.
Portuguese is often nicknamed The language of Camões, after the author
of the Portuguese national epic The Lusiadas; The last flower of Latium
(Olavo Bilac); and The sweet language by Cervantes.
Portuguese Dialects
Portuguese is a pluricentric language. It has two main groups of dialects, those
of Brazil and those of the Old World. For historical reasons, the dialects of Africa
and Asia are generally closer to those of Portugal than the Brazilian dialects,
although in some aspects of their phonology, especially the pronunciation of unstressed
vowels, they resemble Brazilian Portuguese more than European Portuguese. They have
not been studied as exhaustively as European and Brazilian Portuguese.
In various parts of Africa, Asia, and the Americas, Portuguese creoles are spoken,
but they are independent languages which should not be confused with Portuguese
itself. Some audio samples of some of the main dialects of Portuguese are available
below. There are some differences between the areas but these are the best approximations
possible. For example, the caipira dialect has some differences from the one of
Minas Gerais, but in general it is very close. A good example of Brazilian Portuguese
may be found in the capital city, Brasília, due to the generalized population from
all parts of the country.
Are You Talkin' to Me?
by Wordbank Ltd
Market study findings showing the importance of localisation
for producers and sellers
Portuguese speakers are the most demanding in their expectations that global companies
should communicate with them in their own language. Of the 18 products and services
that they were asked about, the Portuguese think it is important that the product
information is in their ownlanguage for 16 of them. The three most important products
and services are: banking and financial services (4.67) pharmaceutical and beauty
products (4.54); and automotives (4.67). Apart from German speakers, they are the
only language that considers it important for automotive product information to
be in their mother tongue. Nearly nine out of ten (88%) Portuguese respondents expect
any company that wants to sell its products and services in their country should
communicate with them in Portuguese. Nearly eight out of ten (79%) of them will
not buy a product if they cannot understand the packaging. Three quarters of them
are more likely to buy a product if it is supported by marketing communication in
Portuguese; and 73% are more likely to buy a product again if the after-sales care
is in Portuguese. More than seven out of ten (71%) are reluctant to buy products
if the product information has been badly translated. However, only 29% agree that
they will only purchase from websites in their own language and although 81% of
Portuguese-speaking respondents have access to the Internet, only 31% are increasing
their use of it to purchase goods and services.