Monday, April 2, 2018

Comparing Portuguese in Portugal with Portuguese in Brazil



Oi - that's hi or hello in Portuguese. It sounds a bit rude in English, a bit like, 'Oi -you!' Hoewever, if that helps you remember it, well and good.

Comparing Brazilian and Portuguese Portuguese:
The best place to find out the difference is on Youtube. You will get several suggestions for videos popping up in the right-hand column. Watch this lovely lady:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GrrrJWkEpM



Main differences:
PORTUGUESE SPOKEN WITH BRAZILIAN ACCENT
In the 'word Portuguese, the 's' ending is pronounced like the 's' in Brazil.

PORTUGUESE SPOKEN WITH PORTUGUESE ACCENT
But like 'Sh' in Portugal itself

RIO ACCENT - CLOSER TO PORTUGAL
However, in Rio, the Brazilian capital, the pronunciation of the s is like the 'motherland of Portugal.


SCOTLAND
A man who lives in London, England, and worked in Scotland, tells me that to him this sounds similar to the case in Scotland. In Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, the English accent is closed to the received pronunciation of London, England, or what the people in Edinburgh would call 'poncy' posh or pretentious, high faluting) English.

TU and VOCE
The Portuguese use tu, which sounds like the British you (although in England we dropped the thou used in thou shalt not).
But the Brazilians use voce, which is closer to the French plural Vous, which is formal.
The intonation in Portugal is more monotone and closed mouth. In brazil the accent is more sing-song, open mouth, emphatic, flamboyant, more like Italian.

LATIN
I learned Latin at a Grammar school in England. Mostly Latin is not much use to me, except for the etymology (linguistic origins of words) and reading gravestones in Roman Museums. However,  Portuguese looks even more like Latin than Italian.

Another video on Youtube has a charming, erudite young gentleman explaining with maps that Portuguese is based on the spread of the Roman spoken language.

YOUTUBE VIDEO LINKS
I find it irritating that the titles of YouTube videos are all in odd numbers and letters and not the English language titles, unlike links to Wikipedia and tourist board websites where what you see is what you get and you know instantly if you are on the right subject and even which country the website is based in or aimed at.

MEETING BRAZILIANS
Is learning Portuguese from Duloingo, with Brazilian vocabulary and accent a waste of time if you are not going to Brazil any time soon? No. You might meet Brazilians on a plane or in another country, such as on a plane from the USA to any country in South America.

Where Will You Meet Brazilians and speakers of Brazilian Portuguese?
I had thought the learning Brazilian is a waste of time if you live in Europe or the Far East because you are never going to meet anybody who speaks the Brazilian style of Portuguese.

However the man on the video informed me that Brazilians are huge in number, 200 million.  The pleasant surprise was learning that I could well be talking to somebody from Brazil. Just as you meet Americans worldwide in English-speaking countries, you are likely to come across Brazilians outside Brazil, working as waiters or other staff in Portugal and other Portuguese-speaking countries.

I suppose I had better say goodbye in Portuguese. It sounds and looks close to the Italian ciaou.
TCHAU!

See you later - Até logo!

visitportugal.com (Official site)
http://visitbrasil.com/en/
https://www.roughguides.com/destinations/europe/portugal/


Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English, learner of 12 other languages.
Please see my other travel blog:
http://www.luxurytravelforless.co.uk


Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and phtographer, author and speaker. I have many posts on Portuguese. Please read more posts and share links to your favourite pages.
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