The Portuguese Language

There are roughly 176 million Portuguese speakers in the world with only a fraction residing in Portugal itself (around 10 million). Although the Standard Portuguese spoken in Portugal (based mainly on the dialects spoken between Lisbon and Coimbra) and the dialect spoken in Brazil (Brasiliero) are mutually intelligible, they are still quite different in several respects.

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the differences between Standard Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese include the pronunciations of words, a Brazilian vocabulary that has been greatly expanded through loan words from other languages such as Italian, Spanish, German and Japanese, and the meanings of words themselves1.

Standard Portuguese can also be different from Brazilian Portuguese in its syntax. For example, Standard Portuguese places object pronouns after the verb; Brazilian Portuguese, on the other hand, places the object pronoun before the verb2.

Below are some brief but important facts about the country of Portugal and its people:

  • Capital: Lisbon
  • Currency: Euro (EUR)
  • Government Type: Parliamentary democracy
  • Population: 10,524,145 (July 2004 est.)
  • Internet Country Code: .pt
  • Internet Hosts: 346,078 (2004)
  • Internet Users: 3.6 million (2002)

For additional demographic information on Portugal and its people, please see the following links: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/po.html

For information on The Portuguese Writing System, please see our Quick Facts Library.

1 "Brazil" Encyclopædia Britannica from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service.
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=25084
[Accessed December 19, 2004]

2 "Portuguese language" Encyclopædia Britannica from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service.
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=9061011
[Accessed December 19, 2004]