Portuguese in Brazil. What language is spoken in Brazil, or a quick question: Why do they speak Portuguese in Brazil?

Brazil is a dream country for many travelers. The largest state in South America is famous for its carnival and beaches, Iguazu Falls and many more natural and cultural attractions and interesting places. The official language is Portuguese and it is the only Portuguese-speaking country in this part of the world.

Three hundred colonial years

In 1500, Pedro Alvares Cabral, a Portuguese navigator, landed on the shores of South America, whose record, among other achievements, from that moment included the discovery of Brazil. On April 24, 1500, he and his crew set foot on the shores of South America and named the coast Terra de Vera Cruz.
33 years later, the large-scale colonization of Brazil by the Portuguese began. The colonists who came from here actively grew coffee and sugar cane, mined gold and sent ships loaded with valuable timber to the Old World.
In 1574, a decree was passed banning the use of slave labor by local Indians, and labor began to be imported from. In parallel with colonization, the spread of language occurred. It will become official in Brazil later, but for now both local residents and imported Africans had to learn to speak Portuguese.
The country gained independence in 1822 and was officially called the Republic of the United States of Brazil.

Some statistics

• Despite the fact that the country has a huge expat population and more than 170 languages ​​and indigenous dialects are spoken, Portuguese is the only official state language in Brazil.
• It is used in everyday life by the vast majority of citizens of the country.
• The rest are spoken by less than one percent of the republic's residents.
• The only exception is the municipality of Sao Gabriel da Cachoeira in the state of Amazonas. The second official language adopted here is Nyengatu.

The Nyengatu language is used by about 8,000 people in northern Brazil. It serves as a means of ethnic self-identification for some tribes that have lost their own dialects during the process of colonization.

That one and not that one

Modern varieties of Portuguese in Europe and Brazil are somewhat different. Even within Brazil itself, phonetic and lexical discrepancies can be discerned between the dialects of the northern and southern provinces. This is largely due to borrowings from the languages ​​of local Indian tribes and the dialects of slaves brought to South America in the 16th-17th centuries from the black continent.

How do I get to the library?

When traveling to Brazil as a tourist, be prepared for the fact that very few people in the country speak English. At best, you can talk to the receptionist at a good hotel. The way out of the situation will be a Russian-Portuguese phrasebook and the ability to gesticulate emotionally, and the innate Brazilian sociability will be more useful than an ideal knowledge of languages.

Brazil is a country located in South America, occupying the eastern part of this tropical continent. The official language of Brazil is Portuguese. The full original name of the language is língua portuguesa. It is a Western Romance language spoken by more than two hundred million people in South America and Europe. This article is dedicated to the official language of the country Brazil.

Brazilian language

Which is the official language, the Variant of Portuguese is a set of dialects of Portuguese used primarily in Brazil. It is spoken by almost all of the country's 200 million inhabitants. It is widespread in the Brazilian diaspora, which currently consists of about two million people who have emigrated to other countries.

This variety of Portuguese differs, especially in phonetics and word stress, from the varieties spoken in Portugal and Lusophone African countries. In African countries it tends to be more closely related to modern European Portuguese, partly because Portuguese colonial rule ended much later in them than in Brazil. Despite these differences between spoken varieties, Brazilian and European Portuguese differ little in formal writing. This phenomenon is in many ways similar to the differences between American and British English.

Portuguese language reform

In 1990, the Community of Lusophone Countries, which included representatives of all countries whose official language was Portuguese, reached an agreement on spelling reform to unify the two standards that were then used by Brazil, on the one hand, and the rest of the Lusophone countries, on the other. . This spelling reform came into effect in Brazil on January 1, 2009. In Portugal, the reform was signed by the President on July 21, 2008, and included a six-year adaptation period during which both spellings coexisted. All countries of this community signed the text of this document. In Brazil, this reform has been in effect since January 2016. Portugal and other Portuguese-speaking countries also began using the new orthography.

Regional varieties of Brazilian Portuguese, while remaining mutually intelligible, may differ from each other in matters such as vowel pronunciation and speech intonation.

variant of Portuguese

The question is often asked: what is the official language in Brazil? Since there is no Brazilian language, Brazilians speak their own version of Portuguese.

The use of Portuguese in Brazil is a legacy of the colonization of the Americas. The first wave of Portuguese-speaking immigrants settled in Brazil in the 16th century, but the language was not widely used then. For a time, the Portuguese coexisted with a lingua franca called Lingua Geral, based on the Amerindian languages ​​used by Jesuit missionaries, as well as various African languages ​​spoken by millions of slaves brought to the country between the 16th and 19th centuries. By the end of the eighteenth century, Portuguese had established itself as the national language. One of the main factors contributing to this rapid change was the spread of colonization into the Brazilian interior and the increase in the number of Portuguese settlers who brought their language and became the most important ethnic group in Brazil.

Beginning in the early 18th century, the Portuguese government made efforts to expand the use of the Portuguese language throughout the colony. Particularly because its use in Brazil could guarantee to Portugal lands claimed by the Spanish (according to various treaties signed in the 18th century, these lands could be given to the people who actually occupied them). Under the leadership of the Marquis of Pombal (1750-1777), Brazilians began to favor the Portuguese language as he expelled the Jesuit missionaries who taught Lingua Geral and prohibited the use of other local dialects.

Failed attempts at colonization by the French of the city of Rio de Janeiro in the 16th century and by the Dutch of the northeast of the country in the 17th century had little impact on Portuguese. Substantial waves of settlers who did not speak Portuguese in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (mainly from Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Japan and Lebanon) were linguistically integrated into the Portuguese-speaking majority within a few generations, with the exception of some regions from three southern states (Parana, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul). What is the official language spoken in Brazil? Of course, this is Portuguese, which is spoken by 97 percent of the country's population.

Current position of the language

Currently, the vast majority of Brazilians speak Portuguese as their first language, with the exception of small island communities of descendants of European (German, Polish, Ukrainian, Italian) and Japanese immigrants - mainly in the south and southeast of the country, as well as villages and reservations , inhabited by Native Americans. And even these groups of the population use Portuguese to communicate with strangers, watch and listen to television and radio programs in it. In addition, there is a community of Brazilian sign language users, whose number, according to experts, reaches 3 million.

Where do they speak Portuguese?

As a result of territorial expansion during the period of colonial conquest, speakers of Portuguese and mixed creole languages ​​are found in Goa, Daman and Diu in India, in Batticaloa on the east coast of Sri Lanka; on the Indonesian island of Flores; in the Malacca state of Malaysia, an island in the Caribbean where creole languages ​​based on Portuguese are spoken. Cape Verde is the most widely known Portuguese Creole. Portuguese-speaking individuals are commonly referred to as lusophones in English and Portuguese.

Influence

Portuguese is part of the Ibero-Romance group, which developed from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in the medieval kingdom of Galicia and retained some phonetic and lexical features of the Celtic languages. This is a general description of the official language of Brazil.

Portuguese is the mother tongue of approximately 215-220 million people. The total number of carriers is 260 million. It is the sixth most spoken language in the world, the third most widely spoken in Europe, and one of the main languages ​​in the Southern Hemisphere. It is also one of the most widely spoken languages ​​in South America and the second most spoken language in Latin America after Spanish. It is the official language of the European Union and the African Union.

Portuguese is a rapidly developing language

According to UNESCO, Portuguese is the fastest growing European language after English. According to The Portugal News, which published UNESCO data, it has the highest potential for growth as an international destination in southern Africa and South America. Portuguese is a global language, officially spoken on five continents.

Since 1991, when Brazil joined the Mercosur economic community with other South American countries, namely Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, Portuguese has been compulsory or taught in schools in these South American countries.

In the early 21st century, after Macau was handed over to China and Brazilian immigration to Japan slowed, the use of Portuguese declined in Asia. It is again becoming the language of opportunity there mainly due to the expansion of diplomatic and financial ties with the economically powerful Portuguese-speaking countries (Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, etc.) in the world.

Number of media

The official language of Brazil has how many speakers? In July 2017, the total number of Portuguese speakers was estimated at 279 million. This number does not include the Lusophone diaspora, which is estimated at approximately 10 million people (including 4.5 million Portuguese, 3 million Brazilians and half a million Creoles, etc.). It is difficult to give an official exact number of Portuguese speakers, since a large proportion of these people are naturalized citizens born outside the territory of Brazil and Portugal, and children of immigrants may have only a basic knowledge of the language. It is also important to note that a significant part of the diaspora is part of the already counted population of Portuguese-speaking countries and territories.

Therefore, the Portuguese language is used daily by more than 250 million people who have direct or indirect, legal and social contact with it. Portuguese may be the only language of communication, or it may be used only for certain purposes: for education, communication with local or international administration, for trading and purchasing various services.

Portuguese vocabulary

Most words in Portuguese come from Latin. Either this was a direct borrowing or Latin terms came through other Romance languages. However, due to its original Celtic heritage and then Portugal's involvement in the Age of Discovery, it has some Celtic words and has also borrowed vocabulary from around the world.

The development of the Portuguese language in Brazil (and therefore in the rest of the areas where it is spoken) was influenced by other languages ​​with which it came into contact, mainly in vocabulary: first the Indian dialects of the indigenous people, then the various African ones spoken slaves, and finally the languages ​​of later European and Asian immigrants. Although the vocabulary is still predominantly Portuguese, influences from other languages ​​are evident in the Brazilian lexicon, which today includes, for example:

Words borrowed from the Tupi Indian language are especially common in place names (place names). Portuguese also adopted the names of most plants and animals found in Brazil in this language. Most official animal names in Portuguese-speaking countries are also Amerindian in origin. However, many Tupi-Guaraní place names are not directly derived from Amerindian expressions, but were in fact coined by European settlers and Jesuit missionaries who made extensive use of the Gueral lingua in the early centuries of colonization. Many of the American words entered the Portuguese lexicon as early as the 16th century, and some were eventually borrowed into other European languages.

Between the ninth and early thirteenth centuries, the Portuguese acquired almost 800 words from Arabic under the influence of Moorish Iberia. They are often recognized by the original Arabic article "al". This category of words includes many common terms such as village, olive oil, hotel. Thus, the official language of Brazil contains many loanwords.

Languages ​​of South America

In fact, two languages ​​are used in South America - Spanish and Portuguese, which are closely related. Spanish does not have official status in Brazil. However, it is widely studied in schools and universities across the country. There is close linguistic interaction. Thus, Portuguese is the only official language of Brazil. Venezuela and Peru use Spanish as their official language. The number of speakers of these languages ​​in South America is approximately equal.

Unlike Spanish, Portuguese retains older speech forms on the one hand, and on the other contains a huge number of sound innovations of uncertain (most likely Celtic) origin. The set of vowel sounds, the specificity of the pronunciation of certain sounds, the change in the open-closedness of vowels make it close to French and Catalan. However, the vocabulary of Portuguese, as well as the grammatical system, is closer to Spanish. Moreover, due to the specific pronunciation of vowel sounds, Portuguese speakers understand spoken Spanish better than vice versa.

In areas of strong Spanish influence, such as southern Brazil, Portuguese speakers understand Spanish almost completely. In the nearby territories of Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia, a mixed Portuguese-Spanish language, Portuñol, emerged. Speakers of Classical Castilian do not understand spoken Portuguese very well, although written Portuguese is usually understood at ninety percent.

7th grade students who have the following assignment on their geography maps: “Line the official languages ​​of Brazil, Venezuela and Peru,” should keep in mind that these are Spanish and Portuguese.

A small part of the Brazilian population speaks the indigenous languages ​​of their peoples, of which there are more than 170.

The Brazilian variant has its own characteristics in pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and use of idiomatic expressions. Although these features are quite profound, they are not sufficient to consider them fundamentally different from the basic structure of the Portuguese language. Therefore, we can talk about the existence of a separate Brazilian language.

There are several main dialects spoken in different regions of Brazil. The influence of the media, especially national television networks, helps reduce language differences.

History of the development of the Portuguese language in Brazil

In the period from 1549 to 1830. Millions of dark-skinned slaves were resettled in Brazil, and Portuguese was replenished with new words from many African languages. These are mainly words related to religion, cuisine, and family relationships.

After Brazil gained independence in 1822, immigrants from Europe and Asia flocked to the central and southern regions, bringing their cultures and languages. In the 20th century, the difference between Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese widened further due to the emergence of new technical words. As a result, in different versions of the language the same words acquired different pronunciation and spelling forms.

Carrying out spelling reform

In Brazil, the Agreement officially entered into force in January 2009. Initially, the transition period for its implementation was established until December 31, 2012, but was later extended by presidential decree for another 3 years.

Brazil is famous for its numerous luxurious beaches, which stretch for hundreds of kilometers along the east coast of the country. However, every year millions of tourists from all over the world come to Brazil not only for the excellent beach resorts. Tourists are also interested in the sights and culture of this country, which gave the world samba, capoeira and Brazilian football.

Geography of Brazil

Brazil is located in South America. Brazil is bordered in the north by Suriname, Venezuela, Guyana and French Guiana, in the northwest by Colombia, in the west by Peru and Bolivia, in the south by Uruguay, and in the southwest by Argentina and Paraguay. In the east the country is washed by the Atlantic Ocean. The total area of ​​this state is 8,514,877 square meters. km., and the total length of the state border is 14,691 km.

The territory of Brazil is very diverse - there are lowlands, plains, hills, mountains. In the north there is the Amazonian Lowland, which passes into the Guiana Plateau, and in the south - the Brazilian Plateau. The highest local peak is Neblin Peak, whose height reaches 2,994 meters.

The main Brazilian rivers are the Amazon, Parana (and its main tributary Iguazu), Negro, San Francisco and Madeira.

Capital of Brazil

Brasilia is the capital of Brazil. The population of this city is now more than 2.6 million people. Brasilia was built in the late 1950s.

Official language

The official language is Portuguese.

Religion

About 86% of residents are Christians (of which more than 84% are Catholics, and more than 22% are Protestants).

Government of Brazil

According to the 1988 Constitution, Brazil is a federal republic. Its head is the President, who is elected for a term of 4 years. Executive power belongs to the President, Vice-President and the Cabinet of 15 ministers with a chairman.

The bicameral Brazilian parliament is called the National Congress, it consists of the Senate (81 senators) and the Chamber of Deputies (513 deputies).

The main political parties are the Workers' Party, the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, the Brazilian Social Democratic Party, the Democratic Party, the Progressive Party and the Republic Party.

Administratively, the country is divided into 26 states and one federal district with its center in Brasilia.

Climate and weather

The climate is varied, ranging from tropical to subequatorial. The Amazon basin has a tropical climate with an average annual temperature of +27C.

The best time to visit Brazil is from December to March. At this time, the weather is sunny enough to sunbathe on the beaches and swim in the ocean. In addition, you need to remember about the Brazilian Carnival in February.

In general, you can relax in this South American country all year round. But you need to take into account that in the northeast the rainy season occurs in April-July, and in the Rio de Janeiro area - in October-January.

Ocean off the coast of Brazil

In the east, Brazil is washed by the Atlantic Ocean. The length of the coastline is 7,491 km. The average sea temperature near the coast from January to March is +25C, and from July to September - +23C.

Rivers and lakes

A large number of rivers flow through Brazil. The largest of them are the Amazon, Parana (and its main tributary Iguazu), Negro, San Francisco and Madeira.

In the state of Parana, on the border with Argentina, are the famous Iguazu Falls, consisting of 270 individual waterfalls.

History of Brazil

The modern history of Brazil began in 1500, when the Portuguese fleet led by Pedro Alvares Cabral sailed to the shores of this country. The first Portuguese settlement in Brazil appeared in 1532, and the colonization of this country actually began in 1534, when the Portuguese king divided it into 12 colonies.

In 1549 the colonies were united into a single Brazilian Government General. By the middle of the 16th century, Brazil had become the world's largest supplier of sugar. To grow sugar cane, black slaves from Angola and Mozambique began to be imported there in large quantities.

In 1640, the Marquis de Montalvan became the first Viceroy of Brazil. By the end of the 17th century, sugar exports from this South American state had decreased markedly. However, nothing threatened the Brazilian economy, because Large reserves of gold were found in the country.

In 1822, Brazil declared independence from Portugal and the Brazilian Empire was formed, led by Emperor Pedro I.

Slavery in Brazil was only abolished in 1888. A year after this, in 1889, the Republic of Brazil was proclaimed.

In 1930, Getulio Vargas became the President of Brazil, who then introduced personal rule in the country - a dictatorship. In 1954, senior officers of the Brazilian army carried out a political armed coup, and Marshal Humberto Castelo Branco actually came to power.

Brazil is now the political and economic leader in South America.

Culture

Modern Brazilian society was formed as a result of the fusion of representatives of many cultures. This is why Brazilian culture is so diverse and interesting.

Capoeira, one of the most beautiful martial arts in the world, was born in Brazil. Capoeira emerged among black slaves as a response to cruelty at the hands of white planters.

Another characteristic feature of Brazilian culture is the samba dance. This dance remains the most popular form of folk music for many Brazilians.

Also, one should not forget about football, which for the vast majority of Brazilians has already become a real religion. Is it possible to imagine Brazilian culture without football?

Every year at the end of February before Lent, Carnival is held in many Brazilian cities, which these days has already become the most grandiose show in the world. The cities of Rio de Janeiro and Salvador are especially famous for their parades, the organizers of which spend several months annually on preparation.

Cuisine of Brazil

Brazilian cuisine was formed under the influence of the culinary traditions of local Indians, Portuguese, Italians, Germans, Africans and even Japanese and Arabs. The staple foods for many Brazilians are rice, black beans and cassava.

Some experts say that there is no single Brazilian cuisine as such, but there are separate regional culinary traditions.

Tourists in Brazil are recommended to try “feijoada” (rice, beans with tomatoes and meat), kebabs “charrasco”, “tutu” (mashed beans and meat), “embalaya” (meat stew with vegetables and tomatoes), “xinxim” (chicken with tomatoes and shrimp), “acaraje” (fried beans), vegetable soup “calderada”, shrimp with vegetables and spicy sauce “karuru”, Brazilian soup “mokicha”, etc.

Traditional soft drinks are fruit juices, coconut juice, and, of course, coffee.

Traditional alcoholic drinks are cachaça (a strong national alcoholic drink), beer and rum.

Sights of Brazil

In Brazil, tourists will find not only excellent picturesque beaches, but also very interesting sights. Near the border with Argentina and Paraguay on the Iguazu River there are the famous Iguazu Falls, which are visited by about 1 million tourists annually.

The most important Brazilian attraction is the huge 38-meter statue of Christ the Savior on Mount Corcovado in Rio de Janeiro.

65 km from Rio de Janeiro in Petropolis is the Imperial Museum, as well as the very interesting summer residence of Emperor Pedro I.

We recommend tourists to visit the city of Salvador, which once upon a time became the first settlement of the Portuguese in Brazil. In this city, a large number of medieval churches, monasteries and palaces have been preserved to this day.

We also recommend paying attention to Brazilian nature reserves and national parks, of which there are more than twenty in this country. This is, first of all, the Iguazu National Park, whose area is 17 thousand hectares and the Pantanal Nature Reserve, with an area of ​​150 thousand square meters. km.

Cities and resorts

The largest cities are Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Brasilia, Fortaleza, Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Manaus, and, of course, Sao Paulo.

Brazil is famous all over the world for its beaches. Some of them are among the best in the world. Every coastal Brazilian city can be called a beach resort. Naturally, the beach infrastructure there is well developed. The top ten best Brazilian beaches, in our opinion, include the following:

1. Baia do Sancho (Fernando de Noronha)
2. Lopes Mendes Beach (Ilha Grande)
3. Baia dos Porcos (Fernando de Noronha)
4. Praia dos Carneiros (Porto de Galinhas)
5. Dolphins Bay (Praia de Pipa)
6. Ipanema Beach (Rio de Janeiro)
7. Lagoa Azul (Ilha Grande)
8. Arpoador Beach (Rio de Janeiro)
9. Muro Alto Beach (Porto de Galinhas)
10. Gunga Beach (Maceio)

Souvenirs/shopping

Various handicrafts, leather goods, wallets and purses, handmade jewelry, football souvenirs, small figurines of Christ the Redeemer, women's kanga scarves, and the Brazilian traditional alcoholic drink cachaça are brought as souvenirs from Brazil.

Office hours

Brazil is a country in which the population actively uses various languages ​​and dialects.

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According to some estimates, residents of the country use about 175 languages ​​in everyday life. But this does not mean that each locality or province speaks its own.

Radio, television, various organizations and institutions use the official national language of Brazil.

A little history

Historians do not agree on when the first people appeared on the territory of modern Brazil.

Some call the period about 17 thousand years BC. e., others argue that this happened much later, around 6 thousand years BC. e.

But be that as it may, by the time the Portuguese colonialists arrived in the country, it was already inhabited by about 7 million people.

The discovery of Brazil occurred on April 24, 1500, by the Portuguese navigator Pedro Alvares Cabral.

But Portuguese colonization began a little later - in 1533. It was then that the first Europeans began to arrive in the country and the creation of colonies began.

During its development, Brazil became one of the most important exporters, first of various decorative wood, and then of sugar cane and coffee.

The country also had significant reserves of gold, which was quite actively mined by representatives of the colonial power.

Slaves were initially actively used as labor in Brazil.

Initially, local Indians were used as them, but since 1550 the Portuguese also began to massively import blacks and slaves from Africa as slaves.

The ban on turning local Indians into slaves began in Brazil in 1574.

But black slavery continued for more than three centuries, and was only abolished in 1888, shortly before the proclamation of the republic.

The country declared independence from Portugal in 1822 and initially became an empire.

However, the Brazilian Empire did not last long. Already in 1889, the military staged a coup and a republic was proclaimed. It was officially called the United States of Brazil.

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, immigrants from various parts of the world actively arrived in the country. Mainly they were Europeans and Japanese.

Currently, the country is also home to a significant number of citizens or former citizens of other countries who have arrived for permanent residence.

Which one is recognized as official?

When the Portuguese arrived in the territory of modern Brazil, they were quite actively in contact with the local population.

This eventually led to the emergence of Língua Geral. This is the so-called common language. It was a mixture of Portuguese and some borrowings from local dialects.

It was this that was actively used by the Portuguese living in the colonies, and by local residents until the middle of the 18th century.

In 1758, the Marquis de Pombal, who by that time had already become viceroy, single-handedly banned the use of Língua Geral and proclaimed Portuguese as the only state language. No one subsequently challenged the decision.

As a result, to this day Portuguese is the official language in Brazil.

Although Brazilian Portuguese has significant differences from the language used in Portugal itself.

Even the dictators who came to power in Brazil did not violate accepted norms and left Portuguese as the state language.

Indian dialects

The indigenous population of Brazil are Indians. Currently, from 500 to 750 thousand people consider themselves to be among them.

A significant part of them have completely switched to using the Portuguese language, but about 250 thousand people continue to preserve the language of their ancestors.

According to various estimates, the inhabitants of the country use from 145 to 175 different Indian languages ​​and dialects.

The country's constitution, which was adopted in 1988, recognizes the right of Indians to use their languages.

In 2003, three Indian languages ​​even received official status along with Portuguese, although only in the municipality of São Gabriel da Cachoeira.

Colloquial speech of language groups

Currently, representatives of a wide variety of peoples and nationalities live in Brazil.

You can quite easily meet Germans, Japanese, Russians and even Arabs in the country.

All of them speak more often in their own languages, only using Portuguese whenever possible in official documents and institutions.

Let's consider which language groups can most often be heard in the territory of modern Brazil:

Speech in Japanese is also quite common in Brazil. But Creole has already become extinct.

Video: information about the country

Native dialect

Today, only less than 1% of the country's population speaks a language other than Portuguese.

Usually these are representatives of certain tribes who inhabit certain territories of the country and use their native dialects for communication. The most common of these is the Metses language.

Its representatives often do not even teach their children Portuguese. And only those who, due to work or other reasons, are forced to encounter other residents of Brazil know it.