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BRAZIL
Language

Cities in BRAZIL

Rio de janeiro

Language

Portuguese language MapPortuguese language MapPhoto: Public domain

The official language of Brazil is Portuguese, which is more archaic in pronunciation and vocabulary than the language spoken in Portugal. In terms of sentence structure, on the other hand, it is more modern again. Due to the many influences of other languages, Brazilian Portuguese has about 10,000 words more than Portuguese in Portugal. Everyday Brazilian is also called "brasileiro falado".

Brazilian Portuguese has many loanwords of the language spoken by the Tupinambá peoples. In the 16th and 17th centuries, Tupi was a lingua franca in large areas to the north and along the coast, a commercial language spoken by all. These words occur especially in names of animals, plants and geographical terms. In remote areas, native languages are often still spoken, such as Tupi in the northeast and Guarani in the southeast. Words from African dialects (Nigeria and Angola) are still used in Afro-Brazilian religious ceremonies. Recently, 174 different Indian languages and dialects have been counted. However, many languages and dialects are about to disappear and many have already disappeared. In 1980, researchers found two more Indians who spoke the Xipaya language and two more Indians who still spoke the Puruborá language, but had not done so for several decades.

In 1995, 17% of the population over the age of 15 was illiterate.

Portuguese glossary:

Sources

Bayer, M. / Brazilië
Gottmer/Becht

Bayer, M. / Brazilië : mensen, politiek, economie, cultuur
Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen/Novib

Bender, E. / Brazil
Chelsea House Publishers

Brazil
Apa Publications

Brazil
Lonely Planet

Brazilië
The Reader's Digest

Dekker, J. / Reishandboek Brazilië
Elmar

Heinrichs, A. / Brazil
Children's Press

CIA - World Factbook

BBC - Country Profiles

Last updated March 2024
Copyright: Team The World of Info