What language is spoken in Brazil, or a question to fill. What language is spoken in brazil brazil country language

“What language do they speak in Brazil?”, the topic is as difficult for me as - “ What do Brazilian girls look like”, because I really love the Portuguese language (and in Brazil they speak Portuguese) and I am ready to talk about it for hours. I will try to convey the information without much lyrical digressions :)

If I had been asked three years ago what my favorite language is, I would have answered without hesitation that it was Spanish. Now, it is very difficult for me to answer this question, I still love Spanish very much, but the growing love for Portuguese, as well as the thoughts of staying in Brazil for a long time, do not allow me to give an unambiguous answer.

Official language in Brazil

So, as I said, the official language in Brazil is Portuguese. It is often said with the qualifier "Brazilian Portuguese" (but not just "Brazilian"), because the Brazilian version and the European version of Portuguese have quite a few differences. In general, Portuguese is a unique language. The first thing you pay attention to is the so-called “melody” of the language. When I first came to Brazil, I had the feeling that people around were not talking, but reading poetry. Because despite the fact that Portuguese does not have the tonalities of Asian languages ​​(such as Chinese or Thai), native speakers speak with a lot of expression, pausing and emphasizing the main points of speech. It's hard to explain in words, it's better to just hear:

As they say in different states of Brazil

The second unusual thing about Portuguese is its informality. Informality lies in the fact that there are no clear rules “how to speak”. There is simply “so accepted”, “so they say” and that is enough. Moreover, how “accepted” depends on the place - the same word (or rather, even the same letter) is spoken differently in different states.

For example, in Rio da Janeiro, one of the hallmarks of sotaque carioca (carioca accent) is the use of the letter "sh" instead of "s". If in São Paulo paulista they say “doiS heaiS, eStra, myS, eStarno, instagram”, then in carioca they say “doiS heiS, eStra, maiS, eStragno, inStagram”. It may not seem like a big difference in writing, but in reality, at first it seems that they speak some other language. In the south of the country, for example, in Port Alegre, the letter R is pronounced differently. If in Sao Paulo and Rio, it’s more like “X” than “P” (“reais” reads like “heaysh”), then in Port Alegre it’s pure P - “Reiss”, “porta”. Or, for example, a piece of “te” at the end of a word, almost all of Brazil reads it as “che”, for example, in the word “noite” - “noyche”, if you ask, “why “che”, and not “te” (noite )?”, they will answer “well, they just say so.” There is also a funny moment, with words ending in some consonants, to which for some reason the letter “i” is added, hence the strange “facebook”, “hipI-hopi” and “funky” appear, and it doesn’t really matter which word to add to For example, I have a friend named Patrick who everyone calls Patricky. If you collect all these differences, you really get a separate, “Brazilian language”.

There are other differences, for example, in the state of Bahia, people speak noticeably faster, and in Manaus, they use verb conjugations that are more typical of European Portuguese than Brazilian. The differences also apply to the words used, somewhere they say “menino” more often, somewhere “garoto” (boy), or in a friendly manner in some states they say more “mano” in others “cara”.

Carioca vs Paulista

It's funny that despite all these differences, everyone understands each other, and no one tries to retrain anyone (although paulista and carioca say about each other that “eles falam estranio”, “eles falam estranio” (they speak strangely)).

Take at least this video where Carioca and Paulista joke about each other's habits and manner of speaking.

That is, if you speak Portuguese at least somehow, it is not necessary to adapt to the local accent, you will be understood, everything becomes more difficult if you do not know Portuguese. In this case, it will be quite difficult in Brazil.

Do Brazilians speak English?

One of the main questions that arise for tourists who are going to visit Brazil is "Do Brazilians speak English?". To give a definitive answer without going into too much detail, I would rather say no than yes. No, of course, you can find those who know English (especially among young people and in tourist areas), but in general, the situation and the chance of success are approximately the same if you conditionally tried to buy a train ticket at the railway station in Perm using only English language. This is roughly what awaits you if you use English in Brazil.

In addition, it is important to note such a point that if in Russia the first reaction of a person who does not know English, when he is asked something in an unfamiliar language, will be a stupor and the search for options for how to get out of this situation with minimal losses, then in Brazil (as I already wrote in the article “27 things that will surprise you in Brazil”), you will be answered calmly in a tone, as they would be answered by a native speaker

I would like a cup of tea please.

Eu não entendi. O que voce quer? Voce gostaria o cafe? Pode repeater?

Tea, tea, please

Aaa, ta bom, agora entendi. Voce quer um cha. Copa grande, media ou pequena? Quente? Frio? Comleite?

Do Brazilians understand Spanish?

If we talk about what language can help out in Brazil, if you don’t know Portuguese, then this is definitely Spanish. For me, the closest analogy is always when you (like me, for example), without knowing the Ukrainian language, try to read something in it. It would not have occurred to me myself to call the composition “warehouse”, and the year “rick”, but reading, you can understand the general meaning. And in general, this analogy is preserved even in everyday life, on most goods (as in Russia), the inscriptions are duplicated in two languages.

Do Brazilians speak Russian?

If we talk about the language in Brazil, it is worth noting an interesting fact that among the Brazilians there are those who study the Russian language, I personally know several people who are not only taught, but also have good success in this difficult task.

The main difficulties, of course, are grammar, I experienced it myself when I tried to explain how the form of a word changes depending on the number, tense and case. But with pronunciation, oddly enough, everything is smooth, much better than that of English speakers (who have almost no soft sounds, and who point-blank do not hear the difference between “love” and “lub”) and Asians. If you ask a Brazilian to repeat a phrase, then literally after 2-3 attempts, he will be able to say it, with almost no accent.

In general, of course, I don’t want to say that you shouldn’t go to Brazil without knowing the Portuguese language. I know people who survived here, speaking only Russian, but to say that this will greatly complicate life is to say nothing. A good help would be at least English and a basic Portuguese phrase book. Even if they don’t understand you, it will still be nice for Brazilians that you are trying to speak their language, they love it and will definitely appreciate it!

Hot and so far away for us Brazil ... This country remains a mystery to many people. One of the frequently asked questions is what language is written and spoken here? No, it's not Spanish at all, as many people think.

Before you go to Brazil, we advise you to learn the language spoken by all the inhabitants. Despite the fact that well-educated Brazilians speak English, most of the population is not very good at it. You may also need Spanish, as many Brazilians learn it in schools and courses.

What is the state language in Brazil: answers to questions

The official name of the country is the Federative Republic of Brazil. It has colossal dimensions and the state is the largest in South America. If we talk about global scale, it ranks 5th in terms of both size and population.

What language is spoken and written in Brazil? As we said, this is not Spanish at all, and not even English. The official language is Portuguese. Not surprising, since until 1815 Brazil was a colony of Portugal. The country's full independence was recognized in 1822.

Language is an element of unity in this state. Portuguese is spoken by 100% of the native population. The exception is immigrants, mainly from Japan and South Korea, representatives of Indian groups.

Portuguese in Brazil and Portugal: is there a difference?

Despite the fact that the language is one, there is still a difference. It can be compared to the difference between English in the US and in the UK. Despite the identity of most words, they are pronounced differently. Some words, rules for using nouns, verbs and pronouns also differ.

written language

Its rules are the same for all residents of Brazil. It is slightly different from the rules followed in Portugal. Written Brazilian Portuguese differs markedly from spoken Brazilian Portuguese. Alas, the majority of the population does not have a clue how words are spelled correctly. Grammar rules are complex and not everyone can learn them. Even many foreigners who can speak Portuguese fluently and have lived in Brazil for many years find it difficult to write even a few words.

And what about other languages?

Other languages ​​are not widely spoken in the country. This is due to the fact that Brazil is large, relatively isolated and self-sufficient. One of the most popular here is English, it is studied in schools, in private courses. Spanish is also widely spoken, as it is very similar to Portuguese.

In terms of English proficiency, Brazil is at a lower level than the countries of Latin America. The level of teaching in schools and universities is not very encouraging, so those who want to learn English attend private schools and courses to study it. Brazilians who know several languages ​​have every chance of getting a well-paid job.

This is interesting!

According to the 1940 census, German was the second most popular language in Brazil after Portuguese. The main reason is that there were many immigrants from Germany in the country. Today, there are still regions in the country whose inhabitants speak German, as well as Portuguese.

If you are going to Brazil to live or just travel, we advise you to learn the simplest words in Portuguese. If you know Spanish, that's fine too. And of course, in any situation, knowledge of the English language will save you.

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

Brazilian language

What is the official language in the Portuguese variant is a set of Portuguese dialects used mainly in Brazil. It is spoken by almost all 200 million inhabitants of the country. 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 Portuguese-speaking African countries. In African countries, it tends to be more closely related to modern European Portuguese, in part 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 Portuguese-speaking countries, which included representatives of all countries whose official language was Portuguese, reached an agreement on spelling reform in order to unify the two standards that were then used by Brazil, on the one hand, and the rest of the Portuguese-speaking countries, on the other. . This spelling reform went into effect in Brazil on January 1, 2009. In Portugal, the reform was signed by the President on 21 July 2008 and included a six-year adaptation period during which both spellings coexisted. All countries of this community have signed the text of this document. In Brazil, this reform has been in effect since January 2016. Portugal and other Portuguese-speaking countries also started using the new orthography.

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

Portuguese variant

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 then widely used. For some time, the Portuguese coexisted with a lingua franca called lingua geral, based on the Indian languages ​​used by the Jesuit missionaries, as well as various African languages ​​spoken by the 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 interior of Brazil 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, efforts were made by the Portuguese government to expand the use of the Portuguese language throughout the colony. Especially because its use in Brazil could guarantee Portugal the lands claimed by the Spaniards (according to various treaties signed in the 18th century, these lands could be transferred to the people who actually occupied them). Under the leadership of the Marquis of Pombal (1750-1777), Portuguese began to be preferred by the Brazilians, as he expelled the Jesuit missionaries who taught the lingua geral and forbade the use of other vernaculars.

The failed attempts to colonize the city of Rio de Janeiro by the French in the 16th century and the northeast of the country by the Dutch in the 17th century had little effect on Portuguese. Substantial waves of non-Portuguese-speaking settlers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (mostly from Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Japan, and Lebanon) were linguistically integrated into the Portuguese-speaking majority over several 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 the Portuguese language, which is spoken by 97 percent of the country's population.

The 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 population groups use the Portuguese language 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 they speak Portuguese

As a result of territorial expansion during the period of colonial conquest, speakers of Portuguese and mixed Creole 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, on the islands in the Caribbean, where Portuguese-based creoles are spoken. Cape Verde Islands - the most widely known Portuguese Creole. Portuguese speakers are commonly referred to as lusophones in both English and Portuguese.

Influence

Portuguese is part of the Ibero-Romance group that developed from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in the medieval kingdom of Galicia and retained some of the 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 speakers is 260 million. This language is the sixth most spoken in the world, the third most common European and one of the main ones 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 the UNESCO figures, it has the highest growth potential as an international in southern Africa and South America. Portuguese is a global language that is 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 either compulsory or taught in the schools of these South American countries.

At the start of the 21st century, after Macau was ceded to China and Brazilian immigration to Japan slowed, the use of Portuguese in Asia declined. 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

How many speakers does the official language of Brazil have? In July 2017, the total number of Portuguese speakers is estimated at 279 million. This number does not include the Lusophone diaspora, which is estimated at about 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 significant proportion of these people are naturalized citizens born outside the territory of Brazil and Portugal, and the 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 by more than 250 million people daily who have direct or indirect, legal and social contact with it. Portuguese can be the only language of communication, or is used only for certain purposes: for education, communication with local or international administration, for trade and the purchase of various services.

Portuguese vocabulary

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

The development of the Portuguese language in Brazil (and therefore in the rest of the areas where it is spoken) has been influenced by other languages ​​with which it has come into contact, mainly in vocabulary: first the native Amerindian vernaculars, then the various African languages ​​spoken slaves, and finally the languages ​​of later European and Asian immigrants. Although the vocabulary is still predominantly Portuguese, the influence of other languages ​​is evident in the Brazilian lexicon, which today includes, for example:

Words borrowed from the Tupi Indian language are especially common in toponyms (place names). Also, Portuguese adopted the names of most of the 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-Guarani place names are not a direct consequence of Native American expressions, but were actually invented by European settlers and Jesuit missionaries, who widely used the lingua geral in the first 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 recognizable by the original Arabic article "al". This category of words includes many general 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 a 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 has retained older speech forms on the one hand, and on the other hand contains a huge amount of sound innovations of indeterminate (most likely Celtic) origin. The set of vowel sounds, the specificity of the pronunciation of certain sounds, the change in open-closed vowels make it close to French and Catalan. However, the vocabulary of Portuguese, as well as the grammatical system, is closer to Spanish. At the same time, due to the specifics of the 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 arose. Classical Castilian speakers do not understand spoken Portuguese very well, although written Portuguese is usually understood by ninety percent.

Grade 7 students who have such a task in geography contour maps: "Sign the official languages ​​​​of Brazil, Venezuela and Peru" should keep in mind that this is Spanish and Portuguese.

On April 22, 1500, the Portuguese Pedro Alvares Cabral landed for the first time on the Brazilian coast and took possession of it. To get ahead of the Spaniards and the French, King João III of Portugal, starting in 1531, forced the colonization of the country. The indigenous population - the Indians, who did not die in battles and from infectious diseases, were turned into slaves or forced out into the interior of the country. From 1574, Negro slaves were brought in to work on the plantations where cotton and sugar cane were grown.
In 1822, Brazil gained independence from Portugal and became an empire in its own right. In 1850, slavery was banned by law. And in 1889, the monarchy form of government ceased to exist in Brazil. In accordance with the Constitution adopted on February 24, 1891, Brazil became a federal republic. It currently consists of 26 states and 1 federal (capital) district. Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world, covering an area of ​​8,515,770 km2 and having (2017 estimate) 207,350,000 inhabitants.
The population of Brazil is 47.73% white, 43.13% mestizo, 7.61% black and 1.5% Amerindian and Asian. The Indian indigenous population mixed with the Portuguese who arrived there first, and then the Negroes and representatives of other peoples who arrived in Brazil for five centuries.

The Portuguese language of Brazil and Portugal has certain differences in spelling, pronunciation, syntax and vocabulary, which are explained, on the one hand, by geographical remoteness, and, on the other hand, by the special ethnic composition of the Brazilian population. So, from the language of the most important groups of the Tupi-Guarani Indians, thousands of words passed into the Brazilian version of the Portuguese language. First of all, this applies to words denoting the names of persons, places, certain trees, plants, animals, objects, dishes and diseases. In a similar way, words were also borrowed from the language of the African Negroes brought to Brazil.
Linguistic scholars believe that the Portuguese language of Brazil contains some syntactic constructions and pronunciation norms that were previously used equally in Portugal and Brazil. However, over time they have received a different development in Portugal. On the other hand, in Brazilian Romantic literature, there were aspirations against the conservative adherence to Portuguese grammatical norms and a mixture of the norms of the traditional solemn (high) style in the language, various forms of colloquial speech and expressions from the vernacular language of all regions of Brazil was promoted. In the 20th century, Brazilian writers sought to avoid significant differences between literary and spoken language. In literary works and in the speech of all segments of the Brazilian population, there are word usages that are a vivid example of non-compliance with the literary norms of the Portuguese language in Portugal. In the Portuguese language of Portugal and Brazil, there are sometimes two completely different words for the same object, for example:
tram: Braz. bonde m.r., port. electrical m.r.; bus: braz. onibus m.r., port. autocarro m.r.; train: braz. trem m.r., port. comboio m.r.; stewardess: bro. aeromoca railway, port. hospedeira zh.r.

Pronunciation of Portuguese in Brazil

The discrepancies between the pronunciation of Portuguese in Portugal and in Brazil (where several regions of the country have their own local dialects) are not so great as to be a serious obstacle to understanding spoken language.

Attention! The information below is intended for those who have studied at least the first 5 lessons of this course.

Differences are observed in the following cases:

Unstressed vowels in Brazil are pronounced clearer, so in general the difference between stressed and unstressed syllables is not as strong as in Portugal.

Nasal vowels And diphthongs in Brazil more nasalized than in Portugal.

Features of the pronunciation of vowels:

Unstressed e V end of word pronounced not like [(ə)], but like [i].

Example:
diss e[ˈdʒisi]

Unstressed e inside word it is not pronounced like [(ə)], but like [e].

Example:
b e ber

Unstressed o V end of word it is not pronounced as a mandatory [u] in Portugal, but as [o] pronounced in some areas of Brazil.

Example:
group o[ˈgrupo]

Unstressed o within a word pronounced not like [u], but like [o].

Example:
rec o mecar

Features of the pronunciation of diphthongs:

Diphthong [ɐj̃], in writing em, en or ãe, pronounced in Brazil more closedly, namely as [ẽj̃].

Example:
order em[ˈɔrdẽj̃]

Diphthong ei it is not pronounced like [ɐj], but like or like [e].

Example:
ters ei ro

Features of the pronunciation of consonants:

Before a vowel pronounced like [i], d And t in Brazil they are not pronounced like [d] and [t], but like [ʤ] and like [ʧ].

Example:
vin t e [ˈvĩʧi]

At the end of a word and syllable l pronounced not like [l], but like a weak [u].

Example:
fina l mente

At the end of a word r pronounced either very weakly or not at all. In some areas of Brazil r it is pronounced like a posterior uvular [ʀ], and in some - as an anterior lingual accepted in Portugal, or even like [x], i.e. as a voiceless velar fricative.

Only in certain areas of Brazil s at the end of a word or syllable is pronounced as in Portugal, i.e. like [ʃ] or like [ʒ] (see Activity 3). Much more often s pronounced like [s] or like [z].

Example:
bu s car

Before m And n vowels e, o And a always pronounced in brazil closed.

Example:
Quil ô metro instead of Quil ó metro

Therefore, root vowels e or o and following them m or n are pronounced differently than in Portugal (see lesson 2), - in the 2nd person singular. numbers and in the 3rd person singular. and many others. numbers - closed.

Example:
c o mes [ˈkomis] instead of c o mes [ˈkɔm(ə)ʃ]

Whereas in Portugal the verbs in -ar in the 1st person pl. numbers Presente And PPS distinguish between open and closed pronunciation a before -mos, in Brazil in both cases they pronounce closed a.

Example:
in Portugal: cheg a mos [ʃ (ə) ˈgɐmuʃ] - cheg á mos [ʃ(ə)ˈgɐmuʃ]
in Brazil: cheg a mos [ʃ (ə) ˈgɐmos] - cheg a mos [ʃ(ə)ˈgɐmos]

Spelling of Portuguese in Brazil

In cases where in Portugal the vowel is before m or n is pronounced openly and above it in writing is placed acento agudo, in Brazil this vowel is pronounced closed (see Activity 5: accent marks) and is written above it acento circumflexo.

Examples:

in Portugal
Quil ó metro
t é nis
ir ó Nico

in Brazil
Quil ô metro
t ê nis
ir ô Nico

In Brazil, unlike Portugal, the letter c before s, c or t written only when it should be spoken. In many words c is omitted, despite the fact that in Portugal it is pronounced in these words.
This also applies to p before s, c And t.

Examples:

in Portugal
a c tividade
arquite c to
dire cção
egi p to
espe c tador
espe c taculo
eucali p to
exa c to
exce p to
fa c to

in Brazil
antividade
arquiteto
direçao
Egito
espetador
espetaculo
eucalito
exato
exceto
fato

The only word that spells two in Portugal n, connosco, in Brazil spelled with one n, i.e. conosco. In other cases, both in Portugal and in Brazil, doubled can only be s or r.

Features of the spoken pronunciation of the Portuguese language in Brazil are partially reflected in writing. So, in Brazil you can sometimes find the spelling pra instead of para. Verb forms estar sometimes written without initials es-, i.e. instead of esta spelled ta.

In colloquial language, instead of address Senhor often used Seu, if it is immediately followed by the last name or first name.

Grammatical features of the Portuguese language in Brazil

Gerund

A construction with a preposition that has become very common in Portugal a and infinitive estar + a + infinitivo is not typical for Brazil. Instead, the gerund is predominantly used there:
estar + gerúndio.

Use of the definite article

Unlike Portugal, in Brazil, the definite article is usually not used before possessive pronouns, before proper names, before names used to indicate position and degree of kinship. In Brazil, the definite article is omitted more often than in Portugal.

Diminutive forms

Diminutive forms in Brazil are used much more often than in Portugal.

Contact in Brazil

Contrary to Portuguese tradition (see Lesson 7), address in Brazil is greatly simplified. Respectful treatment is limited to words about senhor or a senhora, and senhorita against a young unmarried woman. Used as an informal address voce, which corresponds to the Russian pronoun You. In the south of Brazil, the pronoun is partially used as such an address. tu. Unlike Portugal, in Brazil official and honorary titles, as a rule, are not used. Despite the fact that every graduate of the university has the title of doctor, in Brazil this title is not given such great social significance as in Portugal. Teachers are addressed with the words professor or professora, regardless of whether they work at a school, gymnasium, institute or university, whether they teach schoolchildren or students.

Prepositions

The use of a number of prepositions in combination with certain verbs in Brazil differs in some cases from their use in Portugal. Some stable prepositional combinations characteristic of Portugal do not exist in Brazil and vice versa. Here we will not give examples for each individual case, we will only say that where in Brazil the preposition is used with the verb denoting purposeful movement em, in Portugal the preposition would be used a or para(cm.

Brazil- one of the few countries characterized by multilingualism. But it stands out from the rest in that the languages ​​used here are not 2-3, but as many as 175. And this is far from the limit, because in the past, when the population of the state was larger, about 1000 different dialects were spoken here. 120 of them have disappeared over the past 50 years. What languages ​​are spoken in the country now, and which of them is the state language?

Historical preconditions for the formation of multilingualism in Brazil

Why is Brazil a multilingual country? Initially, its territory was inhabited by tribes of Indians, each of which had its own dialect. According to scientists, at that time there were 270-1078 different languages ​​in the country. After the colonization of the country by Europeans, who ousted most of the tribes from the inhabited territories, Portuguese was spoken in the country.

Over time, Europeans began to transport African slaves to Brazil, who brought their dialects. This was followed by the colonization of the country by France, Spain, Holland, England. Each of these nationalities has left its mark in the formation of the linguistic culture of Brazil.

And as a result of further immigration of populations from Europe and Asia, the number of languages ​​in the country has increased even more. But gradually, under the influence of geo-, demo- and political factors, it decreased to 175.

State language of the country

Among such multilingualism, the status of the state in Brazil has only one language - Portuguese. This is despite the fact that almost all South America speaks Spanish. What explains this phenomenon?

The fact is that in 1500 the country was colonized by Portugal. Since the adjacent territories were controlled by Spain, between these European states was signed Treaty of Tordisillar on the delimitation of possessions. Therefore, most Latin American countries speak Spanish, and only Brazil speaks Portuguese.

After colonization, Brazil was gradually settled by immigrants from Europe who sailed on ships. As a result of mixing their language (Portuguese) with the local dialect, Língua Geral was formed. This dialect was used until the middle of the 17th century, when, by the decision of the Marquis of Pompal, it was banned, and Portuguese was declared the official language.

Officially, its status was enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Brazil in 1988. Today, the Portuguese language is used by almost the entire population of the country (99%) - in government agencies, schools, on television.

But individual administrative units of Brazil have several official languages. So in the municipality San Gabriel da Cachoeira, which is part of the Amazon state, the languages ​​\u200b\u200bof Indian tribes are actively used to this day - tucano, baniva, nyengatu. According to the program to support the ethnic population of the country, they, along with the Portuguese, have the status of state.

Brazilian Portuguese

The modern Portuguese language used in Brazil differs significantly from European. Under the influence of local dialects, it has changed a lot in lexical and phonetic terms, more than 10 of its dialects have appeared. Therefore, this version of Portuguese is called Brazilian.

So the most common varieties of Portuguese in Brazil are dialects Rio de Janeiro And Sao Paulo. Even special dictionaries have been created containing words used exclusively in these areas.

In 2015, Brazil switched to a new, most common spelling norm. This made it much easier to search the Internet in Portuguese and avoided inaccuracies in the interpretation of various official documents.

How to communicate in Brazil to tourists

In Latin America, developed tourism and Brazil is no exception. Therefore, those wishing to visit the state have the question of what language to speak here.

In addition to the state Portuguese, a number of Indian dialects, the local population uses about 30 languages ​​in everyday life, belonging to the Germanic, Romance, Slavic and even Asian groups.

Of the European dialects in Brazil, Portuguese is actively used, which is the state language, Spanish (in the border areas), German, Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian. The last two can most often be heard in the quarters of gringos (white settlers) - Sao Paulo, Vila Olimpia, Santa Cruz. Of the Asian languages ​​in the country, you can hear Japanese (the most common), Chinese (several of its dialects have survived, including endangered ones), Korean. Sometimes even local residents cannot always determine what language their neighbors speak.

Thus, there is no single answer to the question of what language is spoken in Brazil. He is a complex and varied phenomenon. During the existence of the country, the peoples inhabiting it mixed culture, language and traditions. They borrowed from each other some words, expressions, turns, intonations. The speech of immigrants gradually transformed, acquiring characteristic "Brazilian" features. And now it has mixed up so much that representatives of different nationalities find in it something of their own, native. This makes Brazil a unique country, bringing together people from hundreds of different countries.