Learn to Speak Portuguese

I want to learn to speak Portuguese. How different is Portuguese from Spanish? Is it hard to learn? What will it cost me? What will learning to speak Portuguese do for me?

How different is Portuguese from Spanish? A thousand years ago they were pretty much the same language. Both evolved from Latin brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Roman Empire. Even now, Spaniards living near Portugal speak dialects that are much like Portuguese. But Portuguese has evolved differently. Notably, it as nasal vowels. Spanish doesn't. It preserved many sounds from Latin that Spanish didn't. If you can learn what those major differences are, and you know Spanish, you can understand most formal Portuguese like that spoken on television and radio. But everyday Portuguese will probably not make much sense.

Is it hard to learn from English? No, not really. It is considered an easy language to learn because it has a fairly simple grammar and because many of its words are similar to English words. Besides, learning how to speak Portuguese is often a fun experience. Speaking it well is a self-rewarding exercise because of its musicality.

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