Portuguese as a Global Language

[Kotro]

The mother tongue of over 200 million people throughout the Earth, Portuguese is one of the six or seven most spoken languages in the world, mostly riding on the strenghts of the vast Brazilian population. 

While its appeal is still mostly localized in medium to small communities, what do you think are its strenghts as a global language?

Portuguese is the most widely spoken language in the Southern Hemisphere, and some have conjectured that it could in the future be the lingua franca of that area of the globe. What do you think are the chances of that ever happening?

In view of the effort to facilitate Portuguese becoming a more global language, what is your opinion on the recent reforms to make the language, in all it's regional variants, more uniform (at the sake of loosing, for instance, a lot of the Latin roots of European Portuguese). We know that one of the main reasons for the success of the English language is its abbility to constantly adapt - will Portuguese be able to do so, or is it condemned to the same fate as the more conservative French language?

If you are learning Portuguese as a second language, in what context do you expect to use it? International business, as is the case with the teaching of the language in many Asian countries, neighbourly familiarity, as might be the case of Spain, Latin America or Sub-saharan Africa, or just hobbyist interest?

[caparica007]

Portuguese it the 5th most spoken language in the world, as you said the most spoken in the southern hemisphere and the 3rd more spoken in the northern.

The thing is no big economy (apart from Brazil?...) speaks Portuguese so why would people learn it?

[andre-nunes]

Portuguese it the 5th most spoken language in the world, as you said the most spoken in the southern hemisphere and the 3rd more spoken in the northern.

The thing is no big economy (apart from Brazil?...) speaks Portuguese so why would people learn it?

Well for the reasons you've mentioned, Brazil is rising to become a world power and it's just a matter of time until they start exporting services, movies, video games in Portuguese so it will be a good language to learn if you plan to work with them.

This also means that the major companies in the world will have to give customer support in Portuguese as the buying power of the Brazilian increase. Don't forget that Brazil's population is 200 million people which is an attractive market to explore

[Peninha]

I do hope Brazil rises up as a big economy and that us Portuguese would gain more work possibilities just for the fact that Portuguese is our mother tongue. Let's see if Brazil does rise, they have worlwide events coming up that are going to be huge for them.

[Hardison]

I don't speak Portuguese, but my best friend is Brazilian. I enjoying listening to speak Portuguese with her friends. I think it's a lovely language. Portuguese isn't on my list of languages to learn.

I didn't realize that it is the fifth most spoken language on the planet. I can imagine many American companies and global companies are salivated at the potential to make money in Brazil.

[Peninha]

Actually the sound of Portuguese from Brazil is rather different from the sound of the Portuguese from Portugal, the Brazilan one seems a more sang music, it's more melodic.

But you're right, Brazil has a huge market and it's already on the top economies in the world I think, but it can grow even more.

[andre-nunes]

Actually the sound of Portuguese from Brazil is rather different from the sound of the Portuguese from Portugal, the Brazilan one seems a more sang music, it's more melodic.

But you're right, Brazil has a huge market and it's already on the top economies in the world I think, but it can grow even more.

People usually say that European Portuguese is very guttural, I think that's due to our Islamic heritage and our European neighbors. Brazil was influenced by many different cultures and developed a "softer accent"...