Galician phrasebook

Galician (galego) is the Romance language most closely related to Portuguese. It is spoken in Galicia, which is in north-western Spain. Portuguese speakers (both European and Brazilian) will usually tell you that Galician is a dialect of their own language, while Galicians will tell you the opposite in a manner similar to that which exists between Bulgarians and Macedonians. Still, Portuguese and Galician speakers can understand each other almost perfectly without a translator.

Galician has a different spelling and accent from Portuguese, and contains unique colloquialisms and traces of former cultures, using a number of pre-Indo-European, Celtic and Germanic words not found in Portuguese. On the other hand, there are Arabic words found in Portuguese that are not found in Galician.

Learning Galician is generally not necessary for communication, as nearly all Galician speakers are also able to speak Spanish. That being said, Galicians are proud of their language, so any attempt by visitors to speak it will be warmly received.