Portuguese phrasebook

Portuguese (português) is a Romance language. It is spoken as the official language of Portugal and Brazil, with some differences in pronunciation, spelling, vocabulary, and use of pronouns. It is also the official language of Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and São Tomé and Príncipe. It is co-official in East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, and Macau. It is spoken in the Indian state of Goa and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, mainly by the elderly. It's also a significant minority language in Andorra and Luxembourg, where over 15% of each country's population is Lusophone. Portuguese-based creoles are still spoken in various former Portuguese colonies in Africa and Asia. There are around 250 million Portuguese native speakers, the vast majority in Brazil, and 24 million second-language speakers.

If you know a Romance language, it will be easier for you to learn Portuguese. It is closely related to Spanish, and even more closely related to Galician, which descends from the common ancestor tongue of Galician-Portuguese (also known as Old Portuguese, Medieval Galician, or galego-português). However, people who know a little Spanish may hastily conclude that Portuguese is close enough that it need not be studied separately. While they may be able to figure out the meaning of some signage, items on a menu, etc., understanding of verbal communication will be very low to nothing. Words such as "gente" (people) are pronounced so differently in either variant of Portuguese, that you would hardly recognise them. Also, some personal names such as "Jorge Ramos," for example, will be pronounced quite differently as well. If you speak Spanish fluently, invest a few hours getting used to the sound differences and some common words—after that you'll be able to make rapid progress understanding what people are saying to you. If you know Spanish, watch for a lot of new vowels, a large number of contractions (comparable to del and al) and irregular plurals. Some pronunciation differences can be easily missed, such as año (year) becoming ano. If you speak good French, you may find Portuguese pronunciation to be fairly easy, though much of the vocabulary will have changed substantially.