The Portuguese language is one of the most widely spoken around the world today. Portuguese is not just the sixth most spoken language in the world, but it also has a good presence on almost all of the continents. Here are some of the amazing facts about this wonderful language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1.<\/strong> Official Language of 9 Countries<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It is a general misconception that Portuguese is only spoken in Portugal and Brazil. But the reality is, it is the official language in 9 different countries: Portugal, Brazil, Timor-Leste, Equatorial Guinea, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, and S\u00e3o Tom\u00e9 and Principe. Also, Portuguese is the official language of the Chinese autonomous territory of Macau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2.<\/strong> Fastest Growing European Language After English<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Due to the large numbers of Portuguese speakers around the globe (it is the 6th most spoken language in this world) and its distribution across Europe, South America, Africa and Asia, Portuguese is growing rapidly and has the potential to be an \u201cinternational communication language,\u201d as per the UNESCO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. Just 5% Portuguese Speakers Live in Portugal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a big surprise, with populous countries like Brazil and Mozambique having it as their official language, the majority of Portuguese speakers does not hail from Portugal. Whereas, the assumed proportions of Portuguese speakers living outside of Portugal are quite astonishing, only 1\/20th<\/sup>\u00a0of the world\u2019s Lusophones actual numbers live in the language\u2019s home country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. Brazilian Portuguese Uses K, W and Y for Exceptional Cases.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The letters K [kah], W [dublioo] and Y [ee gray-goo] are generally not used in Brazilian Portuguese native speaking words, except for names, chemical references and abbreviations for distances like (Km) or weights (kg).<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. Some Portuguese Words Have Been Borrowed by English<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The worldwide presence of Portuguese language inevitably led to several of its words making their way into the English language. Instances such as embarrass<\/strong> (hails from the Portuguese embara\u00e7ar, to tie in knots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6. Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese Quite Different<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n While mostly compared to the difference between British and American English, which are variations of the same language yet quite similar, Portuguese from Brazil and from Portugal are considerably more distant. The major difference comes during the usage of the second-person pronoun. In Portugal, tu and v\u00f3s are very commonly used, while these (specifically the latter) are rarely used in Brazil, which favors the pronouns voc\u00ea and voc\u00eas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Though voc\u00ea is considered as modern and less formal, along with the remainder of Brazilian Portuguese, the contrast is in fact true. Voc\u00ea is a contracted variant of the appropriate courteous greeting vossa merc\u00ea (\u201cyour mercy\u201d), and several of the differences between the 2 versions relate to Brazilian Portuguese\u2019s inclination to use terms from 18th<\/sup> and 19th<\/sup> century Portuguese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n You can check Hello-Hello’s exclusive Portuguese language learning courses for iPhone at https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/learn-portuguese-hello-hello\/id426677372<\/a>, for Android at https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.Hello_Hello_Portuguese<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Portuguese language is one of the most widely spoken around the world today. Portuguese is not just the sixth most spoken language in the world, but it also has a good presence on almost all of the continents. Here are some of the amazing facts about this wonderful language. 1. Official Language of 9 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":159,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[11,9,10,13,12],"class_list":["post-158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-best-portuguese-language-learning-app","tag-best-portuguese-language-learning-android-app","tag-best-portuguese-language-learning-app","tag-best-portuguese-language-learning-iphone-app","tag-hello-hello-language-learning","tag-portuguese-language-learning-website"],"yoast_head":"\n