Collectively, in Portugal, Brazil and other former Portuguese colonies, Portuguese is spoken by over 250M people. It is the 8th most spoken language and the 3rd most spoken Europen language worldwide(after English and Portuguese). Portuguese, combined with Spanish, French, Italian and Romanian, is one of five contemporary Romance languages. The largest number of Portuguese languages speakers, around 300M native speakers, are primarily found in Brazil (around 200M). Portuguese is also cited as the 6th most widely spoken language in the world (as a first language). Although Portugal has just 10.5M people, 20 million Portuguese people live all over the world.
Let’s now see why Portuguese is so famous.
- Portuguese is a global language. It is spoken as an official language in a total of nine countries across four different continents. These countries include Brazil, Portugal, Cape Verde, Sao Tome and others. Out of all these different countries, Brazil has the highest number of Portuguese speakers with a total exceeding 230 million native speakers. Additionally, it is known as the seventh most widely spoken language around the globe.
- Did you know the cost of living in Portugal is extremely low when compared to some of the metropolitan countries around the world? Along with Portugal’s low cost of living, an individual can enjoy great cuisine, beautiful weather and a completely laid-back lifestyle of living. If you are sick and tired of your lifestyle, consider moving to Portugal.
- Portuguese is one of the most underrated languages in the entire world. Even though it has a huge demographic of the population speaking it, it is still a very rare choice of a second language for many students. On the bright side, this would mean learning this language will help you shine and definitely set you apart from your competition.
- Portuguese is a very famous Romans language. This means that learning Portuguese will open the doors for you to learn other Romance languages. This is because all romance languages are inter-connected to one another. Learning Portuguese will open up doors for you to be able to learn Spanish, English, Romanian, Italian, etc.
- As the global economies in the competitive world grow faster than ever, it is important to keep in mind the role of languages in this competitive market. Languages have helped give many individuals a competitive advantage over their competition. Considering Portuguese is a rare language yet is the official language of many prosperous economies, it only makes sense to master this language before entering the global market.
- It might be surprising to know that Portuguese is actually the fifth most used language on the internet with about 84 million people using it. Technology advances and develops at a rapid stage in the modern era and therefore learning languages that this modernised virtual world uses is important.
- Finally, learning a language is like a dive into their culture. Lucky for you, Portuguese culture is one of the most beautiful cultures in the entire world. Did you know that Portugal boasts a total of 21 world heritage sites, Brazil boasts one of the largest fan bases of soccer and many other countries speak in Portugal is such a friendly and loving culture that accompanies this language.
Finally,
The Portuguese language evolved from the spoken Latin language like other Romance languages. Its evolution dates back to the 3rd century to the Western Iberian Peninsula from which all other Romance languages descend. It is believed that in 218 BC, the Roman soldiers and colonists brought the Portuguese language to all their colonies and it flourished after eliminating the original languages that were once spoken in those regions.