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Portuguese language

Adapted from Wikipedia · Explorer experience

A colorful map showing where Portuguese is spoken by more than 50% of the population.

Portuguese Language

The Portuguese language is spoken by many people around the world. It started in the Iberian Peninsula and is part of the Indo-European language family. Today, it is mainly spoken in Portugal, Brazil, and several African countries.

People who speak Portuguese are called Lusophone. Because of history and travel, Portuguese speakers live all around the world. It is the fifth-most spoken native language.

Portuguese is a beautiful language with special sounds like nasal vowels and different kinds of guttural R. It uses the Latin alphabet, just like English. The writing is mostly based on how words sound.

There are two main ways people speak Portuguese: European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese. Even though they are different, people who speak Portuguese can mostly understand each other.

Portuguese has many words from Latin, but also from other languages because of history and travel. For example, words like chá (tea) came from Chinese, and batata (potato) came from South American languages.

Portuguese is an important language in many places. It is one of the official languages in the European Union and several groups of countries in Africa and South America. Many young people in Portugal choose English as a second language.

You can hear Portuguese in many songs, movies, and books. It is a fun language to learn and explore!

Images

A map showing where the Galician-Portuguese language was spoken in ancient kingdoms around the 10th century.
A sign showing where people should gather during an emergency, with words in three languages: Japanese, Portuguese, and English.
The Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge connects Hong Kong, Zhuhai, and Macau, showcasing modern engineering and architecture.
A colorful map showing how languages in southwestern Europe changed over a thousand years.
Map showing different languages and dialects spoken in parts of Europe, including the Iberian Peninsula.
A historic stone memorial from the old Portuguese era inside St. Peter's Church in Melaka, Malaysia.
The Natural History Museum in Maputo, Mozambique, a place to learn about nature and history.
A photo from Fundação Oriente showing a community or cultural setting.
A scenic beach view in Cape Verde with the Instituto Internacional de Língua Portuguesa in the background.
The Presidential Palace in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau, viewed from a nearby historic building at Praça dos Herois Nacionais square.
The State Central Library in Goa, India, a quiet place for reading and learning.
Map showing the percentage of native Portuguese speakers in each municipality of Angola.
A colorful map showing different dialects of the Portuguese language across Portugal.

Related articles

Iberian Peninsula
Portugal
Brazil
List of languages by number of native speakers
Latin alphabet
Potato

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Portuguese language, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Images from Wikimedia Commons. Tap any image to view credits and license.