The PORTUGUESE Language:
Portuguese is the mother tongue of about 170 million people, chiefly in Portugal and the Portuguese islands in the Atlantic (11 million speakers); in Brazil (154 million speakers); and in Portugal's former overseas provinces in Africa and Asia (about 5 million). Although the Portuguese spoken in Portugal differs to some extent from the Portuguese spoken in Brazil, with reference to the pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary, the differences are not major. The differences are similar to English spoken in the USA and English spoken in England. Although the greater part of the Portuguese vocabulary comes from Latin, a number of words have also been absorbed from Arabic, French, Italian, and also from some of the indigenous South American and African languages. |
