Portuguese vs Spanish

[Pontigoose]

I'm just curious to those of you who speak either language, or are familiar with how difficult it is to understand one an other? I'm planning on going to Brazil, and I speak Spanish and English, but zero Portuguese. Will the language barrier be huge, or is there similarities in your experiences between the two languages?

 

[Fists of Fire]

Many similarities, yet many differences. If you speak spanish sometimes you can make out full sentences in portuguese.

 

[papitodd]

Many similarities, yet many differences. If you speak spanish sometimes you can make out full sentences in portuguese.

Yep. My wife speaks spanish and can sometimes tell me what the brazilian fighters say post fight...not always. Similar though....

 

[faustian]

I'm decent with Spanish, so I can make out written Portuguese cause the two are pretty similar on paper. But spoken Portuguese is an entirely different story because of the pronunciations. Hearing spoken Portuguese it almost sounds closer to French than Spanish, although it sounds very little like either.

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

Portuguese sounds like a deaf spanish guy speaking with a mouth full of cotton balls.

But since you're speaking of Brazilian portuguese and not Portugal - it's sounds like a gay guy speaking spanish with a mouth full of cotton balls.

 

[Cuzcatlan]

If they speak slowly you can pretty much understand what they saying. Also many Brazilians understand Spanish if you slow it down also. Also some Brazilians speak Portu

 

[livingdeadmoose]

Portuguese sounds like a deaf spanish guy speaking with a mouth full of cotton balls.

But since you're speaking of Brazilian portuguese and not Portugal - it's sounds like a gay guy speaking spanish with a mouth full of cotton balls.

Lol, this is the best description of Portuguese I've ever heard.

 

[ArtemV]

Spanish sounds cooler as Brazilian Portuguese sounds all the same and over pronounce stuff.. luuuuuuta, muiiiito beeeeem.

 

[Henry Swanson]

Portuguese = deaf person speaking Spanish.

 

[Zer]

Anytime I watch Brazilian pron I note how ugly Portuguese sounds

 

[JudoThrowFiasco]

Anytime I watch Brazilian pron I note how ugly Portuguese sounds

True....but German porn is p4p the worst sounding porn

 

[Jodorowsky]

True....but German porn is p4p the worst sounding porn

Japanese is the WOAT.

 

[sleepwalk]

I'm okay with Spanish but Portuguese is just beyond my grasp. The vowel clusters and soft consonants are too much for my lazy American mouth and ears (similar to French as many have said.) My Spanish is good enough that I can read some Portuguese (menus mostly) and I'm not bad with Italian as a result.

 

[JasonTodd]

Portuguese sounds like a deaf spanish guy speaking with a mouth full of cotton balls.

But since you're speaking of Brazilian portuguese and not Portugal - it's sounds like a gay guy speaking spanish with a mouth full of cotton balls.

Portuguese

Brazilian Portuguese

Doesn't sound bad, imo. I think it's just Spanish speaking people who are criticizing, which is ironic, since Spanish sounds kind of ugly.

 

[IIIIIIII]

I'm just curious to those of you who speak either language, or are familiar with how difficult it is to understand one an other? I'm planning on going to Brazil, and I speak Spanish and English, but zero Portuguese. Will the language barrier be huge, or is there similarities in your experiences between the two languages?

i speak spanish, and not portuguese. to me, it's difficult to understand portuguese. i've met portuguese speakers who tell me that they can, for the most, understand spanish. this seems to be the general rule. at least from what i've personally encountered.

i think part of the issue, is that portuguese has more influence from french, than spanish usually does. if you remove catalan and the basque language, of course. the rules are also a bit different, with different rules and sounds based on the letter.

if a portuguese speaker speaks slowly, i can understand better.

 

[Winston Wolf]

I'm Brazilian and I stuggle to understand Spanish. Even Italian can be easier.

 

[Xhizors]

Just go to youtube and watch some videos. You'll find out.

Brazilian news



Brazilian movies



etc

 

[Flemmy Stardust]

I feel like Spanish and Italian are closer.

 

[DaleBoca]

I feel like Spanish and Italian are closer.

Not too much, as an Argentine, I can't really understand it. It's just another language, there are far more differences than similarities. As for Portuguese, forget it. Brazilian Portuguese and won't even bother with the European. I hear Brazilian have problems understanding the Europeans, since the Europeans don't open their mouths when they speak.

 

[MmaGirl10]

I speak Portuguese and can understand Spanish sometimes, i've been to Spain and it wasn't easy to communicate in their language as i don't speak it so i used mainly English. I don't think the language barrier will be huge, you should be able to understand menus and street signs for the most part