Also known as a Romance language Portuguese is one of the acknowledged languages originated from Latin. Spoken in Galicia and northern Portugal, Portuguese originated from Gallaeci, Lusitanians, Celtici, and Conii groups of people situated in the Iberian Peninsula some 2000 years ago. Presently, it is the official language in countries like Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Angola, East Timor, Macau, Brazil, Portugal, and São Tomé and Príncipe. Even countries like Argentina, Bermuda, Japan, Luxembourg, Switzerland, South Africa, and United States are some of the countries with significant number of speakers. Astoundingly, Portuguese is the most spoken language in South America, with an anticipated number of 185 million speakers. This fact flabbergasted many people, especially to those who believed on Spanish holding the said title. Now, how easy is it to learn Portuguese? It is easy as learning Spanish. Why did I say so? Let’s find out.

Portuguese is closely related to Spanish, in general, since both Spanish and Portuguese came from one “source”—the Romance Language. Both languages have common similarities that learners will not find it complicated to acquire. Yet, the distinction of Portuguese makes it exceptional since much of its sounds retain the original Latin. Unlike French, Italian, and Spanish languages that took the liberty to somewhat change its diphthongs, Portuguese strongly preserved Latin’s familiarity. That is why in determining its characteristics, non-native speakers find Portuguese distinctive among other Romance Languages.

English speakers who decided to learn Portuguese will not find this language complicated to learn. With a present number of 205 to 230 million native speakers, Portuguese is ranked as the seventh among the world’s major languages. Categorized by UNESCO, Portuguese holds the title as the highest potential for growth as an international language in southern Africa and Southern America. Forty years from now, the estimated number of speakers will increase its population of 83 million, summed up to count as 335 million speakers on the same year. Isn’t it interesting?

So if you are hesitating to learn Portuguese beforehand, think again. Portuguese is relatively connected to English, since a large amount of English words came from Latin—the mother tongue of Portuguese itself. Its process of learning may perhaps take for longer time to acquire, yet this doesn’t take too much for a learner to get used to it. It is guaranteed to learners that learning Portuguese language is easy as it seemed to be.

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