Portuguese language

Portuguese, also português or língua portuguesa, is a Romance language which originated in Portugal. Like all Romance languages, Portuguese originated from Latin, and the first known use of a distinct Portuguese was around 900 AD.[1] Portuguese is widely spoken in Portugal, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Cape Verde, and Brazil. It has about 230 million speakers worldwide, making it the seventh most widely spoken language in the world.[2]

Portuguese is closely related to Spanish; it looks similar on the page but sounds very different. Portuguese has more vowel sounds than Spanish. Portuguese speakers can easily understand Spanish, but Spanish speakers usually have a hard time speaking or understanding Portuguese. There are also differences in vocabulary and pronunciation between European and South American Portuguese, much as there are between American English and British English.

## References[edit]

1. ↑ http://www.linguata.com/portuguese/History_of_Portuguese.html
2. ↑ A lingua portuguesa (in Portuguese)