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Portuguese is the most widely spoken language in Brazil and the official language of the country, with around 204 million residents speaking the language. Brazil is the world’s most populated Portuguese-speaking country by far, and the largest country in South America, both by land area as well as by population. Brazil is home to nearly 210 million people, out of which nearly 98% percent use Portuguese as their primary language. Brazil is known for being the only predominantly-speaking country in all of South America. Before the colonization of Brazil in the 1500s, there were dozens of indigenous languages spoken all over Brazil. After the Portuguese arrived in 1500, however, they brought their own language which began to emerge as Brazil’s primary language, a trend which has stuck to this day.
Despite the fact that Brazilian Portuguese and the Portuguese spoken in Portugal are mutually intelligible, certain differences between the two do exist. One of the main differences between the two variants of the language is pronunciation. Brazilians speak vowels longer and wider, while the Portuguese don’t pronounce the vowels as much.
Other languages that can be heard in Brazil include German, Spanish, English, Italian and some other previously mentioned indigenous languages which existed before the European colonization started taking place. Some of these include Ticuna, Kaiwa Guarani and Kaingang, which have continued to be in use to this day.
German language is spoken by about 1.9% of Brazil’s population, but despite the seemingly low percentage, German is the second most widely used language in Brazil. This is mainly due to the fact that many German immigrants arrived to Brazil in the 1940s, when the number of German speakers became particularly strong. Many German immigrants have continued to use their language within the country over time, which is why German has managed to retain its status of a commonly-spoken language in Brazil to this day. German is also taught in schools in certain municipalities in the country. Italian has found its way into Brazil similarly as German, as it was also brought in by immigrants in the 20th century. The Italian language does have a limited presence in the country, but it has not been conserved as well as the German language.
Spanish is widely understood by many Brazilians due to language similarities and the country’s close geographical proximity to Spanish-speaking countries. Spanish is not very widespread due to the fact that it is often overtaken by English in terms of popularity. English is often taught as a second language in Brazilian schools, with many Brazilians also taking private English classes. English fluency is most common among the major city centers, with approximately 3% of Brazilians who speak English, out of the estimated 5% of those who speak a second language.
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