Is Spanish more useful than Portuguese in Latin America?
"Obrigado! How does São Paulo variety sound like? Which is the standard BP?"
De nada!! São Paulo pronunciation reminds me of Italian due to the large number of Italians who went to São Paulo in the past. At the moment there is no standard language that one must learn at school or is forced to speak (When I was at school or university I never heard of an "official language") but the TV tries to force a pronunciation between the Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo (Very unnatural for me) varieties so my guess is if you learn any of these you will be fine.
Cheers!!
Give thanks to Hispano, J.C., Harman, Evinória.
@Tianjiner!!!
No problemo!! Just keep on learning languages man!!!
Peace out :)
El español no tiene la menor importancia en América Latina.
J.C., I was ever told by a native Brazilian friend that São Paulo is more livable and harmonious than Rio de Janeiro. Is that really true?
Nowadays, Spanish is more important than Portuguese considering also the economic power because of the Spanish speakers in USA and EU:
1. European Union: In European Union, Spanish is more studied than Portuguese. According to a report, it is studied by 6% of Europeans (spoken by a 15% of total population). Portuguese is not studied there (2% of speakers, all native speakers). At the same time the GDP of Spain is higher than the GDP of Brazil.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union#Languages
2. United States: there are 46.9 million of Hispanics (15.4% of total population). Hispanics will be 30% of total population in 2050. At the same time there are some 6-10 million studying Spanish. Meanwhile, Portuguese is not studied in USA. The GDP of Hispanics is higher than the GDP of Mexico.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_states
So, if we consider the population, there are some 125 million of Spanish speakers in USA and European Union. Perhaps, 12 million of Portuguese speakers.
Finally, if we consider the GDP of all Hispanics, including Mexico, South America, Central America, Caribbean, Spain and Hispanics from USA, would be higher than Japan.
"J.C., I was ever told by a native Brazilian friend that São Paulo is more livable and harmonious than Rio de Janeiro. Is that really true?"
That's a tricky question and I'm suspicious do reply because I was born in São Paulo but raised in Rio...
It depends on what you're looking for. When I go to São Paulo I have the impression that people must work more because life is more expensive than in Rio. As a result people seem to be colder towards unknown people and don't always take the time to give you an information or talk as one would do in Rio.
I have already heard from some friends from São Paulo that they are nice to people they know but are not so hospitable as people from Rio (There are exceptions, of course) towards people they've met for the first time.
Also, Rio and São Paulo are different because of the weather. I can't see myself locked at home when outside is 40ºC :) I just feel like going outside, swimming in Copacabana and making friends. Since there aren't beaches in central São Paulo (People must go to Santos, which is said to be the "Rio de Janeiro" in São Paulo) there is a bigger diversity in discos, restaurants and night life is more active than in Rio.
So, I can't give you a 100% correct answer since everything is relative according to what you're looking for. In my case I'd never live in São Paulo because I might descend on the people from Atlantis and LOVE the ocean :)
Why don't you try to live in both cities and take your own conclusion? I just hate saying that Rio is better than São Paulo or the other way around. Regionalism SUCKS big time!!!
Cheers!!
In brief, both Italian and Brazilian Portuguese sound more beautiful than Spanish.
To Tianjiner.
You are a Hispanic, trying to initiate a fight between French and Portuguese. That is impossible, mi amigo. Portuguese language is doing its best to make it similar to French, their culture is very similar because of our huge influence to them, and because of that are very similar to us.
Perhaps you should fear Portuguese language. If the general tendencies are like nowadays, the gap between French and Spanish will be enormous in 2050, but even the strengh of Portuguese will be also too much for Spanish in the near future.
You can see now the demographic strengh of them:
French: 190 million of secondary speakers
Portuguese: 30 million of secondary speakers
Spanish: 20 million of total speakers.
French has 60 millions of native speakers . Spanish has 500 millions. Secondary speakers is not important because most of them are not fluent.
Italian and Spanish are very similar languages. Brazilian portuguese is awful.
Brazilian Portuguese sounds like a mixture of Italian, French, and German accents.
French has 400 millions of non-native speakers . Spanish has 30 millions. Native speakers are not important because most of them speak a bastardized form of the language almost a separate language.
Spanish is more useful, the 2nd language of the US.
Also, Latin American Spanish soap operas and movies use the standard language while in Brazil the non-standard variety full of grammar mistakes is used in soap operas and movies. In Brazil there is a huge difference between the formal grammar (used in writing: from books to informal teen magazines such as Folhateen) and the nonstandard spoken grammar (used on TV and in Brazilian popular music). So, it's like learning two different languages. Spanish is much more coherent, no huge gaps between the spoken and the written form, it's more natural.
, I was ever told by a native Brazilian friend that São Paulo is more livable and harmonious than Rio de Janeiro. Is that really true
//Rio is so violent, I prefer Sampa, but I like my hometown Vitória best