Portuguese + Spanish the fastest growing western languages
Amazon.com has nice sets on Brazilian:
Modern Portuguese. M. Perini. Yale University Press.
a must have reference grammar of Brazilian Portuguese, the best there is,
Yale University Press would not publish a bad grammar
Talkin Brazilian. M. Perini. Yale University Press.
Brazilian pronunciation workbook with an audio Cd. Excellent for your accent training.
http://www.brazilianbooks.com/SSS/click.cgi?book=5339
has the best brazilian textbook:
Fala Brasil, Elizabeth Fontao, Pontes Editores
Chinese
There are scores of books and CDs to learn Portuguese. EBAY has plenty. Go to Froogle. Google. Amazon. etc. Google-Books. Google-Academic. It is so basic.
Chinease
>>>but I failed to start learning it all due to the big shortage of related books and CDs. <<<
If you have any difficulty in buying books abroad:
The support for Portuguese language in China is stonger in Macau if you want to know what is available in chinese try to email this people for information, they can give you some advise:
葡文書局
板樟堂街18-22號
malmeida@ipor.org
Hua Qiao University (China)
leitor-huaqiao.rede@ipor.org.pt
Believe it or not:
"Many are surprised to learn that there are more Portuguese speaking people in South America than those who speak Spanish. But this is understandable when one realizes that Brazil is larger than the continental United States and has the largest population of any country in South America."
<<if Orkut is visited by upperclass Brazilians, may I ask you, why is that they write in such a lousy way? don't they attend best schools?>>
Their wealth is enough for them to never need an education in a profession.
<<Are you refering to the segment of population that earns more than 340 dollars as the upperclass? Or is there an upperclass of the upperclass?Are you refering to the topclas of the upperclasses?>>
The elite oligarchy which only makes up 5% of the population and own approximately 70% of Brazil's resources.
<<This seems to be a drop of whater in a country with a population of 190 million but compared to a country that has a population of 5 million it can be considered a tidal wave.>.
It's closer to 180 million which would mean that the elite is around the 9 million mark. The 2 or million remark was in response to another comment.
<<"Many are surprised to learn that there are more Portuguese speaking people in South America than those who speak Spanish. But this is understandable when one realizes that Brazil is larger than the continental United States and has the largest population of any country in South America.">>
It's almost 50/50, 49% Spanish and 51% Portuguese.
Tony:<<<It's almost 50/50, 49% Spanish and 51% Portuguese. >>>
In this case, Portuguese oughts to be somewhat more popular than Spanish......
Throughout history, many languages have spread from their homeland to become the "native" language of areas far afield; the whole Romance family of languages shows how Latin became a native tongue far beyond Rome, and the spread of Arabic is similar.
Many European languages have been used as "colonial" languages in the past four hundred years, including such unlikely candidates as Flemish and Danish. But really only five European languages have flourished to become native tongues outside of their homelands: French, English, Spanish, Dutch and Portuguese.
The histories of these linguistic developments are varied; some acorns fell farther from the tree than others. Differences in vocabulary and pronunciation are true in every case, and this is to be expected, given that these vary considerably within the mother countries too. But some have also altered grammatically and syntactically. Despite how Parisians may sniff at Canadian French, it really doesn't vary very much syntactically from the standard European variety; where it does, ironically, it is usually the Canadian version that has kept the more antique form while European French has changed. There are, of course, the various French-inpired island creoles, but these are generally not spoken by French who settled overseas, and the dynamic under which they were created is different.
In the case of Spanish, with the exception of some small pockets (as in Aruba) it is amazing how little variation in educated usage there is throughout the world. Even English, despite the fun that Englishmen and Americans poke at each other, hasn't varied nearly as much as it could. It is true that you can discern noticeable differences in educated usage between London and New York, but leaving the USA aside, educated grammar and syntax are virtually identical for the rest of the English speaking world, whether you're in London, Capetown, Sydney, Auckland or (arguably) even Toronto.
Dutch is at the other end of the spectrum; its South African stepchild, Afrikaans, departs so much from European usage that it is recognized as a separate language. Portuguese is not too far behind. The differences in even educated usage between Portugal and Brazil are so extensive that it sometimes amazes me that people from the two countries can understand each other at all. It affects usage of pronouns, verb tenses (the future tense virtually doesn't exist in Brazilian Portuguese), word order and a host of other things, in addition to the usual departures in pronunciation and vocabulary. The departure from the original, in this case, anyway, seems to be on the colony's side; Brazilian Protuguese has changed so much in this past century that even writings by Brazilian writers from 100 years ago sound archaic to modern Brazilian ears.
''The third-person clitics o / os / a / as (and their allomorphs), common in consultative and formal registers, as in (14), are routinely omitted in educated colloquial speech, and virtually nonexistent in the vernacular. Third person subject pronouns ele(s)/ela(s) surface as complements (Câmara 1957) both in the vernacular (15)-(16) and educated colloquial speech (17)-(21):
(14) se vocês precisarem de dinheiro eu posso emprestálo. «if you need money I can lend it» [AR, lawyer, m.]
(15) esses porco aí nós ganhemo eles [st. nós os Banhamos] «those pigs, we got them as a gift» [AP, rural worker, m.]
(16) foi o senhor que trouxe ela? [st. a trouxe] «was it you who brought her?» [CP, maid]
(17) Quase que o Tônico manda elas pro endereço errado [st. as manda] «Tônico almost sent them to the wrong address» [AR, lawyer, m.]
(18) esse fusquinha aí eu comprei ele faz doze anos [st. eu o comprei] «that Volkswagen bug, I bought it twelve years ago» [AR, lawyer, m.]
(19) impediu eles de passar [st. impediu-os] «prevented them from passing» [LW, linguist, f.]
(20) manda ele embora [st. manda-o] «fire him» [MC, lawyer, ''
by Milton Azevedo, University of California.
{It's almost 50/50, 49% Spanish and 51% Portuguese} [Tony]
Fact: Portuguese is the most learned foreign language outside Brazil in South America. This signifies that there are more Portuguese speakers in South American than Brazilians. So, the percentage is much higher than 51%.
Ogara’s statements are fallacious and illogical
{The differences in even educated usage between Portugal and Brazil are so extensive that it sometimes amazes me that people from the two countries can understand each other at all.} [Ogara]
Not true. I consider myself to be an educated Portuguese speaker and I have no problem understanding any other educated Portuguese speaker from around the world, including Brazilians. Your statement is false.
The occasional and exceptional difficulties I encounter are with less educated Portuguese speakers, Brazilian or not. Yet the difficulties are not relevant and the language barrier is minimal. So, your statement is false.
Question: Why did you make a false statement?
{The departure from the original, in this case, anyway, seems to be on the colony's side; Brazilian Portuguese has changed so much in this past century that even writings by Brazilian writers from 100 years ago sound archaic to modern Brazilian ears. }[Ogara]
The concept of "original" does not apply to languages.
BRPortuguese and EUPortuguese are varieties of the same language, because BOTH languages have evolved. There is no "original” Portuguese language that stays the same and non-Portuguese languages that evolved from the original Portuguese. Language are not machines.
So your statement is illogical.
Logically: THERE IS ONLY ONE PORTUGUESE language! ONE language MANY cultures. Many cultures, many variations of the SAME language.
Again yes.
"Since Brazil joined Mercosur, the South American free trade zone, Portuguese has been increasingly studied as a second language in Spanish-speaking partner countries. A language mix of Portuguese and Spanish, nicknamed Portuñol or Portunhol, is spoken in regions bordering countries such as Uruguay. "[see wiki]
<<In this case, Portuguese oughts to be somewhat more popular than Spanish......>>
No really, it's more likely to be the other way around. Portuguese is spoken in one country and is basically of no practical use outside Brazil. Whereas Spanish is more widely spoken understood and spoken in Brazil than portuguese in other Spanish-speaking nations. And although Brazil has a bigger economy because of its larger population, the Spanish-speaking countries like Chile, Argentina, Uruguay have more healthier, growing, stable and reliable economies and governments and are comfortably sprinting ahead and could quite possibly reach first world status in the not too distant future. This is something that would probably always elude Brazil with all the internal political and racial problems that it has. These problems exist in other Latin American countries but not to the same degree, they're several times worse in Brazil.
Again no. I am not offended. Yet, MERCOSUL has provided that Portuguese be introduced as a primary foreign language for study in the Spanish speaking countries and vice versa (Brazil will teach Spanish). Because the trend is recent it may not have reached your information outlets. There is, indeed, a new trend in Latin America and the trend is that Portuguese is being taught "en masse" in the Spanish speaking countries. This trend will soon replace old perceptions.
Don't be offended.
<<Fact: Portuguese is the most learned foreign language outside Brazil in South America. This signifies that there are more Portuguese speakers in South American than Brazilians. So, the percentage is much higher than 51%.>>
As far as I'm aware Portuguese is largely ignored and not taken seriously and English is heavily favoured instead like most countries over the world. The Mercosur agreement is a diplomatic thing. Latin American countries want to be seen doing the right neibourly thing but in truth not many students learn Portuguese with any great proficiency.
<<Again no. I am not offended. Yet, MERCOSUL has provided that Portuguese be introduced as a primary foreign language for study in the Spanish speaking countries and vice versa (Brazil will teach Spanish). Because the trend is recent it may not have reached your information outlets.>>
It is widely known fact, true.
<<There is, indeed, a new trend in Latin America and the trend is that Portuguese is being taught "en masse" in the Spanish speaking countries. This trend will soon replace old perceptions.>>
But one shouldn't automatically assume that because Portuguese is being taught Chileans, Uruguans etc, will become fluent in it. That's not a realistic expectation. From my experience English is very popular among people in those countries and are very enthusiastic in learning it and yet few are able to master it to an acceptable level. Portuguese lags behind in preference so...
<<Don't be offended.>>
No one is.