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Both languages are very similar, and have lots of words that are written exactly the same way.
About the question "which is more beneficial in present time", here is a way to think about the subject:
Since people who can speak Portuguese can understand Spanish more easily than people who speak Spanish can understand Portuguese, maybe it could be a good choice for those who don't speak any of the two languages to learn Portuguese first.
Why? Because once you learn Portuguese, it will be very easy to learn Spanish.
And if you speak Portuguese, you do business with Brazil, a giant with 200 million inhabitants and the world's seventh or sixth economy (depending on the year).
Also, you do business with Angola and Mozambique, two of the fastest growing economies in Africa (Spanish language is almost unknown in Africa).
So, if you don't speak any of the two, my advice is: learn Portuguese first, and that will be very helpful when you start to learn Spanish.
Spanish is easier than Portuguese. Spanish pronunciation is easier too as every word is pronounced, Portuguese has some silent words like the " e " at the end of a word, it sounds almost silent, well I am talking about Portuguese Portuguese not the Brasilian Portuguese.
Spanish is more beneficial of course. It is second to English.
I wouldn't dismiss portuguese in detriment of Spanish.
I think learning Portuguese can be more beneficial because not only you'd be able to speak Portuguese but also from Portuguese to Spanish you'd speak it in no time
No doubt, Portuguese is harder... it's the grammar especially. It's a son of a b*tch of a grammar!
Both languages are very similar, and have lots of words that are written exactly the same way.
About the question "which is more beneficial in present time", here is a way to think about the subject:
Since people who can speak Portuguese can understand Spanish more easily than people who speak Spanish can understand Portuguese, maybe it could be a good choice for those who don't speak any of the two languages to learn Portuguese first.
Why? Because once you learn Portuguese, it will be very easy to learn Spanish.
And if you speak Portuguese, you do business with Brazil, a giant with 200 million inhabitants and the world's seventh or sixth economy (depending on the year).
Also, you do business with Angola and Mozambique, two of the fastest growing economies in Africa (Spanish language is almost unknown in Africa).
So, if you don't speak any of the two, my advice is: learn Portuguese first, and that will be very helpful when you start to learn Spanish.
Portuguese is official language in 10+ countries if memory serves me right. Not only Brazil which is a huge market, as also Angola and Mozambique which are one of the fastest growing economies in Africa, and let's not forget also about Macao that was portuguese territory until 2001 and is the #1 market in gambling (it's bigger than Vegas)
Sorry, but in Africa Spanish plays a very minor role, compared to Portuguese, let alone English and French. Even in Equatorial Guinea (just a quarter of a million inhabitants) there is a move towards Portuguese as Portuguese-speaking Angola is becoming one of the engines of Africa. There are plans for a dedicated fiber-optic line between Angola and Brazil, that will further increase the importance of Angola and thus Portuguese in West Africa.
Plus, in Equatorial Guinea the three non-African official languages are just that, official languages. People learn them at school and use them in certain situations, but in real life they mostly speak their African languages anyway. Just like most Indians don't speak English most of the time, but their own Indian languages.
Since this thread is in the Americas forum, this thread is obviously about Brazilian Portuguese. It is relatively easy to understand, unless people get excited, angry etc. and thus start to speak real fast. But I guess that applies to most languages.
There are also various hybrid forms called Portunhol, spoken mainly along Brazil's and Portugal's borders.
OP, what do you mean by "more beneficial". Obviously, Spanish will be more beneficial if you are looking to put on a resume in the Americas. Also you will encounter many people who speak Spanish and have a wide array of Spanish-language movies, magazines and books to enjoy after you learn Spanish.
If you are just learning languages for fun, it would obviously be cooler to learn the less common language. And, as people have said, it will be easy to pick up Spanish after studying Portuguese.
But just think about what your purpose is for learning a new language before you decide.
I agree with Malaman's assertion that learning Spanish after Portuguese is much easier. Spanish is my native language, and I can't understand a single word when Portuguese is being spoken. I'm like when I hear Portuguese. How can a language that looks so similar to Spanish when written sound so different from Spanish? To me, Portuguese sounds more like Russian than Spanish!
Brazilian Portuguese is very easy to understand under this kind of context, I was able to grasp the vast majority of what was said.
Now this is more difficult, at least for me.
European Portuguese is something else, very challenging but I like how it sounds.
For the Portuguese speakers, is there any dialect of spanish that easier or more difficult to understand?
Last edited by Avex; 11-06-2013 at 01:23 PM..
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when I hear Portuguese. How can a language that looks so similar to Spanish when written sound so different from Spanish? To me, Portuguese sounds more like Russian than Spanish!
