Portuguese, which is spoken by over 220 million as a native language and many more second language speakers, is one of the fastest-growing languages across the globe. As the official language of Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, East Timor and São Tomé and Principe, Portuguese is also one of the most widely distributed languages worldwide.

 

As a Romance language, Portuguese is most closely related to French, Spanish, Italian and Catalan. Due to historical and cultural ties, Portuguese also had a profound influence on the vocabulary of many languages, including English, Japanese, Chinese, Malay, Indonesian and Swahili. Today, the Portuguese language can be divided into many dialects, the largest of these subdivisions include European, Brazilian and African Portuguese. While most varieties of Portuguese are at least partly mutually intelligible with the others, the differences between the phonology, vocabulary and grammar can be substantial.

 

With nearly 200 million people, Brazil has the largest population of Portuguese speakers in the world—a number that is supposed to steadily increase in the coming decades. With such a large demographic of speakers and the increasing influence of Brazil in the world’s economy, an ability to provide services in Portuguese is absolutely vital for any company that wishes to tap into the global business market.