Brazilian Vs European Portuguese: Pronunciation

Even though we are talking about the same language – Portuguese, there are a few subtle differences between the Brazilian and European Portuguese. The Portuguese spoken in Lisbon, Portugal and the one spoken in Rio, Brazil come with different flavours. Today we shall explore the differences from a student’s perspective.

Pronunciation – Brazil sings while Portugal eats its words!

The Brazilian Portuguese has a rhythmic sound and a musical intonation. It sounds more melodious, influenced by the African and indigenous languages. The European Portuguese on the other hand, sounds more monotonous and is known to resemble the Russian language. These distinctions are often explored when you learn to speak Portuguese through structured lessons or study Portuguese online.

Vowel Sounds

In Brazilian Portuguese, the sounds of vowels are open, clear and fully pronounced while the Europeans are known to cut short their vowels and eat up the end of the words making the language sound briefer and faster.

The “de” and “te”

The “de” and “te” at the end of the word in Brazilian Portuguese gives a sound of “chee” and “djee” respectively whereas these combinations take up the natural sound of the letters in European Portuguese. Let’s take the example of the word Leite (milk). It is pronounced as /LAY-chee/ in Brazilian and /LEH-t(ʃ)/ or /lɐjtɨ/ in European Portuguese. These examples are very commonly discussed in any learn Portuguese course.

The “l” at the end of the word

In Brazilian Portuguese, whenever a word ends with the combination of “al”, “el” or “il”, then the “l” at the end of the word is not pronounced. The pronunciation is rather diverted as a “w” or “u”. For example, the word “hospital” will be pronounced as “os-pee-taw”, “papel” is pronounced as “paa-pay-u” and “fácil” is spoken as “faa-ciu”. In European Portuguese, all these words are pronounced by the default sound of the letter l at the end.

The letter “R” at the beginning of the word

The letter “R” at the beginning of the word gives a sound of “h”. This pronunciation comes from the depth of your throat. For example, the word “rato” is pronounced as “haa-to” in Brazilian Portuguese but it is pronounced by the default sound of the letter in European Portuguese like “ra-to”.

The letter “s” or “z” at the end of the word

In European Portuguese, the letter “s” or “z” at the end of the word is pronounced very softly like a “sh” or “zh”. For example, the word “falas” is pronounced as “fa-la-sh” while the word “faz” is pronounced as “fa-zh”. This change at the end of the word is noticed in some places in Brazil as well but many regions pronounce the words by the default sound of the letters even at the end of the word.

The Brazilian and European Portuguese are the two different branches of the same language. Although they are mostly the same in their written format, there are a lot of differences when it comes to the speaking and pronunciation. This might lead you to sometimes imagine that you are hearing two different languages altogether when you hear Brazilian and European Portuguese. This is why people often choose to study Portuguese online from the best website to learn Portuguese that covers both variants.

Linguapol provides unique Portuguese classes where you are familiarized with both European and Brazilian Portuguese while explaining the difference between the two at every step. This creates a unique environment in the Portuguese classes of Linguapol where speakers of European and Brazilian Portuguese gather to discuss and debate making it culturally rich and more beneficial for beginners to be aware of both accents.

Linguapol caters to various Portuguese courses online starting from general CEFR guided courses, to customized crash courses, intensive training, communication practice, job preparation and many more to fulfil your requirement to learn Portugal language and build a career within your country or abroad.