The Language of Future Global Communication
Lindenberg Jr.
*English Edition: Ann Fain
Maybe you know that Portuguese is the official
language of Brazil, but maybe not
that it is the seventh most spoken language in
the world, the third most spoken language in
Europe and presenting some words similar
to Spanish, Italian and even French, as it all is
derived from Latin. The majority of Brazilians
don’t know the history of the language and its
relationship with the other diverse languages
spoken in Brazil before the arrival of the Portuguese
explorer, Pedro Álvares Cabral in the year
1500. According to historians, when Brazil was
discovered by the Portuguese, there were more
than 1,000 languages in the country spoken by
indigenous of diverse ethnicities.
Portuguese is one of the most important
political and economical languages of
Europe, as well as South America, Africa
and East Timor.
The Portuguese colonization began gradually
throughout the coast, beginning in 1532, with the
arrival of capitanias hereditárias or hereditary
captainships (these were given to anyone who
wanted to administer and explore them. There
were 15 in all). During this period, diverse communities
of Tupi and Guarani indigenous inhabited
the entire Brazilian coastline. To establish communication
with the natives, the Portuguese learned
the dialects and languages of the indigenous. From
tupinambá, a language spoken by the groups most
in contact with the colonizers was born a “general
language” spoken by both indigenous and nonindigenous.
It was studied and documented by the
Jesuits for the catechism of the natives.
In 1595, father José de Anchieta wrote,
the art of the grammar of the language
most used on the coast of Brazil. This
“general language” derived from tupinambá
was the first linguistic influence
on the Portuguese of Brazil.
With the introduction of the sugar cane culture
in the captainships São Vicente (today it is the
powerful state of São Paulo), Bahia and Pernambuco,
black Africans were brought to Brazil
as slaves. In the beginning of colonization, they
gradually influenced the Portuguese spoken in
Brazil. A major intensification of their influence
was already noted by the 17th century. The
slaves obviously had to learn Portuguese in order
to communicate with their master and also
adapted it to the “general language” – the language
most spoken between colonies.
Portuguese is a language that allows its
speakers to understand about 85% of
Spanish, 45% of Italian and 25% of French.
According to the 1694 text of father Antonio
Vieira, the language that the Portuguese families
spoke in São Paulo was that of the indigenous.
The children of these families also learned Portuguese
in school. It was in the second half of the
17th century that Portuguese became the majority
language. At the end of the 17th century,
pioneers began exploring the interior of Brazil
and they discovered gold and diamond. This
discovery brought an increase in Portuguese immigration
and on August 17, 1758, by decree of
Marquês de Pombal, Portuguese became the official
language of Brazil and the use of the “general
language” was prohibited.
Portuguese is considered a very important
language because it is estimated that
by the year 2015 Brazil will be the third or
fourth largest market in the world.
The Brazilian Portuguese that is currently spoken
has seen a natural evolution that all languages
suffer over time. It is worth mentioning
that when Pombal decreed the obligatory use of
Portuguese in Brazil, the Brazilians had already
incorporated diverse words of native origin, such
as names of plants, fruits and animals derived
from tupinambá, into the vocabulary. Some
exemples include caatinga, caju, capim, capivara,
carnaúba, cupim, curió, ipê, jabuticaba,
jacarandá, mandacaru, cassava, maracujá, piranha,
and the famous pineapple - abacaxi. Other
native words incorporated into the Portuguese
language of Brazil are Aracajú, Avai, Guanabara,
Guaporé, Jabaquara, Jacarepaguá, Jundiaí,
Parati, Piracicaba, Tijuca – mostly of this words
are names of cities and neighborhoods. It is also
worth noting that the native influence regained
good will with the creation of idiomatic expressions/
ties that are used today, such as “andando
na pindaíba (the expression means someone
that is broken orface up a bad financial time) or
“esta de tocaia” (that means “hidden” or someone
waiting “behind the scene”).
The Africans of the Bantu and Yoruba groups
brought their own legacy to the culture of the
country through their distinct musical rhythms
such the samba and frevo. The Afro-Brazilian
cuisine is comprised of dishes such as quindim,
abará, acarajé and vatapá, all with strong African
influences. Candomblé is a very strong religion
in Brazil where one relies on gods called “orixás”
such yemanja, oxum and iansã. Quimbundo, a
language spoken in Angola, brought to the Brazilian
Portuguese words with a familiar vocabulary,
such as caçula, cafuné and moleque. And there
are terms that express a way of life and the dances
of the slaves, like senzala, maxixe and capoeira,
which were also incorporated into the vocabulary.
After the independence of Brazil in 1822, the
slave traffic diminished, and stopped completely
in 1850. At that point, many European immigrants
such as Germans and Italians came to the
country. This contact with Brazilian Portuguese
with other languages was one of the factors that
produced the diverse regional varieties of language
that exist today in Brazil. For example,
Portuguese of the northeast, in states such as
Bahia and Pernambuco, has a large indigenous
and African linguistic influence. We already see
that the Portuguese of the south, in states such
as Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul (that
were populated by Germans and Italians due
to climates similar to their homelands), have a
strong Italian and German influence.
Portuguese is a language of future global
communication that offers great possibilities
for work and social interaction
with regards to the planet.
In the second half of the 19th century, authors
of Romanticism had depicted in their works a
Brazil that was different than the ex-colony of
Portugal. This was also true at the beginning of
the 20th century with the modernist movement.
In his works, the author Jose de Alencar, exalted
the figure of the native bringing to the literature
a “Brazilian” characteristic. The modernist Mario
de Andrade recaptured the romantic idea of
rescuing the origins and construction of the Brazilian
identity.
Throughout the years, Brazilians have not only
incorporated terms of the native and African
languages, but also those of the French, Spanish,
Italian, and more recently, English. Words like
fitness, gym, on-line and happy hour have found
their way into the Brazilian vocabulary. It’s also
interesting to see the mix of Portuguese and English
among Brazilians living in the U.S. Phrases
like: foi difícil “parkear” o carro” – that means
“it was difficult to “parkear” the car” (referring
“to park” and using “parkear” as a new word in
their “new mixed vocabulary”) are very common
to hear. In relation to Portuguese of Portugal, we
can say that our vocabulary is identical, but that
the phonetic differences are noticeable.
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