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Portuguese, a Global Language?

Posted 31 August 2012 18:39 GMT

TranslationsThis post also available in:

Ελληνικά · Πορτογαλικά, μια διεθνής γλώσσα;
Português · Português, uma Língua Global?
Español · Portugués, ¿idioma global?
Français · Le portugais, langue mondiale ?
македонски · Португалскиот, глобален јазик?

A community page on Facebook, Língua Portuguesa: Uma Língua Global? (Portuguese Language: A Global Language?) [pt], provides a diversity of materials to promote the debate about the expansion of Portuguese language and its consequences. Several critical issues on the policies of this language of around 200 million speakers are addressed, such as minority languages, multilinguism and linguistic colonialism.

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  • Rafael

    Portuguese is the 5th most spoken language on the planet. There are 240 million speakers of Portuguese. This language is spoken officially on every continent. Brazil has become a major economic player on the global stage having the 5th largest GDP in the world, while Angola in Africa is super rich in natural resources i.e., gold, diamonds, silver, coffee, oil – it is referred to as the Brazil of Africa. Mozambique is not far behind Angola as it is also a very rich country in natural resources. Even the Chinese are learning Portuguese as they do tons of trade with all of the Portuguese speaking countries (10 countries with Portuguese as the official language). And fluent Portuguese speakers understand Spanish almost perfectly and vice-versa, as the two languages are really, really close.

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