| Brief Description: | PORTUGUESE in 10 minutes a day® with CD-ROM and PORTUGUESE a language map® focus on the Portuguese spoken in Brazil. There are some differences in vocabulary and pronunciation between Continental Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese, however, each is understood by the other. A fair comparison would be British English to American English. Forms of verbs, nouns and adjectives are generally the same. The differences are most apparent in the choice of vocabulary and syntax, particularly in the spoken language.
Specific examples:
Continental Portuguese tends to have a softer sound, and often the word endings are swallowed. Brazilian Portuguese does not swallow the word endings, and the vowel sounds are clearly pronounced. The nasal sounds tend to be more heavily nasalized in Brazilian Portuguese.
In Brazil the letter “r” is pronounced as an “h” at the beginning of a word so the name of the world-famous city of Rio is actually pronounced “hee-oo.” In addition, an “s” at the end of a word will vary in pronunciation depending upon which area of Brazil someone is from, as well as whether someone is from Brazil or Portugal. |
