if that(spanish is so similiar to portuguese) is right.. Do alot of spanish speakers know portuguese?

Answer 1

BRAZIL X SPANISH
Spanish people can understant just 20% of Portuguese (Brazil).
Brazilian can understand 80% of Spanish.
I think the pronunciation in Spanish is easy to us to understand them on the contrary, our pronunciation is quite hard to them.

Answer 2

You have many good answers. I will give you my own experience. I took two years of high school Spanish and then spent two years in Brazil. My Spanish training was not as helpful in learning Portuguese as was my excellent command of the English vocabulary with its many words from Latin origins. After learning Portuguese, I could understand probably 75% of the Spanish I encountered and about 50% of the Italian but only about 25% of the French. I was down near the Uruguayan border and the languages tended to blend into each other somewhat. The further away from the borders you went, the less Spanish influence there was on the language. In the interior of Brazil, and particularly in Rio de Janeiro, the language resembled Portuguese as spoken in Portugal. Sort of like American versus England when speaking English. The New York, Bostonian accent is more British than say Californian.
I agree with most of your other respondents that Brazilians could understand the Spanish speakers more easily than the Spanish could understand Portuguese. Spanish is more clipped on the tongue whereas Portuguese is more in the nose and throat. Thus, I think Spanish words tend to be more precise and easier to understand.

Answer 3

Portuguese is similar to Spanish, but not so similar that speakers of either one can understand everything. In fact, Portuguese has some vocabulary that is more similar to French.

Portuguese is certainly NOT a dialect of Spanish, it's a language in its own right, although related to Spanish because both have a Latin root (as do French, Italian, Romanian, Catalan, Galician - ALL languages, not dialects!).

I am of Portuguese descent but speak very little Portuguese, although I am fluent in Spanish due to education and marriage. When I was in Portugal a few years ago, I understood enough Portuguese to get by, but I brought my dictionary and there were many things I did not understand. (My French helped out alot too.)

What I have observed is that when Portuguese and Spanish speakers are together, each speaks their own language and tries to understand what is said to them. They both understand a lot, but not everything.

I really do not think that alot of Spanish speakers know Portuguese. None of the ones I know speak it, and I live in an area of the US where there are many Spanish speakers, and lots of Portuguese speakers as well. For the most part, when they speak to each other here, they use their own language, or they use English.

I'm sure you will get various answers to your question.

Answer 4

Many Spanish audio gadget declare Italian is less complicated to understand, on the same time as some think of Portuguese is less complicated. in fact, If an consumer-friendly Spanish speaker will pay close interest and makes an attempt, they'll see that Portuguese is plenty less complicated to understand than Italian, as Portuguese shares so plenty extra words in consumer-friendly with our language than Italian and the grammar is so plenty extra same. the only element that inhibits know-how on the Spanish component is their pronunciation and their nasal sounds which do no longer exist in Spanish, as Spanish basically has 5 undemanding sounds and Portuguese has approximately fourteen or so. that's the reason Portuguese audio gadget understand Spanish audio gadget plenty extra valuable than any incorrect way around.

Answer 5

Well,it depends on geography. All the people that lives in the border do speak a mixture of both languages. I live in the center of Argentina and I don't get a word of what they're saying, I think they speak too fast and the way they pronounce is hard. There are more Brazilian & portuguese that speak Spanish than the other way around which is good beacuse it's a beautiful language but you can't speak it in many countries.

Answer 6

I understand a lot of Spanish though not speaking. In fact reading is easier to understand. Both languages are real languages, not dialects. But they are so close that the greater difficult to a Portuguese speaker learning Spanish is to not mix both languages.
Most of the people above are right.

You'll find an overview of the differences between the languages in wikipedia. Don't miss it!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differences_between_Spanish_and_Portuguese

Answer 7

Spanish and Portuguese are similar, not the same. I speak Portugese and Spanish, but not all Spanish or Portuguese speakers can speak or understand the other language. After all, they're different enough to be considered separate languages.

Answer 8

At least I do, but more Portuguese speakers know Spanish than Spanish speakers know Portuguese since Spanish is more widely spoken, and Spanish speaking countries surround Brazil AND Portugal.

Answer 9

A Spanish speaker may understand a Portuguese speaker because both language contain words that are use in both language and are pronounce in the same way; therefore both speakers may understand each other language to a certain point....If they interact socially, they may understand certain words but not the whole meaning.

Answer 10

Portugese and Spanish are related in the same way that French and Spanish are related - you can understand parts of it, sort of, but it isn't exactly the same. As is the case when a mouse lives next to a lion, more Portugese people understand Spanish than Spanish people understand Portugese. Same with the relationship between Mexico and the US. Far more Mexicans speak English than Americans speak Spanish.

Answer 11

We went to live in Brazil due to my husband's job. Our main language is Spanish, and without taking any Portuguese lessons, I was able to grasp about 75% of what they were saying, but, according to them, they were not able to understand us, so, we had to communicate in English until we took Portuguese lessons. Learning Portuguese was a real challenge, due to the similarity of both language, my Spanish was always in the way.