Should I learn European Portuguese or Brazilian Portuguese for business purpose?

Question

I just read it from a language blog:

But what if you have specific goals in academia or business? Well, then the waters are muddied by several factors.

First of all, most Brazilian Portuguese teachers will gloss over a lot of grammar simply because it is not used in Brazil (see previous posts No Second Person and A Gente). Additionally there are many literary grammatical forms that one is more likely to recognize with a European Portuguese background. Also important is the tendency for Brazilian Portuguese speakers to consider European Portuguese somehow 'more correct' than their own language. This interesting social and psychological phenomenon makes stronger the case for European Portuguese for business travelers. Much like the false authority that a British accent invokes, European Portuguese speakers emanate an air of education and linguistic prowess.




I don't get what the blogger mean. Can someone explain that further? Should I learn European Portuguese or Brazilian Portugues

Answer 1

Ok this is a no brainier..Brazil is the 8th power of the world in terms of economy...It's GP of more than 1.5 trillion where Portugal does not even have 300 billion...any more thoughts business wise?

Portuguese from Portugal sounds kinda of weird...I know because I'm a Native Brazilian they speak in a way that it sounds like Russian

Don't say Portuguese from Portugal is more correct, we have our own rules and every country recognize that we speak very different fro them...is like saying Americans speak worst that the Brits...is a stupid stereotype.

Well I'm currently studying Multinational finance (currency exchange) in NYU and I know Spanish and Portuguese ...Guess the Portuguese speaking country the recruiters that wants me to work for them the most ....Brazil. Gone to 9 Interviews. Portugal was mention twice when Brazil was 7 times...not to mention the Brazilian market pays much better.

Hope it helps

Answer 2

I agree completely with SunkenShip. He makes a very good point.
If you plan on entering the business field then you would likely want to consider Brazilian Portuguese. They have a much larger population than Portugal which means more consumers. More importantly I believe that the Brazilian economy is a lot stronger than Portuguese economy right now and plus the U.S. does a lot more trade with Brazil.

However, learning for reasons of academia I'd say your better off with European Portuguese. By learning Brazilian Portuguese you will probably find a lot of "grammatical errors" in comparison to old Portuguese literature and the modern dialects spoken in Portugal, Africa, and Asia.
For example: The most common way to say I love you in Brazilian Portuguese is "Eu te amo". However, many would then argue that they should not use this form because the direct object "te" goes along with the regular pronoun "Tu" which means "you". The crazy thing about it is that "Tu" is rarely ever even used in modern B.P. Most speakers prefer to use the word "voce" instead. The direct object that goes along with "voce" is "o" (or "a" depending on whether you're talking to a male or female). So in reality a Brazilian should actually say "Eu o amo" (said to a male) or "Eu a amo" (if said to a female). Yet, you will never hear any Brazilian talking like that nowadays. Because modern Brazilian Portuguese has become very informal and has dismissed many of the rules found in European Portuguese understanding grammar in B.P. is quite a bit harder than E.P. in my opinion. So like I said if learning for reasons concerning academia I'd say go with E.P.

As confusing as my explanation was I hope I was able to help you somewhat. If you have any more questions you can e-mail me.
Boa sorte (Good luck)

Answer 3

It really depends on what your aim is. If you're looking to do business, Brazil is a larger country, with way more resources than Portugal.

If you're looking to study academia though, European Portuguese would be better as it includes a lot more of the literary expressions.

I grew up speaking the European Portuguese, and I have to say that it's easier for someone who speaks European Portuguese to understand Brazilian Port than vice versa. But that being said, European Portuguese is also harder for a non-native to pick up. So really, it all depends on what you want to do with the language. If you're just looking to learn a new language and socialize, go with Brazilian Portuguese. If you want to do academic studies, go with European Portuguese.

Answer 4

Was this text written by an european? :P We do not consider european portuguese "more correct" than our portuguese. Both are correct.
I think brazilian portuguese is for an english speaker easier than the european portuguese since our portuguese has a lot of things in common with the english language such as the gerund. A friend of mine, who is american, understands us but not portuguese people.

Answer 5

European Portuguese, Both are kind similar!

Answer 6

I recommend that you learn the dialect of the country with which you think you will do business.

Answer 7

Europen because there are more portguese then brazillians in the US and portugal is better