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Future outlook: French vs. Portuguese | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| aodhanc Diglot Groupie Iceland Joined 6261 days ago 92 posts - 130 votes  Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish | Message 65 of 81 25 November 2012 at 9:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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According to UNESCO, it's Spanish and Portuguese that are going to be the fastest-growing
languages of the future (aside from English). Especially in Africa, Portuguese has strong potential for growth, with 5 countries were it is official - Guinea Bissau, Cape Verde, Sao Tome e Principe, Angola and Mozambique. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| limey75 Senior Member United Kingdom germanic.eu/ Joined 4400 days ago 119 posts - 182 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Norwegian, Old English | Message 66 of 81 25 November 2012 at 10:47pm | IP Logged | ||
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Never mind about Portuguese (or French), what's going to happen to Spanish if - as some predict - it becomes the dominant language in the US in years to come?
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| aodhanc Diglot Groupie Iceland Joined 6261 days ago 92 posts - 130 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish | Message 67 of 81 25 November 2012 at 11:49pm | IP Logged | ||
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That will never happen - English will always be the dominant language in the US, no
matter how many Hispanic immigrants come. The future growth of the Spanish language will come from Latin America - for example, look at Mexico, it is now in the top 10 economies of the world. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| justonelanguage Diglot Groupie United States Joined 4463 days ago 98 posts - 128 votes Speaks: English, Spanish | Message 68 of 81 26 November 2012 at 12:45am | IP Logged | ||
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I know that Portuguese is a language on the rise but I'm worried about the differences between European and Brazilian Portuguese. In Africa, the European variant is spoken and according to some native Portuguese speakers, they are very different in regards to pronunciation, lexicon, etc. However, some natives say that the differences aren't that great.
Regardless, even if Portuguese were limited to Brazil, it would be a good language for "practical" language learners.
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| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6598 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 69 of 81 26 November 2012 at 2:30am | IP Logged | ||
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It's all about exposure. With Brazil being so important, I'm sure this variant will be understood more and more in Africa. And even if you've never heard one of the variants, the basic adjustment won't be too difficult. It's more complicated vocabulary-wise, but same is true about English, Spanish and French.
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| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5263 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 70 of 81 26 November 2012 at 2:51am | IP Logged | ||
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I often listen to Deutsche Welle's Portuguese broadcasts to Africa online, sometimes a Brazilian is the newsreader. Brazilian TV, novelas, films and music are popular in Africa and, yes, Portugal too. It's all about exposure and familiarity.
The problem with exposure is the other way around. Most Brazilians have little exposure to Iberian and African Portuguese and are less familiar with it as a result. Still, several years ago when Portugal had a good economy and Brazil didn't, I met several Brazilian immigrants in Portugal. None of them needed interpreters. I have made it a specific point not to exclude Iberian and African Portuguese because I want to take full advantage of what is available to me with the language's breadth and depth. 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| reineke Senior Member United States https://learnalangua Joined 6448 days ago 851 posts - 1008 votes Studies: German | Message 71 of 81 26 November 2012 at 4:41am | IP Logged | ||
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Portuguese is the world's largest minor language. Whether you live in Europe, North America or Asia, by the time you get to Portuguese, you're exhausted. In Europe and Asia 6-7 languages make more sense, in North America few go beyond Spanish and French are after that other languages take the measly rest of the cake. If not knowing Mandarin makes you feel outdated and behind the curve, go for the Romance Fantastic Four. They complement each other...fantastically. French vs Portuguese is silly.
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| Surtalnar Tetraglot Groupie Germany Joined 4397 days ago 52 posts - 67 votes Speaks: German*, Latin, English, Spanish Studies: Arabic (Written), Arabic (classical) | Message 72 of 81 28 November 2012 at 3:57am | IP Logged | ||
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In Europe Portuguese is almost irrelevant, it's only spoken by 10 million people, which also speak English or Spanish. French is and always will be much more relevant in Europe, even in 50 years. In the upcoming years, the population of Portugal will further decrease, while the population of France will increase. Here in Germany, no school offers Portuguese, but most school offers French, one of the working languages of the European Union.
Also, French is very standardized and its varities are very unified, while with Portuguese there is the danger of splitting in two different languages. I really don't see Portuguese as an upcoming world language, in Europe and Africa it's completly irrelevant compared to French and in South America it's spoken by just one country, whose population diligent learns Spanish and is surrounded by Spanish-speaking countries. I don't deny that Portuguese will be important for Brazil's local usage, but Portuguese will be never used for international or supra-regional communication and trade. Why the hell should the Spanish-speaking countries of South America communicate in Portuguese instead of Spanish with Brazil? There is no reason. Spanish is internationally more recognized and many more people speak this language. Portuguese will never mess up with Spanish or French as an international language.In the French-speaking countries of Europe French is used for communication, in West Africa French is used for communication. Between French Canada and the European French-speaking countries French is used for communication. But where could Portuguese used for interational or supra-regional communication? I see no place in the world. The Portuguese-countries are too splitted up in the world, and the only place where it could be used is between Brazil and Portugal or Angola, but those ties are too unimportant to be relevant, especially when I see the low economic power of Portugal and Portuguese Africa. Macao will be also completly Chinese in 50 years. Edited by Surtalnar on 28 November 2012 at 4:01am 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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