Is Portuguese really difficult for Spanish speakers?
It is often said that Spanish speakers find it harder to learn Portuguese than vice versa, an assumption which makes a deal of sense when considering the difficulty many people have in understanding spoken Portuguese compared to Spanish. This, combined with the fact that many Spanish speakers choose English as a second language, means that many find it intimidating or unnecessary to learn Portuguese. The same can be said of English speakers, who believe that Spanish is a more accessible and useful first foreign language to acquire.
The new City Lit course, Portuguese for Portuñol speakers: module 1 is designed to appeal to both camps and provide an efficient and tailored route to fluency in Portuguese.
This is currently the only specialised language course in London designed for learners of Portuguese who have significant prior knowledge of Spanish, either as a native speaker or someone who has studied to an intermediate or advanced level. It hopes to provide as smooth a transition for experienced Spanish speakers to a new language as possible, using the tutor’s experiences and theory to help Spanish speakers adapt their existing knowledge.
The hidden advantages for Spanish speakers learning Portuguese
The experience of learning Portuguese as a Spanish speaker might be described as a double-edged sword, but the benefits certainly outweigh the challenges.
Where an English-speaking student of Portuguese may need more time to get their head around basic verb tables, word order, and common vocabulary, a Spanish speaker will likely find these familiar enough to immediately understand a large variety of sentences and begin producing basic language.
For this reason, a normal Portuguese introductory course might move too slowly to engage such students, which leads to frustration and potentially abandonment.
Knowing Spanish gives you a head start
Spanish speakers will have no trouble distinguishing between the preterit and imperfect tenses when discussing the past, a ‘positive transfer’ that makes an intuitive understanding of Portuguese much easier. Likewise, it should be easier for them to intuitively understand how different verbs can affect word order in a sentence.
This course hopes to establish a faster rhythm in these basic elements of language, to allow students to develop more quickly and enjoy a brisker sense of progression through reinforcing one another’s strengths as a group without feeling too repetitive. This will help students develop early confidence and begin putting whole sentences together without fuss.
Language interference and ‘false friends’
When similarities become a challenge
On the other hand, what linguists refer to as interference (interferencia and interferência) is the clearest roadblock to speaking correct and natural Portuguese for most Spanish speakers.
It is often dangerous to assume that a similar looking word has an identical or even remotely similar meaning in both languages.
When travelling in Brazil, a Spanish speaker might become confused as to why a borracharia is selling tyres and not serving alcoholic drinks, or why a strange person has been referred to as exquisite (esquisito means weird in Portuguese).
This means that people with a good level of Spanish must unlearn some concepts in a way that can feel unnatural and difficult.
Escaping the Portuñol trap
What is Portuñol and should you avoid It?
Some students resort to Spanish to fill gaps in knowledge, which may lead to sentences that can only be described as evidence of "portuñol" - a merging of Portuguese and Spanish.
While this is preferable to a total inability to communicate, it is generally considered disrespectful to default towards Spanish during interactions with Portuguese speakers.
In a sense, knowledge of Spanish is very helpful for receptive skills like reading and listening but can result in troublesome plateaus and consistent errors in the productive skills of writing and speech.
In addition, native Spanish speakers who have not been required to study Romance language grammar in depth may find the differences in more advanced Portuguese grammar difficult to grasp, if their understanding of Spanish is highly based on intuition.
English learners of Spanish already know how fiendish the subjunctive mood can be, but as it has other forms and functions differently in Portuguese, this may prove surprisingly challenging for native Spanish speakers!
A Portuguese course designed specifically for Spanish speakers
Above all, this course will tackle Portuguese from a place of understanding of these common advantages and challenges and hopes to demonstrate how rewarding it can be to develop confidence in speaking correct and authentic Portuguese.
Through specified lesson plans and content to target these natural weak areas, and emphasise strong ones, this course will support a more rapid progression in the language than one for total beginners.
The tutor will utilise their experience teaching Portuguese pronunciation to Spanish speakers to iron out common difficulties in this area, while learners will also be able to better support one another through common issues within a shared linguistic background.
It should therefore prove an ideal place for a Spanish speaker to begin engaging with Portuguese in a familiar, enjoyable, and fast-paced manner.
Why learn Portuguese?
A shared cultural heritage across the Lusophone world
Discovering the wealth of cultures within the Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking world) is full of unprecedented joys and opportunities to learn about our world.
In the words of a Colombian friend who lives in Brazil, the greatest benefit of learning Portuguese as a native Spanish speaker has been “connecting with another part of Latin America and having first-hand access to a new social and cultural archive”.
Learners will no doubt agree that the shared cultural ties between the two languages make it highly accessible and fun to compare and discuss the shared heritages, such as the respective benefits of Spanish chorizo and Portuguese chouriço.
In a global city like London, people from Brazil and Colombia can be neighbours, Mexicans may often be colleagues with Angolans, a Portuguese child may go to the same sports club as a Spanish one.
Bringing Portuguese to life in London
The potential for exciting intercultural exchange can therefore already begin here. In London, Brazilians make up around 1/3rd of the Latin American population, in addition to around 20,000 Lusophone Africans and a sizeable Portuguese community. Discovering the charming bars and restaurants of Little Portugal in Stockwell can be a great way to begin developing confidence in speaking with native speakers.
Expanding you professional and business opportunities
For those of an entrepreneurial mindset, Brazil’s status as a rapidly emerging business investment destination and its strengthening financial sector are making Portuguese a more useful language in building business relationships. It feels as though the prestige and presence of the Portuguese language is globally increasing, making it a great time to begin learning for professional purposes.
Beyond the classroom: enjoy travel, culture and connection
Of course, the real fun begins when learning is taken beyond the classroom, and the UK. Whether planning a spontaneous city trip to Lisbon or a more ambitious across Brazil or Mozambique, learning Portuguese allows for a fuller immersion into the local lifestyle. Language is of course a gateway to culture, and few cultures can boast of such depth and vividity as found in the Lusophone.
Accessing Literature, Film and the Arts
Brazilian music is world-famous for its quality and regional diversity, but what many people do not realise is how much of Brazil’s culture is inherited from African cultures such as the Bantu in modern-day Congo and Angola.
Learning Portuguese and connecting with the shared influences of the Lusophone across the world is a truly enriching experience for what it teaches us about the history of colonisation, slavery, and cultural resistance.
Through understanding this complex history, we can become better global citizens and understand the relationship between different people better. Few spaces demonstrate this more clearly than the Lusophone, where different origin cultures have combined in fascinating ways to produce traditional and contemporary arts.
Portuguese literature, Brazilian Cinema, Cabo Verdean poetry- all are treasure troves of cultural experience that can’t be properly accessed and appreciated without learning Portuguese.
A Fast-Track Route to Portuguese Fluency
Completion of this ‘faster-track’ course will give Spanish speakers a massive step towards a thrilling new frontier of travel and engagement. It will deliver a personalised and relatable coaching through common issues to allow for the maximum progress in language, while always offering opportunities and inspiration to students to begin developing their own cultural interests. It is guaranteed to be the most fun way to begin your journey in Portuguese!
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Study Portuguese at City Lit
Learn Portuguese through a course designed specifically for Spanish speakers. Build on existing knowledge and progress with confidence.
