Spanish vs Portuguese

Close relatives

Spanish and Portuguese both grew out of the Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula, and they remain two of the most closely related major languages in the world. Written down, they can look remarkably alike. Plenty of everyday words are identical or nearly so, and the grammar follows very similar patterns.

That closeness is good news if you already know one of them: you start the other with a big head start. It also has a downside. The two languages are close enough that mixing them up becomes a real risk, a blend that learners and native speakers jokingly call "Portuñol".

Words that line up neatly

Many words differ only by small, predictable changes in spelling. Here are a few from Flashlingo's beginner decks:

• milk: Spanish la leche, Portuguese o leite
• hand: Spanish la mano, Portuguese a mão
• eye: Spanish el ojo, Portuguese o olho

Notice the articles too. Spanish uses el and la, while Portuguese uses o and a. In both languages, the article tells you the noun's gender, and most nouns keep the same gender in both languages.

Words that don't line up

Other everyday words come from different roots, so there is nothing to work out from the other language. You simply have to learn them:

• thank you: Spanish gracias, Portuguese obrigado (or obrigada if the speaker is a woman)
• to speak: Spanish hablar, Portuguese falar
• dog: Spanish el perro, Portuguese o cão (in Brazil, o cachorro is the everyday word)

The dog example shows another point: European and Brazilian Portuguese sometimes prefer different words, just as Spanish varies between Spain and Latin America.

The real gap: pronunciation

If the written languages are close, the spoken ones are noticeably further apart. Portuguese has nasal vowels, such as the ão in mão, that Spanish lacks, and it reduces or swallows many unstressed vowels, especially in European Portuguese. Spanish vowels, by contrast, stay crisp and clear almost everywhere.

The result is that many Portuguese speakers understand spoken Spanish more easily than Spanish speakers understand spoken Portuguese. If you are a Spanish speaker starting Portuguese, plan to spend extra time on listening, not just reading.

False friends to watch out for

Some words look the same but mean different things, and these cause the most embarrassing mix-ups:

• polvo: "dust" in Spanish, but "octopus" in Portuguese.
• exquisito / esquisito: Spanish exquisito means "exquisite" or "delicious"; Portuguese esquisito means "strange" or "weird".
• embarazada / embaraçada: Spanish embarazada means "pregnant"; Portuguese embaraçada means "embarrassed".
• rato: "a short while" in Spanish, but "mouse" in Portuguese.

Learning both without mixing them up

• Get comfortable in one first. Most teachers suggest reaching a solid intermediate level in one language before starting the other.
• Practise them in separate sessions, so each language has its own context in your memory.
• Keep a list of differences rather than similarities. The similarities will take care of themselves; the differences are what you'll forget.

Flashlingo has full decks for both: the Spanish quiz and the Portuguese quiz, each with 1,500 words across three levels and a complete word list on the page.