How Hard is it to Learn Portuguese if You Know Spanish?

Learning a new way to communicate with the world is no easy feat. But languages with the same roots tend to be easier for speakers of other languages to pick up. If you are an aspiring polyglot, maybe you're looking for the challenge of learning two vastly different languages, such as Italian or Japanese. Or perhaps, you have a master plan to conquer all of the Romance languages to use on your 6-month European backpacking trip.

Either way learning a language is rewarding. Since you are reading this post, you have probably mastered Spanish or are a native speaker seeking to add another language to the list. For starters, I can tell you that Portuguese is an excellent choice for you. It's practically the cousin language of Spanish, but how hard is it to learn Portuguese if you know Spanish? Let's find out.

The Same Roots

Portuguese and Spanish have the same language roots. They are both Ibero-Romance languages that stem from Vulgar Latin, as with many Romance languages like French and Catalan. In fact, Spanish and Portuguese have 89% lexical similarities, which means that many of the vocabulary words and phrases are the same across the board. This definitely makes it easier when learning the language. At the same time, be mindful of the cognates because many words look similar but do not mean the same thing in both languages. For example, salads in Spanish means too much salt, but in Portuguese, it means salad.

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Written and Spoken Forms

Another great thing about both of these languages is that they have the same written form subject+verb+object. Therefore, Spanish speakers can easily understand the written form of Portuguese. However, when It comes to speaking the language, this is where things get a little bit messy. If you have dabbled in Portuguese even a little bit, you know how hard the accent is to master. Portuguese isn't as much of a phonetic language (what you see is what you get) like Spanish is. Also, there are no "v" or z" sounds in Spanish, which is prevalent in Portuguese. In addition to that Portuguese, has extra nasally consonant sounds that Spanish lacks. This is why Spanish speakers can't understand Portuguese speakers as well as the other way around.

That Extra Boost

After discussing all of the lexical similarities and spoken differences., I think that we can answer the question, how hard it is to learn Portuguese. If you need a boost to learn Portuguese, Spanish will do the job. These similarities in grammar and cognates will kick start your journey to mastering the language. Many of the same rules that you already use in Spanish can be applied to Portuguese. Getting your muscles used to speak Portuguese will likely be the only challenging part of the process.

If you are looking for a place to jumpstart your next language journey, Justlearn has everything you could ever want. From mini-lessons to live video calls with native speakers, which is sure to accelerate your learning.