Portugal

Study

Courses

Travellers hoping to come back with something besides bottles of port and a suntan might consider taking a course while travelling in Portugal. You can spend all day in the waves by signing up for surf classes. For a different type of adventure, there are a number of equestrian academies, where you can learn to ride. There are also schools where you can take a crash course in Portuguese (namely in Lisbon and Lagos, among other places), and places where you can take classes in dance or yoga. Gourmands might consider taking a cooking class offered by Cuisine International (www.cuisineinternational.com). These are held in a lovely setting in the Alentejo, near Portel, and, although they aren’t cheap, you’ll learn the dishes and get ample pampering besides.

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Language

Portuguese is the language spoken by 10 million Portuguese and 180 million Brazilians, and is the official language of the African nations of Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, and São Tomé e Príncipe. In Asia you’ll hear it in the former Portuguese territories of Macau and East Timor, and in enclaves around Malaka, Goa, Damão and Diu.

As you travel through Portugal, the use of a few Portuguese words and phrases (such as greetings, the essentials of getting a room ordering a meal, catching a bus or train, timetable basics, ‘please’, ‘thank you’, ‘yes’ and ‘no’) can transform people’s willingness to welcome and help you.

Nearly all turismo (tourist office) staff in Portugal speak some English. In Lisbon, Porto, most of the Algarve and other big tourist destinations it’s fairly easy to find English speakers, especially among younger people. Some in the service industry, like waiters and baristas, may insist on showing off their English skills, despite your attempts to stick to Portuguese. Among older folk and in the countryside, English speakers are rare. In the Minho and other areas where local emigrant workers have spent time abroad, you may find people able to speak French or German.

If you’d like a more detailed guide to Portuguese in a compact and easy-to-use form, get yourself a copy of Lonely Planet’s Portuguese Phrasebook.

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Language history

Like French, Italian, Romanian and Spanish, Portuguese is a Romance language derived from Latin. Its pronunciation is quite different to other Romance languages, but the similarities are clear when you see it in the written form.

The pre-Roman inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula were responsible for Portuguese’s most striking traits, but the influence of the vulgar Latin of Roman merchants and soldiers gradually took over from indigenous languages and caused a strong neo-Latin character to evolve.

After the Arab invasion in AD 711, Arabic became the prestige cultural language in the Peninsula and exerted a strong influence on the Portuguese language. This connection was significantly weakened when the Moors were expelled in 1249.

Portuguese underwent several changes during the Middle Ages, mostly influenced by French and Provençal (another Romance language). In the 16th and 17th centuries, Italian and Spanish were responsible for innovations in vocabulary.

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