Ask a Portuguese

[Dystopia]

The title speaks for itself 

[Nope]

Why did you guys let Spain get most of the Iberian Peninsula?

[Pyrrho]

What is Portugal like? And why is it that in British TV shows, the British seem to frequently move to Portugal when they retire? Do they really do that? Are you really British, just living there?

[dahrling]

Are you ashamed because your own king betrayed you to found the Empire of Brazil?

[Losty]

Why does Portuguese have to be easier to understand than it is to speak?

[dahrling]

Why does Portuguese have to be easier to understand than it is to speak?

Can you understand some Portuguese, Losty? 
I'm Brazilian and I can honestly say sometimes I can't 

[Losty]

I joined a Portuguese clan on Clash of the Clans. I could understand mostly, but I had to speak to them in Spanish with a splash of Portuguese because I don't know enough Portuguese to actually say anything lol.

[Dystopia]

I joined a Portuguese clan on Clash of the Clans. I could understand mostly, but I had to speak to them in Spanish with a splash of Portuguese because I don't know enough Portuguese to actually say anything lol.

Maybe you are in my clan

I'm gonna dinner but I'll reply to everyone in a sec, just hold on.

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Why did you guys let Spain get most of the Iberian Peninsula?

I don't think we let them, it's just that because of historical and social reasons the territory we conquered was all we were able to... Going south until Algarve was possible and it was part of what we wanted, but going further would be complicated - On top of that, the Pope at the time recognized our independence so wanting more than the piece of land we conquered was too much. Don't take my word for it, historians probably know much better. 


Curiously we rarely invaded the Spaniards because we only wanted the independence - Spain invaded us several times and succeeded once, we were ruled by Spaniards from 1580-1640 - Needless to say we kicked them out. Portuguese are like cats, harmless until you trap them in a corner, but then we become violent (in fact when we colonized places we mostly used diplomacy and comerce instead of just war, that's why we kept Brazil and Spain failed)

What is Portugal like? And why is it that in British TV shows, the British seem to frequently move to Portugal when they retire? Do they really do that? Are you really British, just living there?

Essentially a first world liberal-capitalist democracy, relatively small and with 10.5 million inhabitants, a constitution, an army, all the normal stuff. Despite the stereotypes most Portuguese are not what in America people call "latinos" but caucasian (Some of us are blonde with blue eyes and there's some redheads) - That being said, ethnically we are a little darker and shorter than Brits, Germans, etc. If you can imagine Spain, you imagine Portugal because (in Spite of many Portuguese hating Spain and vice-versa) we are ethnically and culturally similar. Most of the population is Catholic but only 20% practise it, and culturally/socially family values are very important - Including distant family like third degree cousins etc. Brits seem to like the sun and the fact people are nice.


I'm a native Portuguese

Are you ashamed because your own king betrayed you to found the Empire of Brazil? 

No, it is ok, the other king was worse anyway (fucking absolutists).

Why does Portuguese have to be easier to understand than it is to speak?

Do you mean native Portuguese or from Brazil? I don't know because I can't understand the language from a foreigner's perspective. I think those who know a bit of Spanish understand Portuguese, but speaking it is a pain because of the grammar rules and so on, specially Portuguese from Portugal. I don't think you can ever master it completely unless you live here - An Ukranian born friend of mine speaks perfect Portuguese because she immigrated at the age of 10 and took 5 years to learn everything.

Can you understand some Portuguese, Losty?   

I'm Brazilian and I can honestly say sometimes I can't  

Brazilian is Portuguese, stop pretending you have a different language, thanks to Brazil it is one of the world's most spoken languages - It's like saying America is a different language than english  

[pocaracas]

Brazilian is Portuguese, stop pretending you have a different language, thanks to Brazil it is one of the world's most spoken languages - It's like saying America is a different language than english  

ahem, sir... It is a different... errr.... dialect!
That's why there's a world of difference between en-us and en-uk.... just like pt-br and pt-pt.

How can you say they speak portuguese when they can't say the name of their own country properly?!
I was once on an IRC chat room that was populated by brazilians, and they tended to write as they speak "mais" can be used for both "mas" and "mais", because they make both sound the same!

On the other hand, official documents do look the same and, sometimes, I find it difficult to tell if a wiki article was written in pt-pt or pt-br (although, most are pt-br). When they want to, they can make it.

Also, ever since The Lion King, Disney has made it their task to provide quality dubbing/translating of their cartoons and comics both to pt-br and pt-pt. Microsoft too.
These guys understand their target audiences.

[Dystopia]

I didn't say anything about dialects or accents but it's the same language