Old habits die hard in Portugal!
The majority of threads on the expat forum discuss finance, culture, employment and other traditional aspects which are very high up the list when looking to move overseas but this is a very interesting and deep post regarding Portugal and its grasp of the English language. It has opened up so many different avenues and attracted so much detailed information that for those looking to move to Portugal it is actually a must read.
Background to the thread
In essence the thread was started by a gentleman who was looking to teach English in Portugal and is asking for the whereabouts of any foreign language schools in central Portugal which may be looking for a qualified English teacher. Such a simple and straightforward request is growing into something larger and very interesting indeed.
The simple answer is…….
One of the first comments in response to the original question offers a website for the official department of education which should be able to point the English teacher who began the thread in the right direction. This is the starting point for the person in question but as we suggested above, the thread has opened up a massive discussion on the Portuguese and English languages.
The Portuguese culture
The very first post in response to the thread gives the fact that 97% of those living Portugal do not speak English. This will surprise many people who will be aware that Portugal, like Spain, has attracted significant numbers of English-speaking tourist and expats but apparently English is not very widespread. There is some debate as to whether Portuguese is the most popular language in the world although there is no doubt it is firmly in the top 10 and spoken in many different regions and countries around the globe.
English lessons
While the vast majority of Portuguese do not speak English in any shape or form it is interesting to see that two hours each week of school time have been put aside to teach young Portuguese students the English language. This would appear to open up potential opportunities for the English-speaking teacher who began the thread but it also suggests that the Portuguese government and some of the younger Portuguese population are making a conscious effort to learn the English language.
How long this will take to change the mindset of the Portuguese population remains to be seen but after years of ignoring the English language it appears that Portugal has woken up.
Why should the Portuguese learn English?
While English is one of the more widespread languages around the world many people automatically assume that when in a foreign land you should be able to communicate with local nationals in your own dialect. In many ways, some would have you believe, this further ingrains the stereotypical English personality which automatically assumes that everybody else should learn English rather than UK nationals learning foreign languages. This has been an ongoing debate for decades and even though the likes of French, Italian and Spanish for example are taught in UK schools the vast majority of people will revert to English even when they are overseas.
Aside from the fact that if you are unable to communicate with the local population you may have significant issues with banking, food, restaurants and other everyday occurrences, there is a chance that Portuguese nationals could possibly turn against those unwilling, or in some cases unable, to learn and grasp their local language.
Compare Portugal with Spain
Many people may well put Portugal and Spain in the same bracket as both have significant expat communities and a large number of English-speaking visitors. However, while the vast majority of Spanish people will speak some form of English this is not the case in Portugal even though the two countries are not too far apart. Why the difference?
It is difficult to present one reason as to why Portugal is very different to Spain on the language front but the fact that Portuguese is spoken by hundreds of millions of people around the world may give the Portuguese people the same expectations as English-speaking visitors. However, Spain has adapted to the ever-growing number of English-speaking visitors in order to attract more investment, attract more international businesses and also to assist the country as a whole.
While Portugal may have a very lucrative and strong economy, would the country benefit from encouraging Portuguese nationals to speak English? Surely this would attract more interest, investment and visitors to the region?
Expat communities in Portugal
Even though Portuguese nationals may not be willing to learn English as a matter of course, there are significant expat communities in various regions of Portugal which have in some cases taken over. The Algarve is one particular region which is well-known for its expat community and where the vast majority of people will have a grasp of the English language.
In many ways the small enclaves of expats do not need to ingratiate themselves with the local committee or learn the local language. However, this has the potential to cause significant problems in the future because quite literally unless visitors are prepared to learn Portuguese they will be very much restricted to areas such as the Algarve where English is as good as the mother tongue. There is then the potential for English-speaking tourist and expats to take over other parts of the country which could, and has in some situations, caused significant friction.
Conclusion
The vast majority of us assume that any country in the world we visit is likely, at worst, to have a basic grasp of the English language. However, countries such as Portugal, which has a language spoken around the world, is in a similar situation to the UK and English-speaking visitors who believe they also have a right to speak their mother tongue at all times.
While the original question was answered very early, with a website giving access to educational language facilities in Portugal, the subject of the Portuguese and English languages is very interesting. Quite who is in the right and who is in the wrong remains to be seen but as one poster said, if you worked in a UK bank would you expect a Portuguese visitor to speak to you in their local language even though they were in the UK.
The main issue here seems to be a clash of the Portuguese and British cultures. Each believes their own language should be spoken throughout the world and each party does not appear willing to learn a second language as a matter of course.
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
97% of the Portuguese population doesn’t speak English? Where the in Portugal have you (or whomever posted this erroneous statistc) been? Actually, what I found was that most everyone in Portugal under the age of 50yrs speaks English quite fluently, and with much softer an accent than Italians, French and South American Spanish.
While travelling in Portugal from the Algarve up to as far as Viano to Castelo, everywhere I went, everyone I encountered spoke English. In fact, people I stopped on the street to ask directions, would often ask me to speak English, as it was quite apparent I was struggling with mastering the Portuguese language.
Many times I was left incredibly impressed, when witnessing waiters switching easily and comfortably between English, French, Spanish and German to serve their customers in their native language. This was also true of Tourism Office employees, though one can say this would be “expected”. Although personally, this is the only country of the many I’ve visited around the world, where one employee will have such a diversity of languages he/she is able to speak fluently, effortlessly.
As for the need for English Teachers, again, I find this quite surprising, given that there are so many young teachers graduating from Portuguese Universities, that choose English as their teaching language of choice, out of the 5 languages available as a teaching subjetct (Spanish, German, French, English and Portuguese).
Anyways, again, I’d really be interested to find out where the ridiculous static was pulled from, as it’s certainly not what I and others of my acquaintences, who have also travelled to different parts of Portugal North to South, have experienced. The exact opposite in fact.
100's of millions? How about less than 200 million or just over half of the number of native english speakers in the world? Wikipedia declares 177 million (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers) and Ethnologue declares a million more (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=Portugal).
If the previous post is to be believed, the pop count for the under 50 bracket is 2/3 of the population which would make English very common. This is just one persons experience and can't be taken as fact for the entire country but from my view it certainly has as much (more?) believability as the original poster.
this is he worst article i have read in my life, ive lived for Portugal for 5 years and most of what is in this text is wrong and shows that it can only be written by a cocky,self-important British citizen that is either to lazy to mix into the culture or thinks that the culture should find a way to suit him. True, English is not spoken by the older generation but that the same in all countries but is widely spoken by young people and at a very high level. In some places i would say that 1 in 5 young people are fluent English speakers and this is much higher that in Spain or Italy. This article show the typical view of English citizen who live in Portugal and don't try to learn Portuguese or blend in with the culture. All other nationalities I have met in Portugal love the Mediterranean lifestyle and the friendliness of the people.
I live in Porto and have spent lots of time in the North of Portugal and in Lisbon. This article is entirely inaccurate. I speak both Spanish and Portuguese well but from what I have seen and heard in Spain and Portugal (OUTSIDE of tourist resorts) Portuguese people have an infinitely better grasp of English (and foreign languages in general) than Spanish people. I simply don't understand this article at all. Clearly it has been very poorly researched.
My wife and I are thinking of retiring to the north of Portugal. My wife is Spanish, lived in Galicia for several years, and understands Portuguese. I am a U.S. citizen who speaks and reads Portuguese and Spanish, and we have both visited Portugal many times, so we are well aware of the sociocultural and economic situation in Portugal. Our situation is that we are a couple of years too young to retire (mid-50s) and receive money from our U.S. private pension plans, and U.S. Social Security can't be tapped until age 62.5. But we have enough cash to buy a home in Portugal and pay our basic bills like food and utilities until I begin collecting from my pension in about five years. Although we love the southwest coast below Lisboa, especially Aljezur, it seems more practical to live somewhere between Viana do Castelo and Galicia to have access to Vigo (most of my wife's family lives in Madrid). My wife has more health issues than I and is a Spanish citizen, so she would like access to the Spanish health care system. We want nothing more than a tiny house with a tiny garden near a beach, and we love to cook at home; our tastes are simple. QUESTION: What would be the main impediments to moving to and living in Portugal?
This is the worst article about Portugal I've ever read!!! You don´t know the country nor it's culture that easy to see!
In Portugal most of the population speaks english fluently specially young people. Portuguese start learning the language in primary school. It's the second spoken language in Portugal. In general the portuguese are very easy going, and friendly and eager to learn. In fact, although the portuguese languge is spoken in many countries around the world we aren't always proud of it, as we should be.
As a portuguese I'm astonished with this point of view…
In Portugal you can find tasty and healthy food habits, good weather, beautiful beaches, all sort of landscapes, beautiful people, culture, and nice prices comparin to other countries in Europe!
This is the most absurd article I have read, statistically speaking that 97% of the population does not speak english is dead wrong. As a Portuguese national having lived in the U.S.A. for many years and now residing in Alto Minho region, I do know for a fact personally that many citizens do speak english very well in all sorts of professional jobs and for a region that always had former emigrants from Canada , Australia and the U.S.A. is wel indeed in the 40% that do grasp the english language compare to the spanish side Galicia region.
The writer of the article has obviously fallen into " the trap ". If you ask a Portuguese person if they speak English invariably you will receive a smile and the reply nao. So the next step is have a go at your rusty Portuguese – you will then probably find that after a short period they feel sorry for you or realise that their grasp of English is infinitely better than your grasp of Portuguese – and hence the conversation blossoms !
In my experience most people will be happy and patient enough to help if you give it your best shot. My English daughter has attended a Portuguese state school for the last 6 years and of course she is fluent in the Portuguese language – but the point is that a 13I14 years old most of her peers and class friends are coming on leaps and bounds with English, and I would guess that in another 2 years or so most of them will be quite adept at spoken English as this is the second language taught in schools. In addition a lot of the pupils will no doubt progress to a satisfactory level in the 3rd choice language, be that Spanish, German or French.
I live in Madeira where many people speak English because of tourism, it is taught in the schools, the children watch MTV, English films on the T.V, so you could say 90% of the young people speak English. With French, German, Scandinavian, Spanish and the rest in this order. To my disgrace my Portuguese is dreadful even my children ask me not speak it, but I have got by for the last 25 years running my own business so it can't be so bad. I have many Portuguese friends and a lot to do with that is to understand you are in their country and not living in a UK colony, expecting things to be the same. I have always been treated well, paid my taxes and now receive my pension which is higher than my UK pension.
I've lived in Portugal for about 14 years, and the above article is the most inaccurate piece I've ever read in relation to the Portuguese and their linguistic skills. The Portuguese embrace foreign languages, and English is widely spoken in most parts of the country. Their is certainly a noticable drop in English skills for older people (say 60 and over), but this is due to a change in the education system some yearts back that swapped the preferred second language from French to English – so those people you try to talk to in English but can't are probably quite fluent in French. I'm really shocked at the innaccuracy of this article, it needs to be deleted, as it's so incorrect it makes me wonder if the write has even been to Portugal. I've travelled all over Europe, and I would say the only countries that surpass the Portuguese in English speaking skills are the Scandinavians (especially the Swedes) and the Dutch. To compare Portugal to Spain is laughable – with no disrespect intended, but the Spanish are famed for their inability to grasp foreign languages, and it's really an insult to the Portuguese that it's suggested that they're worse than the Spanish.
Completely wrong.
It is the opposite, way more English speakers in Portugal than in Spain.
Only now is Spain realizing that it's a good idea to learn English; Portugal figured that out a long time ago.