Perhaps you’re considering learning another language, it might be your second or further down the line; you might already have a language in mind, or maybe you’re still undecided. Which ever scenario applies to you, it might be worth your while considering this often undervalued language, let’s look at how it’s gotten this far and why it could be a good idea to learn it in the future.
Portuguese is a close relative of Spanish, they both originate from Vulgar Latin which was used in the old times of Julius Caesar and the Roman Empire by the lowly townsfolk, while the higher class spoke classical Latin. During the Roman Empire’s collapse, the Moorish invasion of 711 took place; as a result there are now a substantial number of Portuguese words with an Arabic origin -- Such as as-sukkar becoming açúcar, sugar.
It was in the 15th and 16th centuries that the Portuguese expanded across the globe, they were a major economic powerhouse and as they spread, so did the language. Now it’s an official language of Portugal, Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, East Timor, Principe, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Sao Tome, while being spoken in many more.
Today Brazil is the largest country to have Portuguese as the official language, with over 200 million residing there alone, and that brings us to one of the reasons why you should be learning the beautiful language. Brazil, in the next four years, will play host to the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics, either of these is a big deal by itself, but to have both is rather incredible. This make it one of the places to see within that time-span and long after -- with a strong and ever-growing economy, the long white beaches, Carnival and friendly welcoming Brazilians, there’s never a bad time to visit the sun-soaked South American giant.
To make matters even better, Portuguese and Spanish are the fastest growing European languages after English and display the highest potential for growth as an international language. As such, upping your level of Portuguese will prove invaluable in the long run, people will congratulate you for your hindsight and rue the day they too did not pick up the language.
This is really just the tip of the iceberg, Portuguese has a lot of history and many interesting stories will come from learning a little more about it. So if you’re at all interested in taking some classes and upping your language game I encourage you to do it soon, when you get wanderlust and begin traveling you’ll wish you did it sooner, believe me.