Language

Of all the Western European countries, Portugal is the country which presents the greatest linguistic uniformity, as Portuguese, the official language, is spoken from north to south and in the Azores and Madeira archipelagos.

Presently, the Lusophone world represents approximately 210 million people. Portuguese, the sixth spoken language of the world (third among Western languages, after English and Spanish), is the official language of seven countries: Angola (10.3 million inhabitants), Brazil (174.6 million inhabitants), Cape Verde (346 thousand), Guinea Bissau (1 million), Mozambique (15.3 million), Portugal (10.355 million), S. Tomé and Príncipe (126 thousand) and Timor (880 thousand, according to a 90’s census).

In Macau, Chinese territory under Portuguese Administration until 1999, Portuguese was one of the official languages, in parallel with mandarin.

Portuguese became one of the official languages of the European Union since 1986, at the time of its adhesion. As a result of MERCOSUL agreements (The Common Market of the South), of which Brazil is a member state, the Portuguese language will be taught as a foreign language in all the Participant countries. The creation of Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa (CPLP), Community of the Portuguese-Speaking Countries was decided in 1994, gathering the countries of Portuguese official language with the purpose to harmonize and spread the Portuguese language, and increase the cultural interchange among Member States.

In the Northeast of Portugal, namely in Miranda do Douro, there is another language – informal and familiar, symbolic and social, patrimonial, not Portuguese, with historical character – the Mirandês, commonly used by approximately 15.000 people and which was recently declared official language (Law number 7/99, 29 January).

The Camões Institute