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Culture: Why is Portuguese important?
You were probably surprised when you found out that Brasil
has more citizens than all other South American nations together.
Altogether, Portuguese is spoken by about 200 million people worldwide, where the biggest part
of the chunk here goes of course to Brasil (ca 180 million Portuguese speaking people).
Since Brazil is one of the United States' "neighbors to the south," we rightfully should be interested
in our relations with this country. Therefore, a complete understanding not only of the
Portuguese language, but also of the social and cultural traditions of this great nation.
Brasilians are usually not too happy about the fact that many tourists start talking to them in Spanish.
Yet, Brasilians are often familiar with Spanish due to the enormous similarities between these two
languages.
But maybe you also want to learn Portuguese for its rich literary traditions.
Of course we have to mention here Portugal's probably most famous and also most tragic poet
Luis Vas de Camões (1524-1580), who in his young years lost an eye in the war in Morocco. Later, he
traveled to Macao in China, where he met his lover, who eventually died drowning right in front of him.
Camões wrote countless Sonnets and other songs and poems. Also very famous are the melancholic remembrances
of his mistress Ti-Na-Men.
Congratulations! You have just finished your first Portuguese lesson with BabelNation.com.
Let's take a short break before continuing with the vocabularies of this lesson. Click on the blue transfer-button
below to get to our vocabulary-section.
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Course 1
Lesson 1
Course 2
