Influence Of Other Languages On Brazilian Portuguese

Influence of Other Languages on Brazilian Portuguese

Brazil is a super diverse country in every aspect, but I guess I’m nudging the historically ethnic (and thus linguistic) diversity of Brazil in this post.

A lot of indigenous tribes were/are located in the Amazon of Brazil and other South American countries. When Portugal began colonization of Brazil, both Portuguese and Tupi were the languages used in the colonies. Portuguese later became the “official” language of the colony, but words from the Tupi language family had already made its way into the Brazilian Portuguese language.

Many of the words from indigenous languages are used for plants and animals, as well as place names. Many state names of Brazil are taken from Tupi-Guarani, but there are cities that take names from this family as well.

Brazil has a history of African slave trade. Most of these words on the list come from the languages of Yoruba (of Nigeria) and Kimbundu (of Angola).

A lot of these terms (cuisine, religion) are used in the North and Northeast of Brazil, namely in the state of Bahia. If you’re interested in Afro-Brazilian culture, the Northeast is the place to visit–you can definitely see the influence, especially in Salvador (capital of Bahia, first capital of Brazil) and the cities surrounding it.

These two languages definitely have had a huge impact on Brazilian Portuguese, but I also want to highlight some words of other origin that have seeped into Brasileiro. The Portuguese word for “persimmon” is “caqui” which is of Japanese origin, “柿.” Funny anecdote, when I was at the market in Brazil, someone pointed to a persimmon and said “Caqui?” as if to ask if I wanted to buy it and my eyes few wide because I knew exactly what the Japanese equivalent of it was. Craziness. I’ve also seen on soy sauce packets “shoyu” in Brazil, which is how you say it in Japanese as well.

Recently, I’ve seen Brazilian political things on my Facebook feed (to which I am impartial). In English, we call it “impeachment.” If you wanted to get technical, I guess the more formal word in Portuguese might be “impugnação.” However, I have seen the word “impeachment” used by Brazilians. English language influence? Maybe. I just thought it was interesting.