Languages of Portugal

Updated on Oct 04, 2024

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Official languages Portuguese		Common keyboard layouts Portuguese QWERTY

Main foreign languages English (32%)French (24%)Spanish (9%) Sign languages Portuguese Sign Language Source ebs_243_en.pdf (europa.eu)

The languages of Portugal are the languages spoken or once spoken in the territory of the country of Portugal.

Map of Portugal

Modern

Portuguese is practically universal in Portugal, but there are some specificities.

Portuguese language (European Portuguese), with the following dialects:

The Southern and Central dialects - They include the dialect of the capital, Lisbon, which, however, has some peculiarities of its own. Although the dialects of the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira have unique characteristics, as well, they can also be grouped with the southern dialects.

1 - Açoriano — Azores

2 - Alentejano — Alentejo

3 - Algarvio — Algarve (there is a particular small dialect in the western area)

5 - Baixo-Beirão; Alto-Alentejano — Central Portugal (interior)

6 - Beirão — central Portugal

7 - Estremenho — Regions of Coimbra and Lisbon (can be subdivided in Lisbon Portuguese and Coimbra Portuguese)

8 - Madeirense — Madeira

The Northern dialects - This includes the dialect of Porto, Portugal's second largest city.

4 - Alto-Minhoto — North of Braga (interior)

9 - Nortenho — Regions of Braga and Porto

10 - Transmontano — Trás-os-Montes

Barranquenho - In the town of Barrancos (in the border between Extremadura, Andalusia and Portugal), a dialect of Portuguese heavily influenced by Extremaduran is spoken, known as Barranquenho.

Minderico - a sociolect or argot spoken in Minde, practically extinct

Mirandese language - A dialect of Astur-Leonese spoken in Miranda do Douro in northeastern Portugal, recognized officially as a minority language in 1999.

Portuguese Sign Language