What Languages Are Spoken in Brazil?
The most common language spoken in Brazil is the official tongue, Portuguese. However, a diverse indigenous community and extensive immigration makes the linguistic culture of Brazil highly eclectic. According to Ethnologue, Brazil is home to 228 languages.
Brazil’s large Amerindian community accounts for 215 of the languages in Brazil; however, people who speak these languages are a tiny percentage of the Brazilian population, perhaps 40,000 speakers in a total population of over 202 million. The country’s official language is Portuguese, a relic of Portuguese colonialism. As of 1998, around 180 million Brazilians spoke Portuguese. Other languages, such as Italian, German, Japanese and English thrive in the country’s large immigrant communities. In border areas with Spanish-speaking countries, many people also speak Spanish.
