Which South American country is the only one in which Portuguese is the official language?

Answer 1

Portuguese is the official language of the South American country of Brazil. It's one of the nine recognized regional languages in the nearby Co-operative Republic of Guyana, where the official langauge is English.

Answer 2

Brazil is the only South American country in which Portuguese is the official language. For Brazil was colonized by Portugal whereas most of the other South American countries were settled under the command and direction of the Spanish monarchy. But Brazil isn't the only South American country where Portuguese is known, spoken and understood. Portuguese is recognized as one of the nine regional languages of importance to The Co-operative Republic of Guyana. Nevertheless, English remains the official language in the Republic.

Answer 3

The citizens of the South American country of Brazilspeak Portuguese. For Brazil is a former Portuguese colony. And Portuguese, as the language of the colonizers, remains the official language, and the main spoken language for the vast majority of Brazilians.. But Brazil isn't the only country where Portuguese is spoken in South America. For Portuguese is included among the nine recognized regional languages of importance in the neighboring Co-operative Republic of Guyana. But the Republic's official language remains English. And Portuguese also is spoken in Argentina and Uruguay, where it's a required subject for schoolchildren; and in Bolivia, Guiana, Paraguay, Suriname, and Venezuela. But in not one of these countries is Portuguese an official language. Nor is its status any where near to being a main spoken language.

Answer 4

Portuguese is spoken in the South American country, and former Portuguese colony, of Brazil. In fact, Portuguese is the country's official language, and the language spoken by almost all Brazilians.

Portuguese also is spoken in the countries that border Brazil. But the number of speakers and the frequency of use are far less. For example, Portuguese is one of the nine recognized regional languages in The Co-operative Republic of Guyana. But the official language of Guyana is English.

And Portuguese is required study for schoolchildren in Argentina and Uruguay. But the official language of both countries is Spanish. And, to an even lesser degree, Portuguese is known, spoken or understood in the neighboring countries of Bolivia, French Guiana, Paraguay, Suriname, and Venezuela.

Answer 5

In Brazil, a former Portuguese colony, the official language is Brazilian Portuguese. The distinction is necessary because there are a number of gramatical and orthographical differences between Portuguese as spoken/written in Brazil, and the Portuguese spoken/written in continental Portugal (and, in fact, between other Portuguese speaking countries too).

The 1990 Orthographic Agreement (Acordo Ortográfico) is an attempt to unify, as much as possible, the differences between the spellings of certain words. In Portugal, for example, a number of words include letters which are not pronounced, in particular the letters 'c', 'p' (among others). Examples of such words are:

acção (a-sowng) (action in English)

actor (a-tor) (actor in English)

In Brazil (and now in Portugal, after the introduction of the 1990 Orthographic Agreement towards the end of 2011) these words are written:

ação

ator

However, there are still some differences, due to different pronunciation, and in these cases the agreement allows for both spellings. For example, in European Portuguese:

académico (akah-DEH-me-koo) (academic in English)

but in Brazilian Portuguese:

acadêmico (akah-DEI-me-koo)

And then there are words which are written differently in Brazilian and European Portuguese, that do not change. For example in European Portuguese:

facto (fak-too) (fact in English)

but in Brazilian Portuguese:

fato (fah-too) (in European Portuguese this meanssuit)

Answer 6

In all but four South American countries the populations speak Spanish as the country's main spoken language, and as the country's official language. The four predominantly non-Spanish speaking countries in South America are Brazil, the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, French Guiana, and Suriname. The official languages of French Guiana and Suriname are French and Dutch, respectively. The Co-operative Republic of Guyana keeps English as its official language. But the Republic recognizes Portuguese as one of the nine regional languages of importance to the nation. And Portuguese is the official language of Brazil, which is South America's largest country. Why is Portuguese instead of Spanish the main spoken and official language of Brazil? The rest of South America was colonized by the Spanish conquerors. But Brazil was settled by colonizers from Portugal.