Brazil Languages

Description
Portuguese is the official and national language of Brazil[6] and is widely spoken by most of the population. The Portuguese dialects spoken in Brazil are collectively known as Brazilian Portuguese. The Brazilian Sign Language also has official status at the federal level. As of 2019, the population of Brazil speaks or signs approximately 228 languages, of which 217 are indigenous and 11 came with immigrants.

Because of the importance of the Roman Catholic Church to Brazil’s history, you may find several other languages in Brazilian records. These include Latin, German, Italian, Polish, and other languages of European ethnic immigrants. Also, some records may be in Japanese.

Portuguese grammar may affect the way names appear in genealogical records. For help in understanding name variations, see Brazil Names, Personal.

Word List(s)
Most materials used in Brazilian research are written in Portuguese, but you do not need to speak or read Portuguese to do research in Brazilian records. However, you will need to know some key words and phrases to understand the records.

For word list and help researching in Brazilian records, see:
 * Portuguese Genealogical Word List

Alphabet and Pronunciation
The Brazilian spelling of Portuguese is distinct from that of other Portuguese-speaking countries and is uniform across the country. With the implementation of the Orthographic Agreement of 1990, the orthographic norms of Brazil and Portugal have been largely unified, but still have some minor differences. Brazil enacted these changes in 2009 and Portugal enacted them in 2012.

Brazilian Portuguese (spoken in Brazil) and European Portuguese (spoken in many countries in Europe, including Portugal) are the two main types. Read this article to better understand the key differences

Language Aids and Dictionaries
The FamilySearch Wiki has genealogical word lists for Portuguese, German, Latin, Polish), and Spanish. There is also a Portuguese Letter-writing Guide to help write to Brazil.

See the FamilySearch tutorials on "Reading Portuguese Handwritten Records"

The following books and English-Portuguese dictionaries can also aid you in your research. You can find these and similar material at many research libraries.

Ferreira, Júlio Albino. Dicionário Inglês- português, Português-inglês. Porto, Portugal: Edit. Domingos Barreira, 1979. ; film item 1

Vieyra, Anthony. Dictionary of Portuguese and English languages. London: 1827. item 5 The Family History Library has only part two, English- Portuguese.

Additional language aids, including dictionaries of various dialects and time periods, are listed in the FamilySearch Catalog in the "Subjects" search for BRAZIL- LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGES or PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE- DICTIONARIES.

Additional Resources
Study and Teaching Aids
 * Michael M Gruneberg, Instant Recall Portuguese, (Chicago, Ill. : McGraw-Hill): 2010. Available at WorldCat