If you are interested in Portuguese or you are already studying it, here we will tell you about this language. We will also recommend that you Use A Text Reader To Learn Portuguese, to facilitate both your pronunciation and comprehension skills: Woord.
A Little About the Portuguese Language
The Portuguese language is an inflected Romance language, belonging to the Indo-European language family and derived from Galician-Portuguese. After the independence of Portugal from the Kingdom of Galicia and the Kingdom of León in 1139; and the subsequent reconquest to the south, the Galician-Portuguese language spread throughout the limits of present-day Portugal. Also, the language was spreading during the period of the discoveries by Brazil, six countries in Africa, and other parts of the world.
With approximately 270,000,000 speakers, Portuguese is the ninth most widely spoken native language in the world; and the third most widely spoken language using the Latin alphabet, after Spanish and English. Portuguese is also the most widely spoken language in the hemisphere south, with Angola, Mozambique, East Timor; and, in the first place, Brazil, with its population of 215 million inhabitants.
Currently, it is the main language of Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, and East Timor; all these countries make up the Community of Portuguese-speaking countries. Likewise, is also spoken in its creolized form in parts of India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Indonesia. It is also spoken by large and important colonies of established Portuguese-speaking countries such as Andorra; Luxembourg, Canada, the United States, Namibia, Paraguay, Uruguay, France, Japan, Colombia, and Venezuela. In addition to having a high number of speakers in localities of the Spanish-Portuguese border as is the case of Badajoz or La Codosera.
I bet you didn’t know it was such a popular language…
Why Learn Portuguese? Here Are 5 Reasons
- Portuguese is an easy language for us. If we take into account the grammatical and even alphabetic differences that we have compared to other languages; Portuguese is not so far from English, especially if we have some knowledge of Spanish.
- Every language you learn brings you closer to new people. As we mentioned earlier, it is one of the most widely spoken languages on the planet.
- Portuguese is a very beautiful language. The sound of a language is among the most common reasons for wanting to learn Portuguese, and with Portuguese we have all this and more. It is a very musical, sweet and mellow language. Portuguese literature, music and especially poetry are beautiful.
- To work in Brazil. Brazil is becoming in recent years an economic power to respect. This implies that the country is growing, developing and creating jobs. Not only are professionals of all kinds sought, but also language teacher positions are abundant. Do you want to go away for a year to get to know different places and other cultures? Look for a job as a teacher of your language in Brazil and enjoy the experience.
- To work in Portugal. We put it as another reason because although it is a work reason, Brazil and Portugal are different countries and the distance or the characteristics of each one is different. Portugal is coming out of the crisis, which can provide a great job or relocation opportunity.
Woord: A Text Reader To Learn Portuguese
Brazilian Portuguese differs from European Portuguese in several ways, including sound changes and differences in verb conjugation and syntax; for example, object pronouns appear before the verb in Brazilian Portuguese, as they do in Spanish, but after the verb in standard Portuguese.
Therefore, if you want to start clearly distinguishing the different Portuguese dialects, we recommend that you try a text-to-speech tool: Woord. This is an application that uses assistive technology to transform any text or document into audio. If you have a script or novel that you would like to listen to or read in Portuguese, this technology can help. In addition, for any of the two dialects, has a variety of voices, you can even choose between masculine, feminine and neutral gender for each of them.
Woord is a free online TTS with a lot of useful features. All of these features are available for free, allowing you to check out the service before investing in the premium version. Surprisingly, the free edition includes premium voices, a Chrome plugin, an SSML editor, and an MP3 download, as well as up to 20,000 characters every month. This software also allows you to adjust the pace and format of the voices.
How Does It Work?
Just follow these easy steps:
- Select “Online reader” from the menu at www.getwoord.com, or install the Chrome extension on your computer.
- Write your text on the whiteboard or drop the file, then select a Portuguese voice, gender, speed, and format.
- When you’re finished, click ‘Speak It’ to make sure everything is in order.
- Once you’re satisfied with the outcome, save it to your computer.
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Also published on Medium.