Are you expanding your global brand into Portuguese-speaking markets? You’ve likely wondered whether the differences between Brazil and Portugal Portuguese are significant enough to require separate localization.
While vocabulary and grammar vary, the distinction runs deeper—people in each country often reject the other’s version of Portuguese. This makes localization not just a nice-to-have but a must.
Read on to explore the key differences between Brazil and Portugal Portuguese, gain cultural insights into each market and avoid common localization mistakes.
How language and cultural differences impact marketing success
As you probably already know, understanding different markets’ variations in language and culture is key to a successful marketing plan. It allows you to create the most relevant messaging for your audiences and better engage with potential customers. Plus, it helps you avoid missteps that may alienate people in different regions.
When adapting your marketing to different regions, standard translation is unlikely to be the best option. Localizing content and tailoring it to align with local customs shows people in those regions that even if the company is not from that country, they understand and respect the local culture.
Potential customers need to feel seen, heard and understood to feel comfortable buying your product or service, and cultural understanding is the key to creating this feeling.
Using local slang, expressions and humor helps you connect with your audience, while understanding local customs and taboos ensures they receive your message properly.
See also: Too funny for words: How to translate humor in multilingual content
But it’s important to avoid making assumptions or generalizations about a certain region. Make sure that your cultural understanding is based on facts and data, not stereotypes or how you “think” a certain area will behave.
The differences between the Portuguese spoken in Portugal and Brazil are an example of why it’s important to understand different cultures. The two countries share a language, and the people of both countries can generally understand your content if you put it in only Brazilian or Portugal Portuguese.
However, Portuguese people don’t like it if you address them as if they were Brazilian. Many Brazilian people and businesses outright reject content in Portugal Portuguese and vice versa. In many cases, if Portuguese people can only select Brazilian Portuguese or English on a website, they’ll usually choose English.
If you’re going into either of these markets, it’s better to localize for each one separately or not at all.
“The biggest mistake I see in Portuguese digital marketing localization is using Brazilian Portuguese in Portugal. You see it all the time. They think they can just use it here, but it’s very poorly received.” – Kyler Canastra, Lisbon-based Head of Business Development at VeraContent
Key differences between Brazilian and Portugal Portuguese
Much like English in the US and UK, or Spanish in Latin America and Spain, Brazilian and Portugal Portuguese have many differences—but even more so. When a speaker of one variant reads something written in the other variant, they will understand most of the text, but it will seem strange and unnatural. This can result in communication breakdowns.
See also: Content marketing in Spain vs. the US: 9 key differences
There have been efforts to unify the Portuguese language, such as an orthographic agreement created in 1990 and enacted in 2009 that standardized the spelling of many words. However, there are still wide gaps between the countries’ phonics, lexicon and syntax.
Indigenous tribal languages, African slaves’ native languages, and immigrant communities like Italian, German and Japanese have heavily influenced Brazil’s version. The Tupian languages, which served as the lingua franca between natives and the Portuguese during colonial times, played a particularly significant role. It features many more loanwords and anglicisms than Portugal Portuguese.
“Portugal and Brazil have a lot of things in common, but Brazil is one of the most diverse countries on earth. Many different backgrounds influence their language and how they interact with people,” said Kyler, noting that Brazilian Portuguese has evolved more than European Portuguese because it’s had so many different cultures influencing it.
Two key examples of differences between Brazil and Portugal Portuguese:
- Brazil uses many Anglicisms that Portugal rarely does, including “diet,” “ranking” and “download.” It’s also important to note that some anglicisms in Brazil change the meaning of the English word. For example, “chip” is a SIM card, “outdoor” is a billboard, and “step” is the spare tire you keep in the trunk of a car.
- Brazilians are likelier to make verbs from nouns and condense expressions than Portuguese people. For example, they have the verb “poster” which means “to post” (on the internet). They commonly condense the Portuguese expression for congratulations, “dar os parabéns” to “parabenizar.”
All of these disparate influences mean that there are many differences in vocabulary between the two variants. This stands out in areas like IT, where the field developed after Brazil and Portugal became separate countries.
Examples of common internet verbs that are different in Brazil and Portugal:
There are also many key grammar differences:
- Brazilians use “você” (a formal third-person singular pronoun) as an informal second-person pronoun, and in many areas of the country, only use it when referring to “you,” whether formal, informal, singular or plural. The Portuguese use “tu” as their informal second-person pronoun and generally avoid using “você” at all, preferring to use “o senhor” or “a senhora” in formal situations.
- Many Portuguese people, particularly from Lisbon, think “você” sounds harsh and crude. They will translate the sentence to the third person singular to imply formality but drop the pronoun completely to avoid saying it.
- Pronouns come after the verb in Portugal and before the verb in Brazil.
- In Portugal, it’s much more common to omit personal pronouns completely (as they are not grammatically necessary) than in Brazil.
- In the progressive tense (“I am doing,” for example), the gerund is constructed differently. In Brazil, you use the actual gerund form (“comer,” which means eat, becomes “comendo”), but in Portugal, you use a and the infinite form of the verb. So in Brazil, “I am eating” would be “Eu estou comendo,” while in Portugal, it would be “Estou a comer.”
One of the biggest differences between the two languages is their style. Brazilian Portuguese addresses the reader directly, uses more concise language and incorporates the active voice. When something is localized from English to Brazilian Portuguese, the text will usually have the same direct feeling as an English-language text.
Portugal Portuguese, on the other hand, avoids directly addressing the reader, which can result in longer and more detailed texts when translated from English. They also tend to use more formal language, complex sentence structures and the passive voice.
Finally, Brazilian and Portuguese sound very different if you’re doing video or other audio content. Overall, Brazilian Portuguese is pronounced in a melodic, nasally and relaxed way—and they emphasize vowels. Conversely, Portuguese people stress consonant sounds more, speak faster and their version sounds more guttural and choppy.
Kyler explains that Brazilian Portuguese is a syllable-timed language. Every syllable is pronounced for the same amount of time, like in Spanish. European Portuguese is a stress-timed language, like French and English.
He explained that speakers pronounce stressed syllables differently from unstressed ones and do not always pronounce them as written. They cut off lots of syllables and close words.
How to localize content for Brazilian and Portuguese audiences
Beyond differences in language, Brazil and Portugal have cultural differences that will change your approach to localization in each country.
Here are some of the most notable cultural differences to help you understand each market better.
Brazil
- Brazil is a massive country. It’s nearly the size of the US and has over 200 million people. There are tons of regional and even municipal variations of slang. If you want to incorporate slang into your content, you must research and ensure everyone in the country properly understands the expressions.
- It may sound obvious, but remember that seasonal localization is different in Brazil. Since it’s in the southern hemisphere, for example, it’s warm during the December holidays.
- More than many other countries, Brazilians strongly prefer things completely localized to their standards. Localize everything you put out, including dates and time formats, currencies and numbers. A 2020 consumer survey revealed that Brazilians strongly prefer local payment methods and are highly unlikely to purchase if a foreign currency, particularly USD, is the only option.
- Brazilians generally perceive English or foreign-sounding brand names as “cool” and well-received. However, since only 5% of Brazilians are proficient in English, brands should include Portuguese text to explain their product or provide important information.
- Brazilians are very proud of their country and culture, so try to incorporate Brazilian imagery in the visual elements of your advertising. For example, a mobile game called DDTank featured the Corcovado mountain, the Christ the Redeemer monument and characters wearing carnival outfits in the first screenshots it shared of the game to Brazil.
- In general, Brazilians have a friendly, warm and casual culture. Make sure your content is warm, with playful informality. However, it’s okay for your advertising to maintain a more serious tone in more serious industries like finance and law.
See also: 5 ways to ensure a quality language localization
Portugal
- The Portuguese value personal relationships and trust and typically aren’t impulsive purchasers. Make sure to gear your content towards building a relationship with your clients.
- They are extremely price-conscious, the most in Europe. In a 2020 survey of European countries’ food purchasing habits, the average European consumer prioritized taste (45%), food safety (42%) and then cost (40%). By contrast, 70% of Portuguese consumers said price was the factor they considered the most when buying food. Products on sale account for half of total purchases made in the country annually. Consider your price when entering the market, and highlight if it’s a good value.
- Brand loyalty tends to be high in Portugal, especially with clothing brands. A brand they recognize is encouraging, and people are very conscious of the social status that different brands convey.
“Youthful or fun brands sometimes use the second person singular in Portugal, while bigger institutions would only use the third person singular. But there are a lot of aspects to consider when making this decision, so it’s really important to work with local people who understand the cultural nuances,” Kyler said.
See also: 6 global marketing strategies to inspire you
Common Portuguese pitfalls and how to avoid them
Mistakes can happen when localizing your content for Brazilian and Portuguese audiences, even if you’re careful.
Here are some of the most common mistakes and strategies to avoid them.
- Many things localized for the Brazilian market use slang and other terminology from Rio de Janeiro. Brazilians from other areas complain about this, as slang varies widely from region to region. Ensure you set up your translators with a style guide that has a broad and national voice. If you have the budget, you can also consider localizing for different markets within the country so you can use more local slang and connect more deeply with more specific audiences.
- Portuguese takes up at least 30% more space than English, and both countries are mobile-first. About two-thirds of Brazilians own a smartphone, but only two countries spend more time on their phones daily than they do. Mobile phone penetration has increased rapidly in Portugal since 2020, increasing from about 70% of the population to 97% today. Your content must be optimized for mobile, and text that could take up more space is properly formatted to fit on smaller screens.
- While the country is spelled Brazil in English, it’s spelled Brasil in Portuguese. Make sure that you always spell the country name this way. If you don’t, your audience will feel the content wasn’t made for them.
- Be careful with the emojis you use, particularly in Brazil. The 👌 emoji means “okay” in some states, a part of human anatomy in other states, and the equivalent of the middle finger in other states. Generally, the thumbs-up emoji is preferred. The ASL “love you” emoji 🤘 can reference adultery.
See also: Emoji localization: How to adapt to global markets
- One of the reasons there’s so much Brazilian Portuguese in Portugal digital marketing is because up until June 2024, there was no European Portuguese option on the main page of Google Translate. Many companies did their translation by putting their content into Google Translate and didn’t realize that it was being translated to Brazilian Portuguese by default. If your budget is small and you’re using translation software like Google Translate or ChatGPT in Portugal-based marketing, make sure you specify that you want European Portuguese.
- Kyler emphasizes the importance of having separate social media accounts for your Brazilian and Portuguese markets, if possible. “When a Portuguese person goes on a “Portuguese” Instagram and sees the community manager responding in Brazilian Portuguese, it’s very strange for them,” he said.
VeraContent success story: Successful localized marketing in Brazil and Portugal
EDP Renováveis, despite being based in Madrid, is the renewable-energy offshoot of EDP (Energias de Portugal), Portugal’s largest utility company. It’s the world’s fourth-largest generator of wind energy and operates in 13 markets, including both Portugal and Brazil and in 2023 opened its largest renewable energy complex there.
As it’s a Portuguese company with Portuguese executives, the company understands the importance of localizing Portuguese content to the Brazilian and Portuguese markets separately. VeraContent worked with EDPR to localize and create content for both markets, hiring locals from each country to localize.
For Kyler and his team, it was essential to hire linguists who were actually from the country they were localizing to. In English, someone from the US can usually create UK-based content, as long as it’s later reviewed by a UK linguist. But Portuguese is different. “Even Portuguese people who’ve lived in Brazil for a long time, or vice versa, can seldom emulate the other country’s tone of voice,” he noted.
Ready to localize your Portuguese marketing?
Working with locals is essential to creating effective content when expanding into Portuguese-speaking markets. Brazil and Portugal’s linguistic and cultural differences are too significant to ignore. Localizing for each market ensures your messaging connects authentically with audiences.
At VeraContent, we specialize in helping brands navigate these complexities by collaborating with native experts from each country. Whether you’re targeting Brazil, Portugal or both, we’ll ensure your content is tailored to fit local nuances and deliver results.
Book a call with us today to see if you qualify for a Free Content Consultation.