Thinking of visiting Brazil for the carnival or for business? Don’t go thinking Brazilians speak Spanish like the rest of South America! Portuguese will be the only language you’ll hear in Rio.

Contrary to Brazil, the rest of South America speaks Spanish. But, thanks to those first European settlers from Portugal in the early sixteenth century, Portuguese is the official language of Brazil.

Businesses, schools and all Brazilians speak Portuguese. However, as with all other languages, you will find variations of Portuguese, dependent on which part of Brazil people live in. Furthermore, even though the Brazilian people can converse easily with people in Portugal, there are several awkward moments. Sometimes, slang terms and pronunciations of the language in the Brazilian culture fail to quite mesh with the culture in Portugal.

What’s more, there are a number of immigrant communities throughout Brazil that continue to speak in their own native tongue as well as Portuguese. Thanks to the infusion of Italian, German and Japanese immigrants, there are also dialects of their own languages that have almost hybridized with the Portuguese. While the older immigrants who are first generation primarily speak their own language, the younger generations typically use the Portuguese language. However, they are still able to understand and probably speak a little bit of their native language.

Many Brazilians also understand Spanish. For one reason, the Portuguese language has many components similar to Spanish. Furthermore, the neighboring countries of Brazil all consider Spanish as their first language, so speaking some Spanish is almost a necessity, especially in those areas bordering these countries. In addition, the Brazilian government has recognized that Spanish as a second language should be taught in public schools to further relations with their neighbors in the future.