How Similar Is Spanish To Portuguese?

Portuguese and Spanish are the most closely-related Romance languages, with approximately 89% of their vocabulary either over-lapping or close enough to be mutually intelligible in both languages. Both Spanish and Portuguese are members of the West Iberian language group, until a few centuries ago a dialect-continuum from the Pyrenees mountains on the border of France and Spain to the Portuguese Atlantic coast. Because of their shared ancestry, the two languages share extensive similarities and speakers of Spanish should be able to learn Portuguese with moderate ease. Interestingly, it is usually much easier for Portuguese speakers to learn Spanish than Spanish speakers to learn Portuguese. Experts still aren’t quite sure why that is.

Significant Differences

• Othography: Many similarly-pronounced words are spelled differently e.x. Spanish mayor and Portuguese maior.
• Foreign Influences: The Portuguese language was more influenced by French and African languages than was Spanish, which was more insular. Thus, many Portuguese words borrowed from non-romance languages will sound completely foreign to speakers of Spanish.
• Arabic Substratum: Spanish has been strongly influenced by Arabic due to centuries of Moorish rule and has largely retained most of the medieval Mozarabic vocabulary. Portugal, on the other hand, was never under Moorish rule to the extent that Spain was and thus retains few Mozarabic influences today.