What language is spoken in Brazil?

You hear Portuguese everywhere in Brazil, from the Amazon to the border with Uruguay. But it does not sound the same everywhere. The country is divided into five large regions, and each has its own exclamations, words and accent.

Most indigenous language communities live in the north. In the south, descendants of German and Italian immigrants still partly speak the language of their ancestors. The map shows the five regions with three typical expressions each. Tap a region to hear it.

Brazil's only official language is Portuguese. With around 210 million inhabitants, Brazil is by far the largest Portuguese-speaking country, far ahead of Portugal with about 10 million. Almost all Brazilians speak Portuguese as their mother tongue, so most of the Portuguese you hear in the world today is Brazilian.

Brazilian Sign Language, Libras, has also been legally recognised since 2002.

No, although many people assume so. Almost all of Brazil's neighbours are Spanish-speaking, but Brazil itself speaks Portuguese. The two languages are closely related. In writing, Brazilians and Spanish speakers can partly understand each other; in speech it is much harder.

If you know Spanish, it helps when reading signs and menus, but much less in conversation.

The written language is almost the same on both sides of the Atlantic, and both countries share a common spelling reform. Spoken, the differences stand out at once: Brazilians sound more open and melodic, much as American and British English sound different.

For "you", most of Brazil says "você" rather than "tu", though "tu" is also heard in the south and the northeast. Some everyday words differ too: a bus is "ônibus" in Brazil and "autocarro" in Portugal, a train is "trem" rather than "comboio", and a mobile phone is "celular" rather than "telemóvel". Learning Portuguese lets you communicate in both countries.

The 2010 census counted 274 indigenous languages in Brazil. Most of them are spoken in the Amazon region in the north. In the municipality of São Gabriel da Cachoeira in the state of Amazonas, Nheengatu, Tukano and Baniwa have been official languages alongside Portuguese since 2002.

Brazilian Portuguese itself is full of indigenous words, especially from Tupi: "açaí", "abacaxi" (pineapple) and "igarapé", a small stream in the forest.

Many descendants of German immigrants live in the south of Brazil. In Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina some of them still speak Hunsrik, also called Riograndenser Hunsrückisch. In Espírito Santo, Pomeranian (Pomerano) has survived. In some municipalities these languages are recognised as co-official local languages. Pomerode in Santa Catarina is known as the "most German town in Brazil".

Families of Italian descent in the south partly still speak Talian, a language shaped by Venetian. Everyday life in these towns, however, runs in Portuguese.

Not easily. Outside tourism and the big cities, few people speak English. In hotels and at well-known sights it often works, on the bus, in small restaurants or in the countryside usually not. A few words of Portuguese go a long way and are always appreciated. Spanish helps a little with reading.

Clearly Portuguese. It is the language you hear in every region of Brazil, from Manaus to Porto Alegre. You can learn Portuguese for free on Langula, with audio for every word and sentence. For a holiday, greetings, numbers and a few polite phrases are often enough to make a good impression.