*Portuguese :*
Portuguese spread worldwide in the 15th and 16th centuries as Portugal
established a colonial and commercial empire (1415–1999) which spanned from
Brazil in the Americas to Goa in India and Macau in China, in fact it was
used exclusively on the island of Sri Lanka as the lingua franca for almost
350 years. During that time, many creole languages based on Portuguese also
appeared around the world, especially in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean.
Today it is one of the world's major languages, ranked 6th according to
number of native speakers (approximately 177 million).
It is the language with the largest number of speakers in South America,
spoken by all of Brazil's population, excluding a small number of indigenous
tribes. This amounts to over 51% of the continent's population even though
it is the only Portuguese-speaking nation in the Americas.
It is also a major lingua franca in Portugal's former colonial possessions
in Africa.
It is the official language of ten countries, also being co-official with
Spanish and French in Equatorial Guinea, with Cantonese Chinese in the
Chinese special administrative region of Macau, and with Tetum in East
Timor.
There are sizable communities of Portuguese-speakers in various regions of
North America, notably in the United States (New Jersey, New England and
south Florida) and in Ontario, Canada.
Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes once called Portuguese "the sweet
language", while Brazilian writer Olavo Bilac poetically described it as a
última flor do Lácio, inculta e bela: "the last flower of Latium, wild and
beautiful".
Portuguese is the official language of Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde,
Guinea-Bissau, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and Mozambique. It is also
one of the official languages of Equatorial Guinea (with Spanish and
French), the Chinese special administrative region of Macau (with Chinese),
and East Timor, (with Tetum).
Uruguay gave Portuguese an equal status to Spanish in its educational system
at the north border with Brazil. In the rest of the country, it's taught as
an obligatory subject beginning by the 6th grade.
It is also spoken by substantial immigrant communities, in Andorra, France,
Luxembourg, Jersey (with a statistically significant Portuguese-speaking
community of approximately 10,000 people), Paraguay, Namibia, South Africa,
Switzerland, Venezuela and in the U.S. states of California, Connecticut,
Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island.
In some parts of India, such as Goa and Daman and Diu, Portuguese is still
spoken. There are also significant populations of Portuguese speakers in
Canada (mainly concentrated in and around Toronto), Bermuda and Netherlands
Antilles.
It is also an official language of the European Union, Mercosul, the
Organization of American States, the Organization of Ibero-American States,
the Union of South American Nations, and the African Union (one of the
working languages) and one of the official languages of other organizations.
The Portuguese language is gaining popularity in Africa, Asia, and South
America as a second language for study.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_language]
Thanks and regards
anu
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