Is it possible to move to a country where you don’t know the language? Is it possible to live, settle down and especially integrate without knowing the language of the country? In Portugal, as elsewhere, this seems possible in the short term, but is it possible to live in this country without learning the native language? At first glance, it is a difficult bet to make. Everything will depend of course on your personal situation. If you are bilingual in English, it is possible to live in Portugal without speaking Portuguese, yes. But is it really desirable?

Learning Portuguese: Is it really useful?

You are moving to Portugal and you don’t know a single word of Portuguese. A classic situation after all. Will this prevent you from living this expatriation well? For some people it would be totally inconceivable, for others it is not impossible. So how do they do it?

First of all, the Portuguese speak English and French very well. They speak English well and without an accent. They learn English from a very young age and especially television and movies are broadcasted in VO and subtitled in Portuguese. French is the second most learned language in the country after English and before Spanish. Therefore, especially in large cities like Lisbon or Porto, it is not necessary to know how to speak Portuguese. You will be able to live and make yourself understood without difficulty in French or English.

Another point in Portugal is that the French community is very important, so if you live in a big city, you will be able to integrate the French community very easily. At that point, you will not see the point of learning Portuguese. From the experience of other French people, you will have the good tips, you will know everything there is to know about Portugal ….

Learning Portuguese can also depend on the length of your stay, your expatriation in Portugal. If you come to Portugal for a few months, and you don’t need Portuguese in your daily professional life, you can live well in Portugal without learning the language. And often in these cases you don’t even have the time.

The last argument for not learning Portuguese, even though you are moving to Portugal, is the company you work for. Indeed, if it is a large international group in which English is of course required, you will not need to learn Portuguese. You will have an expatriation contract, in other words, competent services, relocation services will have accompanied you or will have done for you all the administrative procedures, the search for housing, the children’s school … And in 2 to 3 years you will leave for another country.

But this type of situation does not correspond to the life of the majority of the people settling in Portugal. So or this precise example is it possible to live in Portugal without speaking a word of Portuguese?

What is the point of learning Portuguese?

As we have already said, Portuguese people generally speak French and English very well. Especially in big cities like Lisbon you will not be confronted with the language barrier. Nevertheless, will this be enough to live well, to integrate?

When one chooses to settle in a country it can be by professional obligation but it is often and fortunately a deliberate choice. One comes to live in Portugal because one wants to! Starting from this voluntary approach, it will seem quite natural to these newcomers to learn a few words before leaving and to take more intensive courses when settling in. Because when one chooses to expatriate, to settle in Portugal, it is a carefully considered decision.

Learning Portuguese for a French person in particular will not be that difficult. Indeed, Portuguese is a Romance language like French. The French language and the Portuguese language have the same origin and the same alphabet. But all expatriates will tell you that learning a new language requires an effort and sometimes you don’t feel like it. However, by going to classes you will meet native speakers and other foreigners like you who want to integrate into Portugal.

With Portuguese: get out of isolation

Learning Portuguese seems to be an essential and necessary step in your settlement. How can you live in Portugal if you can’t communicate with the locals? Especially in rural areas! Not to mention taking certain steps to become a resident in the country.

Especially if you are planning to settle down for the long term, or even if you are planning to settle down permanently in Portugal, it will seem normal to learn Portuguese. Indeed, once you have settled in, you will need to feel at home on a daily basis and this will be done by speaking Portuguese with your neighbors, your shopkeepers.

You will get out of the isolation that expatriates describe once the euphoria of the arrival, of the installation, we sometimes feel isolated. By learning the language of the country you will be able to create links with the locals. By speaking Portuguese, you will be able to develop your friendships more easily, and truly settle into a lasting rather than temporary situation!

By learning Portuguese, the language of the country where you are settling, you will have access to a multitude of information: local news, events in your city, good deals… Things that you would have totally missed if you didn’t master Portuguese. This allows you to get to know the culture of the country, to get to know the locals and to build relationships.

In the case of a move to Portugal, as in other countries, mastering the language of the country is necessary for a good integration but not sufficient. It is really necessary to immerse oneself totally in the local life: to understand the codes, the customs, to listen to the radio, to watch television, to understand and know the environment which surrounds us. And Portuguese is the first step in this process. Without the mastery of Portuguese all this would not be possible.

Learning Portuguese: a form of respect

Even if we can make ourselves understood in English, in French, the Portuguese might misunderstand our lack of language skills as laziness. The locals are often very grateful for the efforts you make to integrate and especially for the fact that you speak their language even if at first you only stammer a few words. Settling in a country and not being able to say hello, goodbye or thank you can feel like disrespect. By learning Portuguese and especially by speaking it, you become one of them. You are no longer taken for the simple tourist.

By learning Portuguese, you will gradually leave the French community. In Portugal there is a large French-speaking community, and even when you first arrived, you found it reassuring and practical to stay only within your community. The more time goes by, the more you will be cut off from the world, from the culture that surrounds you. When you decide to leave everything behind and move to Portugal, it is to be curious, to discover things, to reach out to others, to be open.

Portuguese: 3rd most spoken European language in the world

More than 250 million people speak Portuguese in the world. It is the 3rd most spoken European language behind English and Spanish. Contrary to popular belief, Portuguese is a language that is increasingly spoken. Country of the great explorers, Portuguese is spoken in Africa (Angola), in Asia and especially in South America in Brazil and in Europe.

It is the 7th most spoken language in the world. And the number of Portuguese speakers is expected to increase. By 2050, there will be approximately 335 million Portuguese speakers. So in addition to being an undeniable means of integration, Portuguese offers multiple perspectives to those who learn, understand and speak it.

Where and how to take Portuguese courses?

If you are connected

There are many sites to learn a new language. Some sites offer several formulas depending on your level and your needs: job interviews, everyday transactions, daily life, etc. Then you just have to connect and the course takes place in videoconference with a teacher who is often a native of the country of the language you are studying. These sites will be able to issue you an official certificate, validating your level, unlike the private language teacher. This type of website offers several rates from the cheapest: 10 hours of private lessons for 290€, 25 hours of private lessons for 649€, 50 hours of private lessons for 1200€.

There are also mobile applications that adapt to your progress and make you work on your mistakes detected in past tests. It’s fun, fast and the progress curve is very fast. For example, Duolingo is largely free.

Language Schools

As in all countries, you will find many language schools in Portugal. They will offer you various formulas according to your level and adapted to your needs. They will be able to offer you private lessons or group lessons, intensive courses…

However, these language schools are often quite expensive. It is important to find out if your employer can help you. They may be able to pay for all or part of your courses. This assistance should be negotiated when you leave. For example, if you are transferred to another company, the company may pay for your courses. In training centers, for one to one courses you will have to pay between 40 and 50 € per hour. However, if you sign up for a monthly package or a group course, you will be able to obtain more attractive rates at around 10€ per hour.

Other solutions

If you are looking for a more economical solution you can also buy the more traditional methods in book form such as Assimil or others who offer complete packs (book and CD) for about 65 € or even e-methods for 50 €. If you are looking for a more personalized and non-binding solution, you can hire a private teacher. The rates are very variable from one teacher to another. The rates will depend on the training of the teacher. On average, you can find one starting at 12.50€ per hour.

Using your CPF (Compte Personnel de Formation ex DIF) to finance your Portuguese course

If you are a French employee on a permanent or temporary contract, or even registered with the job center, you can of course use your CPF to finance a foreign language course, with the agreement of your employer. You will have to anticipate this and do it before moving to Portugal. A training course of this type in training centers compatible with the CPF according to the options chosen will cost you between 1000 € and 1800 € HT for 20 hours of lessons if you pay. But with your CPF at least part of the cost can be covered.

How long does it take to learn Portuguese?

The FSI (the American Foreign Service Institute) has classified languages into several groups according to their learning difficulties. Portuguese and French are in the first group. For comparison, Chinese is in the 5th group.

For group 1 languages like Portuguese, this institute estimates that it would take about 480H to be sufficiently comfortable in the language. If you can devote 4 hours a day to learning this language and taking into account holidays, it takes an average of 6 months. Learning Portuguese will require time and investment on your part. In addition to the hours of classes, you will complete your learning with television, outings, newspapers…

Some mandatory words to know

You must be able to speak Portuguese, maybe not perfectly but at least a little. Step by step you will learn, don’t be too impatient, you have put thousands of hours into speaking your language and probably the other languages you know. Don’t get discouraged.

How to say “hello” and “thank you” in Portuguese

In Portugal, we say, “Bom dia” before noon and “Boa tarde” after noon and it’s really at noon that it changes.

And it is really respected. We don’t say “Bonjour” in the middle of the afternoon, no it’s “Bon après midi”. This means that we really respect the intention of wishing “Bon moment maintenant” and not a greeting that has lost its meaning like “Bonjour”. Otherwise we say “Ola” or “Oi” in Brazil.

In the evening we will say “Boa noite” but really late at night. Again for a really good night!

But very often, we will say “Tudo bem?” that is our “ça va?” which this time in Portuguese as in French is without real meaning. When we say “Hello, how are you?” we hope that the person will NOT tell you all his problems for an hour. You wait for “How are you? End of the handshake, of the automatic formula for making contact.

In Portuguese it’s the same and maybe even more often. “Tudo bem?” Answer “Tudo bem” or “Estou” from the verb to be that in France we hear in the countryside, “I’m going” or “We’re making it go”. More politely, “Bem, obrigado” means “I’m fine, thank you”.

And frankly, this is what you hear all the time and for everything “Tudo bem”, “Esta bem”, “Esta boa” when addressing a woman, etc. With this you can already speak Portuguese!

“Goodbye, farewell” is “Adeus” like “Adeus, boa noite”.

How to say Thank You in Portuguese

For a man it is “Obrigado” and a woman always say “Obrigada”! There is no confusion. In any case it will often be like this, the “o” for the male and the “a” for the female. Easy to practice.

“O senhor e a senhora” is our “Mr. and Mrs.” And often with the first name of the person so “o senhor Jean” “a senhora Maria”.

What is a little curious for us is this “o” and “a” in front, “Le monsieur” “La madame” and even more curious when we always hear “O Manuel” “A Maria” so literally “Le Manuel” and “La Marie” as in French of our old country. And here it is normal, modern, used all the time.

With this you can start to make the first contacts and at least be polite and thankful. This is essential for speaking Portuguese.

How to say “See you soon” and “See you tomorrow” in Portuguese”?

“Bom dia, Boa tarde, boa noite, Ola” is a given. But to say “See you soon” we say “Ate Ja or Ate logo” and for “See you tomorrow” it will be “Ate Amanha”.

“Amanha” is “tomorrow” when “Manha” is “the morning”.

This is written Portuguese, but in practice we hear “Teja” and “Tamania”. Spoken Portuguese lightens and connects the words, a lot! You hear “Sto!” and not “esto” for example. This is what you say on the phone instead of “Allo” when you are called. “I am = esto = Sto!”

This is the big difficulty I find, reading is easy enough but understanding orally much more difficult..

How to ask a question in Portuguese?

Now a great trick that makes that in 5 seconds you will know how to ask a question, it’s like in French, you raise the tone at the end, that’s all, it’s simple!

Not like in English with the inversion “it is white, is it white?”, in French “c’est blanc, c’est blanc?” in Portuguese it’s the same “é branco, é branco?”

Great, isn’t it? “Como esta?” “How are you? “Estas bom?” “Are you okay? Are you okay?”

Come on one more very useful little trick to speak Portuguese well. When you meet someone for the first time, you are introduced to him or her and he or she refers to you. In French it is “Enchanté” and here in Portuguese it is “Prazer”.

In response: “Me too” so “Igualmente” our “Pareillement” which is a little heavier and less used.

That’s enough for a good start. To know by heart! Isso é suficiente para um bom começo. Para conhecer de cor!