Yesterday we had a group of WHU MBAs visiting for a rowing event and get together. As I had observed in Berlin, the Spanish speaking croud (5 to 6 people) quickly came together. I do understand Spanish fairly well, but have a bit more trouble speaking, which makes me quieter than I would usually be in a conversation in German, Portuguese or English. Besides that me being quieter might be a good thing, It made me ponder that Brazil and Brazilians would be better off if the oficial language was also Spanish. Communication, especially with our neighbours, would be so more simple, with positive effects in all fields.
Brazil stands as the biggest and only Portuguese speaking in Latin America. I wonder if the unique language has some value as a differentiating factor. I am not sure, curious to see what others think.
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Well, if I come to think of one aspect: the fact that Brazilians have a much easier task understanding Spanish that it is the other way around (that means, Spanish-speaking people understanding Portuguese), perhaps there is at least one semantic advantage for the maintenance of our language. It is surely possible to argue further about poetic traits or expressions, but I think this linguistic point is already of some importance.
I believe that it is easier for us to understand Spanish because we do have a much higher degree of familiarity wiht and exposure to Spanish than we are conciously aware of. And I think that we are more exposed to Spanish than Spanish speakers around the world are exposed to Portuguese.
I do not fully agree - I think it is foremost due to a linguistic difference, that is to say, the kind of sounds that compose the Portuguese language are wider then the Spanish ones and have a kind of "melody" that works in favor of this type of relationship between the simultaneous understanding. Of course this does not eliminate the effect you mentioned, but I would rather classify it as secondary.
You have a good point there. The pronounciation and the accent can make it easier or more difficult to understand a language. Foreigners have a much easier time to understand Brazilian Portuguese than Portuguese Portuguese because of the fact that in the European accent, lots of sounds are not pronounced clearly.
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