People who visit Portugal from English-speaking countries are often surprised to discover that they don’t have to struggle to communicate with native Portuguese. That’s because most people in Portugal speak English as well as their native language.

This is especially true in Portugal’s most visited places, including big cities like Porto and Lisbon, and in the vacation resort area The Algarve. In these vacation hot spots, you can often spend entire days without hearing a word of Portuguese.

Living in Portugal

If you move to Portugal for retirement, relocation, or to invest in a business, it’s probably a good idea to learn the language. But you don’t have to do it right away and you don’t have to worry about becoming especially proficient in it.

In some of the remote areas of the country, you may have to brush up on your Portuguese more than you would in the busiest places. But Portugal has been attracting visitors from the UK, the US, and other English-speaking places for hundreds of years. So communicating with people even if your Portuguese isn’t that great isn’t really that challenging in most cases.

Plus, the more time you spend among Portuguese speakers, the more you will naturally pick up the language. Even if you never take an actual Portuguese course, you probably will understand basic words and phrases starting by the end of the very first month of living there.

BRINT Portugal 

Plus, most smartphones today have free translation apps that let you instantly communicate with people in their native tongue. So interacting with people who don’t speak English is literally as easy as pushing a button.

BRINT Portugal makes it easy to transition to your new life in Portugal. Our friendly and helpful advisers will help you live, laugh, and love your new home here.