Does your app speak Portuguese? O seu app fala portugues?

Portuguese is one of the top 10 languages by popularity worldwide and has official status in 9 countries, including Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Angola, etc. The 300 million speakers make it an attractive option for localization because it provides a massive market of potential customers.

Moreover, in 2023 Portuguese became the second fastest-growing language. In a hundred years (since 1921), the number of Portuguese speakers has increased by 297%, and this trend continues. Does your business already speak Portuguese? This article will give you more overview of why and how to cover the significant audience of Portuguese speakers without additional hassles.

The peculiarities of the Portuguese language

Portuguese is a so-called pluricentric language with several interacting codified standard forms. In this case, two main countries affect it - Portugal and Brazil. They have separate official rules and conditions, and we have already described the difference between pt-PT and pt-BR in our blog. To show you the main difference between Brazilian and European Portuguese, let's take a look at the standard words:

Although Portuguese is a popular language, only 3.5% of the content in the online world is written in it. At the same time, the native language is critical if you want to compete in the market. If, at the dawn of the Internet, users had no different alternatives and English was mainly the only option, now people have a choice and prefer the content in their mother tongue.

Thus, the latest survey showed that 76% of consumers prefer products with information in their language, and 40% won't buy at all from websites in other languages.

Lingohub tip: Pluricentric languages localization can be much easier with Lingohub features. We provide the fallback language and prefill features if you want to quickly cover different dialects.

That means that after/throughout translating your application in one of the language variations, you can use ready texts to fill the empty segments automatically. Moreover, update the term base with appropriate translations for different words, and it will provide automated suggestions for your linguists.

Why should you work on Portuguese localization?

To overview the language potential, let's look at the list of the leading Portuguese-speaking countries with the population size and the fraction of Portuguese-speaking people there.

• Brazil - 217 million - over 214 million speak Portuguese
• Portugal - 10 million - more than 9,5 million speak
• Mozambique - 32 million - 8 million Portuguese speakers
• Angola - 36 million - 18 million speak Portuguese

As we can see, Brazil is one of the biggest markets with the Portuguese language. In 2023, there are 172 million active mobile users, which is predicted to grow to almost 200 million in the next five years. But is Brazilian Portuguese a good choice for app localization? Yes, because it is the fourth country worldwide by app downloads after China, India, and the US, with total downloads of 10,3 billion. The same rank Brazil holds for the usage of the apps. In 2022, Brazilians spent 193 billion hours in applications, bringing a total profit of $4.62 billion.

In its turn, European Portuguese is the original form of the language and is widely understood in the Republic of Portugal and its ex-colonies, such as Mozambique and Angola. Localizing your application to European Portuguese will allow you to cover a large number of customers. For example, only in Angola - 18 million people are Portuguese speakers. Take a look at the map below to get a more understanding of the language spreading.

Localization app for Brazil and other Portuguese-speaking countries

Language is not a single point you should focus on during localization. Brazil, Portugal, and for example, Angola have more differences than similarities. For instance, Brazil gained independence in 1822, and from that time, it cherished and developed its own culture. This question covers not only some cultural things but religion and purchasing power. So let's overview the basic things that you need to consider when localizing to Portuguese:

• Pricing policy. The average salary in Portugal is around €1025 while in Brazil it is around €600. App localization implies adapting prices for the local market to stay in the competition race with other publishers.
• Figures and signs. Brazil doesn't use Euros - their national currency is the Brazilian Real. Take care of such minor things that can affect the entire impression.
• SEO is important. As the Portuguese variations have differences even in simple words, you should carefully collect the keywords for your application to optimize the App Stores.
• Pay attention to seasonality. Brazil has its own holidays and festivals. In Brazil, celebrations such as the Carnival festival hold significant cultural value. Consider providing seasonal promotions and deals to your Brazilian audience to increase conversions.
• Local laws. Take care of compliance. Brazil, for instance, has its own data protection regularity - LGPD - very common to European GDPR.

How can Lingohub support you with the localization of your application to Portuguese?

Besides deep diving into the cultural and language nuances, you should care about the localization process. The right translation management system is that puzzle that will combine all in one picture. Look at the part of Lingohub's advantages that will help you localize the application to the Portuguese language.

• Support of different platforms and file formats. We offer unparalleled flexibility to our customers, with support for more than 50 frameworks and 30+ file formats. Whether you are using Python, React, C#, or any other popular language - Lingohub will assist you.

• Mobile OTA. No need to release a new version to the Google Play Store or App Store. Lingohub mobile SDK supports Over-The-Air (OTA), allowing you to publish translations to iOS and Android apps effortlessly. Use our mobile app translation service to increase a productivity of your localization team.

• Linguists experts. Sometimes finding the right translators can be a challenge. At Lingohub, you can hire reliable experts to help you adapt your project with the best quality. Need to translate the part of the project, or looking for the external proofreader? All these options are available.

• Convert between iOS and Android. Creating separate projects in Lingohub for both systems is entirely unnecessary. All you need to do is create a single project and export the translated files in another format.

• Public REST API. With our API, you can easily customize your workflow and seamlessly incorporate Lingohub into your development process. You can integrate Lingohub's existing plugin or even create a personalized one to transfer your resource files.

• Locales management. In the context of pluricentric languages like Portuguese, you will need separate locales per region. Lingohub provides such an ability to support your team with text processing and file encoding.

Conclusion

Portuguese is an up-and-coming language for application localization. The large and engaged audience, fast growth, and increasing language popularity make countries like Brazil a potential market to consider.

To make your localization to such countries more effortless and qualitative, use all the advantages of Lingohub. Schedule a short demo call with our team to get more information about Lingohub and how it can fit your business needs.

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