The Portuguese language peculiarities during localization

Our team had already overviewed the Portuguese language's importance for going global, its general statistics, and its pluricentric character. Today, we will dive deeply into the Portuguese peculiarities and challenges caused by them and how they can affect Portuguese localization.

The Portuguese language peculiarities during localization

Suppose you have a target to localize your website or software to Portuguese. In that case, it is essential to understand the pitfalls from scratch to prevent possible issues, prepare the necessary documentation, or find the best solution. Let's overview what challenges you can face and how to solve them.

The language length

The difference between English and Portuguese language length is around 15% (Portuguese sentences are more extended.) The following grammar features explain this:

1. Verb conjugation: The verbs in Portuguese are inflected for person/number; thus, the words became longer. For example, the verb "Fazer" – "To do" will change based on the person in the following way:

• I - Eu faço
• You - Tu fazes
• He/she/it - Ele/ela/você faz
• We - Nós fazemos
• You (plural) - Vós fazeis/Vocês fazem
• They - Eles/Elas fazem

2. Adjectives: In Portuguese, adjectives are agreed with nouns and numbers and almost always come after the noun. The "successful project" phrase will be translated as:

• singular: "um projeto de sucesso"
• plural: "uns projetos de sucesso"

3. Vocabulary differences: In comparison with English, Portuguese has a bigger number of long words-phrases to describe the English terms:

• lamppost - poste de iluminação
• laptop - computador portátil
• homework - trabalho de casa

As a result, when localizing from English to Portuguese, there is a big chance that the existing designs wouldn't fit the new content. Take a look at the Spotify websites for Portuguese and English-speaking audiences to see how wider the buttons and longer the text are in the version for Portugal.

The best practice for preventing issues with the design for localized content is a design-first approach, which we in details described in a separate article in our blog: → Read more about UX localization

Lingohub provides a tandem of tools that simplify fitting new languages to the existing design: AI pre-translation and smooth integration options. With a few clicks, you can pre-translate the Lingohub provides a tandem of tools that simplify fitting new languages to the existing design: AI pre-translation and smooth integration options. With a few clicks, you can pre-translate the original and send it to Figma, Storyblok, Contentful, etc., or to the repository you use (GitHub, GitLab, Azure).

Complicate formal and informal categorization

Portuguese uses different forms of politeness depending on the situation and the person. For example, there is no need to worry about formal addresses for the first or third person, but you should consider the correct form regarding the second person.

In general, for the second person, there are two forms:

• Informal "tu;"
• Formal "você;" (Brazilians also use você in informal situations, while Portuguese try to avoid this word as much as possible.)

However, this categorization may seem simple only at first glance, as when it comes to communication, it is possible to highlight three different forms of politeness:

• Very formal — communication with someone who outranks or is in a position of power (judge, police, etc.) In this case, instead of "você," Portuguese can use o senhor or a senhora + the person's title.
• Middle formal. This tone is for communication with adults or people with whom you can't use the informal one — for example, with the employees of restaurants, stores, governmental departments, app users, etc. Here, it is possible not to use pronouns or exchange them with names or family-related nouns(mother, father, grandmother, etc ). The example below shows how the "What are you looking for?" was translated to "O que procura?" which, in direct translation, means "What search?"

3. Informal. The appeal, "tu',' is used with friends, relatives, and non formal situations, even if people just met (in a bar, party, or other informal events.)

Also, in Portuguese, there are different words for apology: desculpa (informal) and desculpe (formal.)

Because of such tiny nuances, which are essential to consider, it is crucial to design the style guide for translators before Portuguese localization starts. First of all, this document should be based on the region, as the difference between Portugal and Brazil in this question is significant.

In Lingohub, we provide the style guide tool, which can contain all the needed information and affect the machine translation result. This combination with machine translation means that from the start, teams receive more accurate suggestions from the outset, reducing the time spent on proofreading.

The rich idiomatic vocabulary

Portuguese has many specific phrases and words with deep cultural references. For example, to describe someone who talks too much, the phrase "Falar pelos cotovelos" can be used, which literally means "to talk under the elbows." The origin of this idiom may be linked to exaggerated gestures, such as raising and lowering the arms.

Localization is a much wider process than translation and requires a high level of language knowledge and a deep understanding of the region's cultural context. That's why it is essential to work with professional translators who understand all the nuances.

Other Portuguese language peculiarities

• Flexible word order: In Portuguese, there is no required word order. Mostly, it is in SVO (subject-verb-object) order, but this language is pretty flexible, and it is also okay to use OSV, OVS, and VOS.
• Portuguese has the letter "Ç" (C-cedilla). It is a variation of the letter "C" and denotes the voiceless sound /s/ before "a," "o," and "u."
• Gender-specific articles. Masculine words are used with the definite articles o/os, and indefinite um/uns, while feminine words are used with the definite articles a/as and indefinite uma/umas.

To sum up

Portuguese is the second fastest-growing language, with more than 300 million speakers worldwide. Because of this, it is a trendy option for localization for global businesses. Like any other language, Portuguese has its pitfalls and challenges, which we discussed in our article, and requires a deep dive into a cultural context.

From our side, at Lingohub, we provide comprehensive solutions that allow you to manage your Portuguese localization, hire a professional translator, and provide robust CAT tools for the existing team. If you want to learn more about how it can work - book a demo call with our team or try Lingohub for free!