THE PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE
Portuguese (português) is an Iberian Romance language derived from Vulgar Latin. Following the fall of the of the Roman Empire, Germanic tribes settled in Portugal during the Migration Period in Europe and adopted the local dialects.
Following the Muslim occupation of the Iberian Penninsula in 711, arabic became the official administrative language in Portugal, although the population continued to employ a Romance language known as mozarabic. The first true texts in Portuguese (or proto-portuguese) date from the 9th century, whilst during the first period of Old Portuguese - (12th - 14th centuries) - the use of the language was extended throughout the country. In 1290, King Denis was responsible for creating the first Portuguese University (Lisbon) and establishing Portuguese as the official language. From the 14th to the 16th century, its use was spread throughout Asia, Africa and America, whilst the publication in 1516 of Cancioneiro Geral de Garcia de Resende saw the introduction of modern Portuguese as we know it today.
With approximately 200 million native speakers, Portugese ranks 6th in the list of languages by number of native speakers.
Portuguese is the official, or co-official, language in Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, China (Macao), East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe.
Dixon Formación provides in-company Portuguese courses, intensive Portuguese courses, Portuguese examination preparation courses and Portuguese immersion courses. |
