Portuguese is the eighth most spoken language and the third most spoken European language in the world (after English and Spanish) and, together with Spanish, French, Italian and Romanian, comprise the five modern Romance languages.

While the Portuguese language has its roots firmly in Europe, most of the world's 210+ million Portuguese speaking people live elsewhere. In fact, non European speakers of the language outnumber their European cousins by over twenty to one. Many are surprised to learn that there are more Portuguese speaking people in South America than those who speak Spanish. But this is understandable when one realizes that Brazil is larger than the continental United States and has the largest population of any country in South America.

There are different regional dialects spoken in Brazil.

Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation is more consistent throughout Brazil than the Portuguese spoken in Portugal. This surprises many people considering the fact that Brazil is so much larger in both area and population. Even then, almost all the regional traits and characteristics of European Portuguese are present either in standard Brazilian Portuguese or in one or more of the regional Brazilian dialects.

Because there is a lack of scientific data describing the differences between various regional dialects spoken in Brazil, they cannot be classified in the same manner as the dialects of European Portuguese.

Unlike English, Brazilian Portuguese is most often pronounced exactly as it is spelled, consequently, knowing the Brazilian pronunciation of the various Portuguese vowels, consonants, diphthongs and diagraphs can be extremely useful in helping your improve your pronunciation.