Portuguese is the official and national language ofBrazil,[4] being widely spoken by nearly all of its population. Brazil is the most populousPortuguese-speaking country in the world, with its lands comprising the majority of Portugal's formercolonial holdings in theAmericas.
Aside from Portuguese, the country also has numerousminority languages, including over 200 different indigenous languages, such asNheengatu (a descendant ofTupi), and languages of more recent European and Asian immigrants, such as Italian, German and Japanese. In somemunicipalities, those minor languages have official status: Nheengatu, for example, is an official language inSão Gabriel da Cachoeira, while a number ofGerman dialects are official in ninesouthern municipalities.
As of 2023, the population of Brazil speaks or signs 238 languages, of which approximately 217 are indigenous and others are non-indigenous.[10] In 2005, no indigenous language was spoken by more than 40,000 people.[11]
With the implementation of theOrthographic Agreement of 1990, the orthographic norms of Brazil and Portugal have been largely unified, but still have some minor differences. Brazil enacted these changes in 2009 and Portugal enacted them in 2012.
In 2002, theBrazilian Sign Language (Libras) was made the official language of the Brazilian deaf community.[12]
On December 9, 2010, the National Inventory of Linguistic Diversity was created,[13] which will analyze proposals for revitalizing minority languages in the country.[14] In 2019, the Technical Commission of the National Inventory of Linguistic Diversity was established.[15][16]
Colonial Portuguese house in the Brazilian city ofFlorianópolis.
Before the first Portuguese explorersarrived in 1500, what is now Brazil was inhabited by several Amerindian peoples that spoke many different languages. According to Aryon Dall'Igna Rodrigues[17] there were six million Indians in Brazil speaking over 1,000 different languages. When the Portuguese settlers arrived, they encountered theTupi people, who dominated most of the Brazilian coast and spoke a set of closely related languages.
The Tupi called the non-Tupi peoples "Tapuias", a designation that the Portuguese adopted; however, there was little unity among the diverse Tapuia tribes other than their not being Tupi. In the first two centuries of colonization, a language based onTupian languages known asLíngua Geral ("General Language") was widely spoken in the colony,[18] not only by the Amerindians, but also by the Portuguese settlers, the Africans and their descendants.
This language was spoken in a vast area fromSão Paulo toMaranhão, as an informal language for domestic use, while Portuguese was the language used for public purposes. Língua Geral was spread by theJesuitmissionaries andBandeirantes to other areas of Brazil where the Tupi language was not spoken. In 1775, theMarquis of Pombal prohibited the use of Língua Geral or any other indigenous languagean areas where the Tupi people were not present.[19]
However, before that prohibition, the Portuguese language was dominant in Brazil. Most of the other Amerindian languages gradually disappeared as the populations that spoke them were integrated or decimated when the Portuguese-speaking population expanded to most of Brazil. The several African languages spoken[20] in Brazil also disappeared. Since the 20th century there are no more records of speakers of African languages in the country. However, in some isolated communities settled by escaped slaves (Quilombo), the Portuguese language spoken by its inhabitants still preserves somelexicon of African origin, which is not understood by other Brazilians.[21]
Due to the contact with several European, Amerindian and African languages, the Portuguese spoken in Brazil absorbed many influences from these languages, which led to a notable differentiation from the Portuguese spoken in Portugal.[22] Examples of widely used words of Tupi origin in Brazilian Portuguese includeabacaxi ("pineapple"),pipoca ("popcorn"),catapora ("chickenpox"), andsiri ("crab"). The names of thirteen of Brazil's twenty six statesalso have Amerindian origin.
Starting in the early 19th century, Brazil started to receive substantial immigration of non-Portuguese-speaking people from Europe and Asia. Most immigrants, particularly Italians[23] and Spaniards, adopted the Portuguese language after a few generations. Other immigrants, particularly Germans, Japanese, Poles and Ukrainians,[23][24] preserved their languages for more generations. German-speaking[25] immigrants started arriving in 1824. They came not only from Germany, but also from other countries that had a substantial German-speaking population (Switzerland,Poland,Austria,Romania andRussia (Volga Germans).
During over 100 years of continuous emigration, it is estimated that some 300,000 German-speaking immigrants settled in Brazil.Italian immigration started in 1875 and about 1.5 million Italians immigrated to Brazil until World War II. They spoke several dialects from Italy. Other sources of immigration to Brazil included Spaniards, Poles, Ukrainians, Japanese and Middle-easterns. With the notable exception of the Germans, who preserved their language for several generations, and in some degree theJapanese,Poles,Ukrainians,Arabs, Kurds andItalians, most of the immigrants in Brazil adopted Portuguese as their mother tongue after a few generations.[26][27]
Brazilian Portuguese is the official language of Brazil and the primary language used in most schools and media. It is also used for all business and administrative purposes. Brazilian Portuguese has had its own development, influenced by the other European languages such as Italian and German in the South and Southeast, and several indigenous languages all across the country.
The Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) is thesign language used by deaf people in Brazilian urban centers[28] and legally recognized as a means of communication and expression.[29][30] It is derived both from an autochthonous sign language, which is native to the region or territory in which it lives, and fromFrench sign language; therefore, it is similar to other European and American sign languages. Libras is not the simple sign language of the Portuguese language, but a separate language, as evidenced by the fact that inPortugal a different sign language is used,Portuguese Sign Language (LGP).
Like the various existing natural and human languages, it is composed of linguistic levels such as:phonology,morphology,syntax andsemantics. Just as in oral-auditory languages there are words, in sign languages there are also lexical items, which are called signs. The difference is its modality of articulation, namely visual-spatial, or kinesic-visual, for others. Therefore, to communicate in Libras, it is not enough just to know signs. It is necessary to know your grammar to combine sentences, establishing communication correctly, avoiding the use of "signaled Portuguese".
Signals arise from the combination ofhand configurations, movements, and points of articulation — places in space or on the body where signals are made — and also from facial and body expressions that convey the feelings that are conveyed to listeners by voice intonation, which together make up the basic units of this language.[31] Thus, Libras presents itself as a linguistic system for the transmission of ideas and facts, coming from communities of deaf people in Brazil. As with any language, there are also regional differences in Libras. Therefore, attention should be paid to its variations in each federative unit of Brazil.
Despite the fact that Portuguese is the official language of Brazil and the vast majority of Brazilians speak only Portuguese, there are several other languages spoken in the country. According to the president ofIBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) there are an estimated 210 languages spoken in Brazil. 154 are Amerindian languages,[48] while the others are languages brought by immigrants.
The 1950 census was the last one to ask Brazilians which language they speak at home. Since then, the census does not ask about language. However, the census of 2010 asked respondents which languages they speak, allowing a better analysis of the languages spoken in Brazil.[49]
The first municipality to co-officialize other languages alongside Portuguese wasSão Gabriel da Cachoeira, in the state ofAmazonas, with the languagesNheengatu,Tukano andBaniwa.[50][51] Since then, other Brazilian municipalities have co-officialized other languages.[52]
According to the 1940 census, afterPortuguese, German was the most widely spoken language in Brazil. Although the Italian immigration to Brazil was much more significant than the German one, the German language had many more speakers than the Italian one, according to the census. The census revealed that two-thirds of the children of German immigrants spoke German at home. In comparison, half of the children ofItalians spoke Portuguese at home. The stronger preservation of the German language when compared to the Italian one has many factors: Italian is closer to Portuguese than German, leading to a faster assimilation of theItalian speakers. Also, the German immigrants used to educate their children in German schools. The Italians, on the other hand, had less organized ethnic schools and the cultural formation was centered in church, not in schools. Most of the children of Italians went to public schools, where Portuguese was spoken.[53] Until World War II, some 1.5 million Italians had immigrated to Brazil, compared to only 250,000 Germans. However, the 1940 census revealed that German was spoken as a home language by 644,458 people, compared to only 458,054 speakers of Italian.[54]
Spaniards, who formed the third largest immigrant group in Brazil (after the Portuguese and Italians) were also quickly assimilated into the Portuguese-speaking majority. Spanish is similar to Portuguese, which led to a fast assimilation. Moreover, many of the Spanish immigrants were fromGalicia, where they also speakGalician, which is closer toPortuguese, sometimes even being considered two dialects of the same language.[55][56] Despite the large influx of Spanish immigrants to Brazil from 1880 to 1930 (over 700,000 people) the census of 1940 revealed that only 74,000 people spoke Spanish in Brazil.
Other languages such asPolish andUkrainian, along with German and Italian, are spoken in rural areas of Southern Brazil, by small communities of descendants of immigrants, who are for the most part bilingual. There are whole regions in southern Brazil where people speak both Portuguese and one or more of these languages. For example, it is reported that more than 90% of the residents of the small city ofPresidente Lucena, located in the state ofRio Grande do Sul, speakHunsrik, a language[5] derived from theHunsrückisch dialect of German.[57] Hunsrik, orRiograndenser Hunsrückisch, has around 3,000,000[58] native speakers in Brazil, while also having some speakers in Argentina, Paraguay and Venezuela. The language is most used in the countryside of the South Region states of Brazil, with a considerable amount of native speakers using it as their main or even only language.[5]
Liberdade, São Paulo, has the largest concentration of ethnic Japanese outsideJapan.
Some immigrant communities in southern Brazil, chiefly theGerman and theItalian ones, have lasted long enough to develop distinctive dialects from their original European sources. For example,Brazilian German, a broad category which includes the Hunsrik language, but also East Pomerian andPlautdietsch dialects. In theSerra Gaúcha region, we can findItalian dialects such asTalian oritaliano riograndense, based on theVenetian language.
Plautdietsch is spoken by the descendants ofRussian Mennonites. However, these languages have been rapidly replaced by Portuguese in the last few decades, partly due to a government decision to integrate immigrant populations. Today, states likeRio Grande do Sul are trying to reverse that trend and immigrant languages such as German and Italian are being reintroduced into the curriculum again, in communities where they originally thrived. Meanwhile, on theArgentinian andUruguayan border regions, Brazilian students are being introduced to the Spanish language.[59]
In the city ofSão Paulo,Korean, Chinese and Japanese can be heard in the immigrants districts, likeLiberdade.
A Japanese-language newspaper, theSão Paulo Shinbun, had been published in the city ofSão Paulo since 1946, still printing paper editions until January 2019.[60][61] There is a significant community of Japanese speakers inSão Paulo,Paraná, Mato Grosso do Sul, Pará and Amazonas. Much smaller groups exist inSanta Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul and other parts ofBrazil. Some Chinese, especially fromMacau, speak a Portuguese-basedcreole language calledMacanese (patuá ormacaísta), aside from Hakka,Mandarin andCantonese.[citation needed]
Japanese immigration to Brazil started on June 18, 1908, when the Japanese ship Kasato-Maru arrived in thePort of Santos, south ofSão Paulo, carrying the first 781 people to take advantage of a bilateral agreement promotingimmigration. Half of them were from the southern part of theOkinawa Island, located about 640 km (400 mi) south of the rest ofJapan, which had its own distinct language and culture dating back to before the island's annexation byTokyo in 1879. The names onshop fronts are inJapanese and selling everything fromJapanese food andkitchen utensils to traditionalhome decorations.Red paintedarchways, Japanese temples and aJapanese garden are present in this little Japanese corner ofBrazil. Today, Brazil is home to the world's largest community ofJapanese descendants outside of Japan, numbering about 1.5 million people.[62]
Spanish is understood to various degrees by many but not all Brazilians, due to the similarities of the languages. However, it is hardly spoken well by individuals who have not taken specific education in the language, due to the substantial differences inphonology between the two languages.
InSão Paulo, theGerman-Brazilian newspaper Brasil-Post has been published for over fifty years. There are many other media organizations throughout the country specializing in church issues, music, language etc.
The online newspaperLa Rena is inTalian dialect and it offers Talian lessons. There are many other non-Portuguese publications, bilingual web sites, radio and television programs throughout the country.
In the state ofRio Grande do Sul, there are several cities and communities colonized by Germans and Italians. Most small towns have German or Italian as their second language. In the state capital,Porto Alegre, it is easy to find people who speak one or both of them.
The 21st century has seen the growth of a trend of co-official languages in cities populated by immigrants (such as Italian and German) or indigenous in the north, both with support from theMinistry of Tourism, as was recently established inSanta Maria de Jetibá,Pomerode andVila Pavão,[73] whereEast Pomeranian also has co-official status.[74]
The first municipality to adopt a co-official language in Brazil wasSão Gabriel da Cachoeira, in 2002.[75][76] Since then, other municipalities have attempted to adopt their own co-official languages.
Also in production is the documentary videoBrasil Talian,[77] with directed and written by André Costantin and executive producer of the historian Fernando Roveda.[78] The pre-launch occurred on 18 November 2011, the date that marked the start of production of the documentary.[79]
In 2019, Bill No. 489 was drafted, authored byChico d'Ângelo, which provides linguistic rights for Brazilians, especially communities that use minority languages as their mother tongue.[88] The Project was attached to Bill 304 of 2015, which establishes knowledge about the language, uses, customs and culture of the traditional peoples and communities and ethical minorities that form the Brazilian peoples inelementary school curricula.[89] The Culture Commission approved the project on September 21, 2021.[90]
Many Amerindianminority languages are spoken throughout Brazil, mostly in Northern Brazil. Indigenous languages with about 10,000 speakers or more areTicuna (language isolate),Kaingang (Gean family),Kaiwá Guarani,Nheengatu (Tupian),Guajajára (Tupian),Macushi (Cariban),Terena (Arawakan),Xavante (Gean) andMawé (Tupian).Tucano (Tucanoan) has half that number, but is widely used as a second language in the Amazon.[292]
One of the two Brazilianlínguas gerais (general languages),Nheengatu, was until the late 19th century the common language used by a large number of indigenous, European, African, andAfrican-descendant peoples throughout the coast ofBrazil—it was spoken by the majority of the population in the land. It was proscribed by theMarquis of Pombal for its association with theJesuit missions. A recent resurgence in popularity of this language occurred, and it is now an official language in the city ofSão Gabriel da Cachoeira. Today, in theAmazon Basin, political campaigning is still printed in thisTupian language.[293]
Below is a full list ofindigenous language families and isolates of Brazil based on Campbell (2012).[302] TheMacro-Jê classification follows that of Nikulin (2020).[303] Additional extinct languages of Northeast Brazil have also been included from Meader (1978) and other sources.[304]
^Aryon Dall'Igna Rodrigues (April 2005)."Sobre as línguas indígenas e sua pesquisa no Brasil".Ciência e Cultura (in Portuguese).57 (2). Sociedade Brasileira para o Progresso da Ciência:35–38. Retrieved12 August 2012.
^Decreto nº 5.626, de 22 de dezembro de 2005 — Regulamenta a Lei no 10.436, de 24 de abril de 2002, que dispõe sobre a Língua Brasileira de Sinais - Libras, e o art. 18 da Lei no 10.098, de 19 de dezembro de 2000.
^Quintela, Antón Corbacho (2002).Os periódicos dos imigrantes espanhóis. Paper presented at the 2. Congresso Brasileiro de Hispanistas, 2002, São Paulo (SP) (in Portuguese). Retrieved27 February 2022 – via proceedings.scielo.br.
^Lei Ordinária Nº 20655, de 28 de julho de 2021, Concede o Título de Capital Paranaense Polonesa ao Município de São Mateus do Sul e insere no Calendário Oficial de Eventos no Estado do Paraná a Festa Tradyejie Polskie, a ser realizada anualmente no último sábado do mês de agosto. Leis Estaduais
^abGABINETE DO DEPUTADO SOLDADO SAMPAIO - PROJETO DE LEI Nº 310/2023, Dispõe sobre o reconhecimento das línguas indígenas faladas no Estado de Roraima como patrimônio cultural imaterial, e estabelece a cooficialização de línguas indígenas e institui a Política Estadual de Proteção das Línguas Indígenas do Estado de Roraima.
^abLei n. 2.729/2025 - Do Município de Anta Gorda / RS, Declara Patrimônio Histórico e Cultural Imaterial do Município de Anta Gorda a cultura do Talian, reconhece o Talian como segunda língua oficial do Município de Anta Gorda/RS e dá outras providências. Repositório Brasileiro de Legislações Linguísticas (RBLL)
^Lei n. 3.496/2023 - Do Município de Capinzal, dispõe sobre o reconhecimento da Língua "Talian" e da cultura "Taliana" como Patrimônio Histórico Imaterial do Município de Capinzal - SC. Repositório Brasileiro de Legislações Linguísticas
^Lei Municipal nº 1512/2022, OFICIALIZA A LÍNGUA POLONESA COMO PATRIMÔNIO CULTURAL IMATERIAL DO MUNICÍPIO DE MALLET – PARANÁ E DÁ OUTRAS PROVIDÊNCIAS. Prefeitura Municipal de Mallet
^Lei Municipal nº 1513/2022, OFICIALIZA A LÍNGUA UCRANIANA COMO PATRIMÔNIO CULTURAL IMATERIAL DO MUNICÍPIO DE MALLET – PARANÁ E DÁ OUTRAS PROVIDÊNCIAS. Prefeitura Municipal de Mallet
^PROJETO DE LEI LEGISLATIVO Nº 0009/2020, Torna a Língua Alemã Patrimônio Cultural do Município de Nova Hartz, prevê ações de valorização, e dá outras providências
^Lei n. 3.146/2024 - Do Estado do Amapá, dispõe sobre a cooficialização das línguas indígenas Kheuol Karipuna, Kheuól Galibi-Marworno, Parikwaki, Kali`na, Wajãpi, Tiriyó, Kaxuyana, Wayana e Aparai no Estado do Amapá, e dá outras providências. Repositório Brasileiro de Legislações Linguísticas
^Lei Ordinária Nº 3146, de 12 de dezembro de 2024, dispõe sobre a cooficialização das línguas indígenas Kheuol Karipuna, Kheuól Galibi-Marworno, Parikwaki, Kali`na, Wajãpi, Tiriyó, Kaxuyana, Wayana e Aparai no Estado do Amapá, e dá outras providências. Leis Estaduais
^Lei N. 1.276/2025, de 03 de setembro de 2025, Dispõe sobre o reconhecimento da língua nativa kariri (dzubucua) como língua cooficial do Município de Crateús e dá outras providências.
^LEI MUNICIPAL Nº 2.905/2.024, “Reconhece a língua Guarani Kaiowá como língua cooficial no âmbito do Município de Amambai, e dá outras providências”. Prefeitura Municipal de Amambai
^Lei n. 1.538/2023 - Do Município de Miranda / MS, Emenda aditiva à Lei n. 1382 de 12 de abril de 2017, que dispõe sobre a cooficialização da Língua Terena no município de Miranda-MS e dá outras providências. Repositório Brasileiro de Legislações Linguísticas
^abcLei n. 1.299/2025 - Do Município de José Boiteux / SC, Dispõe sobre a cooficialização das Línguas Xokleng, Italiana e Alemã no Município de José Boiteux e dá outras providências. Repositório Brasileiro de Legislações Linguísticas (RBLL)
^Lei n. 595/2023 - Do Município de Itacajá / TO, dispõe sobre a cooficialização da Língua Krahô, junto a Língua Portuguesa, no Município de Itacajá/TO, e dá outras providências. Repositório Brasileiro de Legislações Linguísticas
^abLEI Nº 1.676/2024, DISPÕE SOBRE A COOFICIALIZAÇÃO DA LÍNGUA ITALIANA E O DIALETO TALIAN, À LÍNGUA PORTUGUESA, NO MUNICÍPIO DE VENDA NOVA DO IMIGRANTE/ES. Prefeitura Municipal de Venda Nova do Imigrante
^Lei n. 1.534/2025 - Do Município de Gentil / RS, Dispõe sobre a cooficialização da língua "Talian" à Língua Portuguesa no Município de Gentil - RS. Repositório Brasileiro de Legislações Linguísticas
^Lei n. 1.315/2016 - Do Município de Guabiju, Dispõe sobre a cooficialização da Língua do "Talian", à Língua Portuguesa, no Município de Guabiju/RS. Repositório Brasileiro de Legislações Linguísticas (RBLL)
^Lei n. 4.727/2025 - Do Município de Guaporé / RS, Institui a cooficialização da língua do "Talian" à Lingua Portuguesa no Município de Guaporé e dá outras providências. Repositório Brasileiro de Legislações Linguísticas
^Lei n. 1.634/2025 - Do Município de Harmonia / RS, dispõe sobre a cooficialização da Língua Hunsrick no Município de Harmonia/RS e dá outras providências. Repositório Brasileiro de Legislações Linguísticas
^LEI Nº 1.272, DE 10 DE ABRIL DE 2024, cooficializa a língua germânica "hunsrik plat taytx", patrimônio cultural e imaterial do município de Santa Maria do Herval, e prevê ações de valorização e dá outras providências
^Lei n. 9.522/2024 - Do Município de Blumenau / SC, Adota no Município de Blumenau o idioma Alemão como oficial, complementar e secundário ao idioma Português, oficial do Brasil. Repositório Brasileiro de Legislações Linguísticas (RBLL)
^abcLei n. 3.342/2023 - Do Município de Campina das Missões / RS, Dispõe sobre a cooficialização das línguas alemã, russa e polonesa no município de campina das missões, estado do Rio Grande do Sul e dá outras providências. Repositório Brasileiro de Legislações Linguísticas
^abLEI Nº 1.603/2022 - DE 09 DE NOVEMBRO DE 2022, dispõe sobre a cooficilialização da Língua Polonesa e a Língua Ucraniana à língua portuguesa, no Município de Paula Freitas, e dá outras providências
^Lei n. 1.294/2022 - Do Município de Sete de Setembro, Dispõe sobre a cooficialização da Língua Polonesa no Município de Sete de Setembro-RS, e dá outras providências. Repositório Brasileiro de Legislações Linguísticas (RBLL)
^Lei nº 3.043(PDF) (in Portuguese). Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 26 February 2022. Retrieved27 February 2022 – via saomateusdosul.pr.gov.br.
^Campbell, Lyle (2012). "Classification of the indigenous languages of South America". In Grondona, Verónica; Campbell, Lyle (eds.).The Indigenous Languages of South America. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 2. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 59–166.ISBN978-3-11-025513-3.
† indicates anextinct language,italics indicates independent status of a language,bold indicates that a language family has at least 6 members, * indicates moribund status
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