To which language should you translate to localize in Brazil?
What we know from our community
“Brazil is a country of continental dimensions and as such home for a variety of ethnic groups, customs, and dialects. Portuguese is its official language, even though there are several Amerindian languages still spoken by its indigenous population. Brazil is by far the world’s largest Portuguese-speaking nation and the only one in the Americas. The Portuguese spoken in Brazil varies from one region to another and it is also notably different from the one spoken in Portugal – the accent, meaning of certain words and expressions, verbal conjugation, use of pronouns, etc. It can actually be challenging for a Brazilian person to understand someone from Portugal! The differences in written language are fewer but still quite evident. Therefore, if you want your text or audio to come across nicely and sound native in Brazil, you must translate it into the Brazilian variant of the Portuguese language.”
LANGUAGE INSIGHT
Official language
Portuguese (93.2%; 196.78 mln)
Actual languages
Portuguese (93.2%; 196.78 mln), German (0.5%; 1.05 mln), Italian (0.3%; 633k), Japanese (0.2%; 422k), Quechua (0.1%, 211k), other (5.7%; 12.03 mln).
What the top 150 best localized websites in the world do in Brazil
(Top 150 websites listed in the Global by Design ranking – published annually by Byte Level Research, this report provides a list of globally localized websites, showcasing best practices and emerging trends in their globalization)
114/150 localize by translating into Portuguese
13/150 localize by translating into Brazilian Portuguese
3/150 localize by translating into both Portuguese and Spanish
1/150 localizes by translating into Brazilian Portuguese, French and Simplified Chinese
1/150 localizes by translating into both Brazilian Portuguese and Brazilian Sign Language
1/150 localizes by translating into Portuguese, Spanish, German, Japanese, Russian, French and Italian
1/150 localizes by translating into Portuguese, Spanish, German, Japanese, Russian, French, Italian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Korean
1/150 localizes by translating into Portuguese, Spanish, German, Japanese, Russian, French, Italian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Bahasa Indonesia, Turkish, Romanian, Thai, Ukrainian, Polish and Hungarian
3M
ABB
Accenture
Adidas
Adobe
Airbnb
Aldi
Amazon
American Airlines
American Express
Apple
Audi
Autodesk
Avis
Bayer
BMW
Booking.com
Bosch
British Airways
Bumble
Burberry
BYD
Canon
Capgemini
Cartier
Caterpillar
Chevrolet
Cisco Systems
Citibank
Coca-Cola
Costco
Dell
Deloitte
Delta
DHL
Disney+
Dyson
eBay
Eli Lilly
Emirates
Ernst & Young
Facebook
FedEx
Ford
Four Seasons
Fujifilm
GE
Gillette
GoDaddy
Google
Gucci
Haier
Heineken
Hermès
Hertz
Hilton
Hisense
Hitachi
Honda
Hotels.com
HP
HP Enterprise
HSBC
Huawei
Hyatt
Hyundai
IBM
IKEA
Intel
InterContinental Hotels
J&J
Jack Daniel's
Jehovah’s Witnesses
John Deere
Kellogg's
Kia
KPMG
L'Oréal
Land Rover
LEGO
Lenovo
Lexus
LG
Louis Vuitton
Lululemon
LUSH
Marriott
MasterCard
McDonald's
Mercedes-Benz
Merck
Microsoft
Mitsubishi Electric
Nestlé
Netflix
Nike
Nikon
Nintendo
Nio
Nissan
NIVEA
Oracle
Pampers
Panasonic
PayPal
Pepsi
Pfizer
Philips
Pitney Bowes
Porsche
Procter & Gamble
PWC
Revolut
Rolex
Royal Caribbean
Salesforce
Samsung
Sanofi
SAP
Sephora
Shopify
Siemens
Sony
Spotify
Starbucks
Steelcase
Stripe
Subaru
Tesla
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Tiffany
Tinder
Toshiba
Toyota
TripAdvisor
Uber
United Airlines
UPS
Visa
Volkswagen
Volvo Cars
Vrbo
Walmart
Western Union
Wikipedia
Wise
WordPress
Workday
Xerox
Xiaomi (Mi)
Zara
Zoom
Available in
If you need others information, below you can find a selection of economic/social/cultural data
Imports $270 billion (2022). Refined Petroleum ($23B), Crude Petroleum ($8.78B), Motor vehicles; parts and accessories (8701 to 8705) ($7.96B), Potassic Fertilizers ($7.59B), and Mixed Mineral or Chemical Fertilizers ($7.44B), importing mostly from China ($64B), United States ($49.4B), Germany ($13.5B), Argentina ($12.6B), and India ($9.78B). In 2022, Brazil was the world’s biggest importer of Potassic Fertilizers ($7.59B), Pesticides ($7.06B), Phosphatic Fertilizers ($1.39B), Malt ($715M), and Hydrazine or Hydroxylamine Derivatives ($261M).
Financial inclusion factors (over 15 years of age) • 83.6% have an account with a financial institution • 40.4% have a credit card • 27% have a mobile money account • 28.1% make online purchases
Ease of doing business Medium, ease of conducting business is rated 59.1 out of 100, ranked 17th out of 32 Latin American and Caribbean countries and 124th worldwide out of 190 countries (2022, World Bank).
Exports $341 billion (2022). Soybeans ($47.2B), Crude Petroleum ($43.1B), Iron Ore ($30.1B), Refined Petroleum ($12.9B), and Corn ($12.4B), exporting mostly to China ($90.1B), United States ($36.6B), Argentina ($15.4B), Netherlands ($11.8B), and Spain ($9.78B). In 2022, Brazil was the world’s biggest exporter of Soybeans ($47.2B), Raw Sugar ($11.5B), Frozen Bovine Meat ($11B), Poultry Meat ($8.95B), and Coffee ($8.86B).
Main local online stores Mercado Livre, Americanas.com, Amazon Brazil, Magazine Luiza, Casas Bahia, Submarino, Netshoes, Extra.com.br, Dafiti, Shoptime
Economic freedom ‘Mostly unfree’ (rated 53.2 out of 100) 26th amongst 32 countries in Latin America and ranked 124 out of 184 countries worldwide (2024, Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal).
Global Innovation Index Ranked 1st out of 19 Latin America and the Caribbean countries, 49th out of 132 worldwide.
The Global Innovation Index captures the innovation ecosystem performance of 132 economies and tracks the most recent global innovation trends.
Specialization is measured using Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA), an index that takes the ratio between Brazil observed and expected exports in each product.
This score represents the likelihood that the given country will start importing that product in the next few years. It forecasts the opening of a new specific market.
Market Growth Exports (2019)
This score represents the likelihood that the given country will start exporting that product in the next few years. It forecasts the opening of a new specific market.
Information channels Television dominates South America’s biggest media market. There are hundreds of TV networks and thousands of radio stations. Brazilian-made dramas and soaps – known as novelas – are shown around the world. Game shows and reality TV attract huge audiences. Media ownership is highly concentrated. Conglomerates such as Globo, the leading broadcaster, dominate the market and run TV and radio outlets, newspapers and pay TV. Freedom House states that many private media organisations are owned by individuals with political connections, who use the outlets to promote their own interests. The constitution guarantees a free press and there is vigorous media debate about politics and social issues. But Reporters Without Borders says Brazil is one of LatinAmerica’s most violent countries for journalists with a “climate of impunity fuelled by ubiquitous corruption”. Politicians often use restrictive laws to silence journalists or media outlets, says the Committee to Protect Journalists. There is a “digital divide” between regions and between urban and rural areas, says Freedom House. Brazilians are among the world’s top users of social media. Facebook is the leading social platform and WhatsApp is the top communication application. There are no indications of widespread blocking online, but internet freedom is constrained by attacks on bloggers, defamation laws and restrictions on election-related content, says Freedom House.
Radio Nacional – FM and medium wave (AM) networks operated by state-run EBC Globo Radio – commercial networks operated by Radio Bandeirantes – network operated by Grupo Bandeirantes
Share of web traffic by device 52.19% mobile phones, 47.09% computers (laptops and desktops), 0.60% tablet devices, others 0.12%
Median speed of mobile Internet connection 47.09 Mbps
Median speed of fixed Internet connection 140.46 Mbps
Mobile connection as a percentage of total population:96.9%
Percentage of mobile connections that are broadband (3G-5G):95.9%
Mostpopular web search engines Google (94.63%), Bing (3.9%), Yahoo! (1.15%), Yandex (0.15%), DuckduckGo (0.12%), other (0.05%).
Most used social media Facebook (36.1%), Instagram (26.6%), Pinterest (17.99%), YouTube (11.44%), Twitter (6.47%), Reddit (0.62%), LinkedIn (0.4%), other (0.38%).
The Data Factbook is a work in progress project. Our community is helping us to fill it up always with new and updated data. Your contribution is precious. If you want to help us, please write your advices at imminent@translated.com
Languages research
Languages of Brazil
Legend
1- Arawá
2- Arikèm
3- Aruák
4- Borôro
5- Chiquito
6- Guaikuru
7- Guató
8- Iranxe
9- Jê
10- Juruna
11- Karajá
12- Karib
13- Katukina
14- Krenák
15- Makú
16- Mawé
17- Maxakali
18- Mondé
19- Mundurukú
20- Mura
21- Nambikwara
22- Ofayé
23- Puroborá
24- Ramarama
25- Rikbaktsá
26- Tikúna
27- Tukano
28- Tupari
29- Tupi-Guarani
30- Txapakúra
31- Yanomami
32- Yatê
33- Aikaná e Koazá
34- Aikaná e Nambikwára
35- Arúak e Jê
36- Arúak e Pano
37- Arúak e Tupi-Guarani
38- Jê e Krenák
39 Jê e Tupi-Guarani
40- Kanoê e Tupari
41- Katukina e Pano
42- Arúak, Crioulo, Francês e Karib
43- Arúak, Makú, Tukano, Tupi-Guarani
44- Aikaná, Jabuti, Kanoê, Mondé e Tupari
45- Arúak, Aweti, Jê, Jurana, Karib, Tupi-Gurani e Trumái
46- Portuguese
Brazilian Portuguese: most prominent accent variations
Legend
Voce used as “You”
Tu used as “You” (correct conjugation)
Tu used as “You” (”incorrect” conjugation)
American “R” after vowels (caipira accent)
Portuguese “S” (”sh”)
Main indigenous populations in Brazil
Source: The Passenger
The geographical distribution of languages that you will find in the maps published in this section is a work in progress. Our community is helping us to fill it up with always new and updated data. Your contribution is precious. If you want to help us, please write to imminent.factbook@translated.com
Photo credit: Gabriel Ramos, Unsplash
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