Why Is Portuguese Harder to Learn than Spanish?

Portuguese and Spanish are two of the most widely spoken Romance languages in the world and both are considered relatively easy for English speakers to learn. However, language learners often find Portuguese more challenging than Spanish. Let’s look at a few possible reasons why this may be the case.

While Portuguese and Spanish have many similarities, namely similar grammar structure and vocabulary, some differences arguably make Portuguese harder to learn. One such difference between the two languages is their pronunciation.

The Portuguese sound system is in general more complex than the Spanish. For example, Portuguese has several sounds that do not exist in Spanish, such as postalveolar fricatives (as in sheet and version) or nasal vowels and diphthongs. Furthermore, when looking at oral vowels, there are nine in Portuguese but only five in Spanish!

Additionally, word stress patterns are more salient in Portuguese than in Spanish. In short, word stress is more clearly marked in Portuguese (either on the last, next-to-last, or third-to-last syllable) than in Spanish. This makes it more challenging for language learners to learn and reproduce the correct word stress patterns when speaking Portuguese.

Portuguese also has a slightly more complex verb system than Spanish. An example would be the Portuguese Personal Infinitive which finds no equivalent in Spanish. Still concerning verbs, the number of irregular conjugations is somewhat greater in Portuguese than in Spanish, which of course trips up language learners.

Yet another challenge that language learners may encounter when learning Portuguese is the difference in regional variations. Spanish is somewhat more uniform across the different countries and regions where it is spoken than Portuguese. This makes it challenging for language learners to communicate with native Portuguese speakers from different regions around the world.

In conclusion, although Portuguese and Spanish are considered relatively easy languages for native English speakers, several factors make Portuguese more challenging. Among those are more complex pronunciation and nuanced verb conjugations. Apparent regional variations across Lusophone countries also add to it. 

If you want a more in-depth comparison between Spanish and Portuguese, read this one: Portuguese vs. Spanish: How Similar Are They?