Script guide › Latin
Portuguese vs Spanish
Portuguese and Spanish sit in the same corner of the writing-system map — Grafle's Latin group — and players mix them up constantly. Here's the fastest way to tell them apart.
The tell
Portuguese has the nasal ã and ç (razão, coração); Spanish has ñ and the inverted ¿ ¡. Portuguese also pairs lh/nh where Spanish writes ll/ñ.
Side by side
Portuguese
Todos os seres humanos nascem livres, com razão e coração.
Ordem e Progresso — a inscrição na bandeira do Brasil.
A saudade é a memória do coração.
Portuguese's own tells
- The nasal tilde ã (não, razão, coração) is the giveaway — Spanish never uses it.
- Also uses ç and words ending in -ão.
On signs in:
- Portugal
- Brazil
- Angola
- Mozambique
- Guinea Bissau
- East Timor
- Cape Verde
- São Tomé and Príncipe
Spanish
Todos los seres humanos nacen libres e iguales, ¿no es cierto?
¿Cómo estás? Mañana será otro día.
¡Año nuevo, vida nueva!
Spanish's own tells
- Look for ñ and the inverted opening marks ¿ ¡ — no other language uses them.
- Common little words: el, la, los, y, es.
On signs in:
- Spain
- Mexico
- Colombia
- Argentina
- Peru
- Venezuela
- Chile
- Ecuador
- Guatemala
- Cuba
- Bolivia
- Dominican Republic
- Honduras
- Paraguay
- El Salvador
- Nicaragua
- Costa Rica
- Panama
- Uruguay
- Equatorial Guinea
- Puerto Rico