"Portuguese is in 6th place among the ten most-spoken languages in the world. It is a major or official language in nine countries and it is one of the 20 official languages of the European Union (2005) and a working language in several international venues. The largest Portuguese-speaking country is Brazil with 176 million people. Other Portuguese-speaking countries with large populations include Mozambique (19 million), Angola (13 million), Portugal (10 million) and some other 4.8 million Portuguese living in the four corners of the world. Smaller countries or regions where the Portuguese language is spoken include Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, and São Tomé e Príncipe in Africa and East Timor and Macao, S.A.R. of China in Asia. All together, around 220 million people speak Portuguese. With the exception of Brazil, apart from local colloquialisms and "street lingo", in ALL Portuguese-speaking countries and territories the linguistic variety spoken and used by the population and in official business is the EUROPEAN PORTUGUESE. As with other languages spoken in different countries and places of the world, Portuguese differs in vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar, mainly between Portugal and Brazil. Web sites, and commercial and technical documents SHOULD be properly localized for the Portuguese and Brazilian markets. And, take note: For regular official, commercial and technical texts, THERE IS NO SUCH THING as "neutral Portuguese", as well as "angolan", "capeverdian" or "mozambican" Portuguese... http://www.jrdias.com/jrd-portugal-brasil.htm "
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