Walk from Portuguese Border to Santiago

[Jccu04]

I'm going with a group to walk from the Minho River to Santiago along the Coastal Route. Almost all of our trek will be in Spain. I've read that locals in that area speak both Portuguese and Spanish. I can communicate pretty well in Spanish, but I don't consider myself fluent. Would it be better for me to focus on studying and improving my Spanish, or should I try to learn some Portuguese?

 

[Pelegrin]

I'm going with a group to walk from the Minho River to Santiago along the Coastal Route. Almost all of our trek will be in Spain. I've read that locals in that area speak both Portuguese and Spanish. I can communicate pretty well in Spanish, but I don't consider myself fluent. Would it be better for me to focus on studying and improving my Spanish, or should I try to learn some Portuguese?

If your trek is almost all in Spain ( Galicia) you don' t need to learn Portuguese. In this part of Spain there is a local language called Galego similar to Portuguese but you don' t need to learn it. Spanish will be enough.

 

[BROWNCOUNTYBOB]

I hiked Camino Portuguese from Porto to Santiago in Sept-Oct 2023, hiking the coastal route, then crossing inland to Ponte de Lima. Then hiked from Tui to Santiago. I'm semi fluent in Spanish and had no issues communicating with locals at stores, restaurants, etc.

Bob

 

[Jccu04]

If your trek is almost all in Spain ( Galicia) you don' t need to learn Portuguese. In this part of Spain there is a local language called Galego similar to Portuguese but you don' t need to learn it. Spanish will be enough.

Thank you,

That is very helpful. I read that the majority of residents speak both Galego and Spanish, and about half spoke Spanish primarily in the home and half spoke Portuguese/Galego primarily in the home. I was worried I'd speak broken Spanish to someone who spoke Portuguese, and I'd offend someone.

Thanks for your help.

 

[dougfitz]

Even if you start on the Portuguese side of the Rio Minho at Caminha, almost the first thing you will be doing is crossing into Spain. You won't find much, if any, Portuguese spoken from that point. Although you might hear Galego, my experience is that Spanish will be used when engaging with pilgrims.

 

[dougfitz]

I was worried I'd speak broken Spanish to someone who spoke Portuguese, and I'd offend someone.

If you were to do that in Portugal, at worst you might get a smart reminder that you are speaking in Spanish. My take - use English if you can. You will find most Portuguese have a good working knowledge and would prefer you do that than speak to them in Spanish.

 

[Pelegrin]

Thank you,

That is very helpful. I read that the majority of residents speak both Galego and Spanish, and about half spoke Spanish primarily in the home and half spoke Portuguese/Galego primarily in the home. I was worried I'd speak broken Spanish to someone who spoke Portuguese, and I'd offend someone.

Thanks for your help.

Portuguese and Galego have many coincidences in vocabulary but pronunciation and writing are quite different.

 

[André Walker]

I'm a Dutch guy that doesn't speak Spanish or Portuguese.
Nevertheless, I managed perfectly well on a couple of Caminos.

So my best advice would be: learn to speak Dutch.

 

[Yankee]

I began learning Spanish before my Camino and gave up. I memorized greetings and the Spanish word for thank you. My Camino was a month and a half in Spain and I had no problems. I did get yelled at one time but the man's neighbor stepped in and I continued my walk. One of my thoughts is that most Spaniards believe we are on a holy pilgrimage and it's bad luck to mess with a pilgrim. Another thought is without pilgrims passing through some Spanish towns' economies would collapse.