Phrase book?

[Pattibonemiller]

We are first timers walking the Portuguese coastal from Porto. We do not speak any Portuguese. Is a phrase book a good idea or is English widely spoken?

 

[J Willhaus]

Learn a few key phrases such as please, thank you. You can also learn to use Google translate. It is always appreciated when you try...

 

[DOver]

I'll be walking The Madrid, but I think my suggestion applies: Whether you use Google translate, as suggested above, or are like me and prefer a phrase book, I think you should try to speak a little of the native language, even if the person you're talking to speaks English. I believe it shows a respect for them and their native tongue, as well shows you're willing to engage. I've been working to learn Spanish and will use it at every opportunity, while walking. When the staff isn't busy, I've found that when I try to converse in the native language, the locals become even more friendly and helpful.
That's been my experience, anyway...

 

[isawtman]

I have heard that most of the people in Portugal know English because it is taught in schools there. I have heard this from several sources.

 

[Pattibonemiller]

Thank you

 

[Pattibonemiller]

I'll be walking The Madrid, but I think my suggestion applies: Whether you use Google translate, as suggested above, or are like me and prefer a phrase book, I think you should try to speak a little of the native language, even if the person you're talking to speaks English. I believe it shows a respect for them and their native tongue, as well shows you're willing to engage. I've been working to learn Spanish and will use it at every opportunity, while walking. When the staff isn't busy, I've found that when I try to converse in the native language, the locals become even more friendly and helpful.
That's been my experience, anyway...

Thank you. Good advice

 

[Pattibonemiller]

Learn a few key phrases such as please, thank you. You can also learn to use Google translate. It is always appreciated when you try...

I didn’t think about google translate. Thank you!

 

[OZAJ]

I found that English was more widely spoken in Portugal than in Spain. Maybe I was lucky - I don't speak Portuguese.

 

[jungleboy]

English is more widely spoken in Portugal than in Spain. In the 2022 EF English proficiency index, Portugal ranks as the ninth most English proficient country in the world among non-native English-speaking countries (between Finland and Germany), with a rating of ‘very high proficiency’. Spain ranked 33rd with ‘moderate proficiency’.

 

[dougfitz]

I survived in 2022 with basic social phrases - greetings and simple requests. As others have said, English is more widely spoken than in Spain, but that won't mean that you won't have to fall back on one of the translation engines, like Google Translate.

ps, I practiced the phrase 'eu não falo português', but every time I used it, people would insist on carrying on the conversation in Portuguese!

 

[SabsP]

English is more widely spoken in Portugal than in Spain. In the 2022 EF English proficiency index, Portugal ranks as the ninth most English proficient country in the world among non-native English-speaking countries (between Finland and Germany), with a rating of ‘very high proficiency’. Spain ranked 33rd with ‘moderate proficiency’.

Is it correct that Portuguese TV has subtitles ( and no dubbing ) just like here in Belgium and the Netherlands? Makes it much easier for someone to pick up a foreign language.

 

[jungleboy]

Is it correct that Portuguese TV has subtitles ( and no dubbing ) just like here in Belgium and the Netherlands? Makes it much easier for someone to pick up a foreign language.

I believe so but not completely sure as we don’t have a TV.

 

[Former member 92300]

I stopped carrying any translation booklets years ago. Before you leave - download google translate and any language you might need for that trip. My favorite feature is you can use your camera to translate a menu or a sign.

 

[J Willhaus]

I stopped carrying any translation booklets years ago. Before you leave - download google translate and any language you might need for that trip. My favorite feature is you can use your camera to translate a menu or a sign.

Yes this works best if you take a photo of it with Google translate, but you can also hover over it without taking a photo and sometimes get the gist of the words you need.

 

[ronhenry2]

English is widely spoken in Portugal. I encountered only a couple of people who didn't speak English. It is taught in all of the schools from 1st grade through high school. Starting at 10 years of age, they teach a third language, aside from English and Portuguese. So they graduate with proficiency in their native language, English, and some proficiency in a third language. I wish the US was this progressive!

 

[DOver]

I stopped carrying any translation booklets years ago. Before you leave - download google translate and any language you might need for that trip. My favorite feature is you can use your camera to translate a menu or a sign.

For those that like using the phone, it's an amazing tool. The fact that I don't doesn't diminish the value of your advice. I'm sure it'll ease the worry of many so I'm glad it's there.

 

[Bert45]

By the time you've found something close to what you want to say in a phrase book, the person you were hoping to talk to will have walked away. The books don't have "My postillion has been struck by lightning", but they can come close. Even if you find what you are looking for, it will usually be a question, and you won't understand the answer, if you don't speak Portuguese.

 

[minha_alverca]

I survived in 2022 with basic social phrases - greetings and simple requests. As others have said, English is more widely spoken than in Spain, but that won't mean that you won't have to fall back on one of the translation engines, like Google Translate.

ps, I practiced the phrase 'eu não falo português', but every time I used it, people would insist on carrying on the conversation in Portuguese!

This is the opposite problem to mine! I speak to people in Portuguese to practice and try to become proficient and everyone insists on speaking back to me in English.

 

[Former member 22438]

People who already speak Castillano or Spanish will understand the Portuguese easier. Their grammatics are almost the same .I studied Castillano and worked in Spain for some years and sometimes visited customers in Portugal and there was hardly any misunderstanding by speaking Castillano.Since my first Portuguese caminho in 2013 I started learning Portuguese but soon I found out it is better to learn the Brasilian variant of the Portuguese , much easier to understand and to learn
when I am in Portugal and speak the Portuguese I learned and tell that I come from the Netherlands nobody starts speaking English to me.

 

[Rick of Rick and Peg]

Before you leave - download google translate and any language you might need for that trip.

The one time it was tried with me on camino I found that it was rather effective. And, as I wrote elsewhere, amusing for me and one other.

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/language-barrier.77644/#post-1082603

 

[J Willhaus]

We do use Google Translate a lot at the albergues. I speak some Spanish and German, however, for French, Russian, Korean, etc. We need a translation device.

 

[Pattibonemiller]

Wow! Do much good advice and direction. Thank you all!!

 

[jungleboy]

This is the opposite problem to mine! I speak to people in Portuguese to practice and try to become proficient and everyone insists on speaking back to me in English.

That happens to me all the time in Lisbon but thankfully not too often on various Portuguese caminos.

 

[Former member 108241]

I love languages and would love to be able to converse fluently in the local language wherever I am. For part of my camino prep I signed up to Duolingo premium and started powering through the Spanish module only to find it's based on Latin American Spanish and that @MariaSP's "Spanish for the Camino" would have been more useful for me and money better spent.

I'm hoping to find something similar to Maria's "Spanish for the Camino" for the Basque language. If anyone knows if something exists, I would be ever so grateful! Please direct me to any threads if this info has been covered. Thank you!

 

[Former member 22438]

I love languages and would love to be able to converse fluently in the local language wherever I am. For part of my camino prep I signed up to Duolingo premium and started powering through the Spanish module only to find it's based on Latin American Spanish and that @MariaSP's "Spanish for the Camino" would have been more useful for me and money better spent.

I'm hoping to find something similar to Maria's "Spanish for the Camino" for the Basque language. If anyone knows if something exists, I would be ever so grateful! Please direct me to any threads if this info has been covered. Thank you!

The language of el País Basque is a language of its own and has no connection at all with the languages around like Castillano or French.

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but if you walk to Santiago you also have to learn Galego , the language of Galicia a kind of mix between Castillano and Portugues

 

[Former member 108241]

The language of el País Basque is a language of its own and has no connection at all with the languages around like Castillano or French.

Yes! That's exactly the attraction for me. Thank you so much for the link I will have a look.