• For 2024 Pilgrims: €50,- donation = 1 year with no ads on the forum + 90% off any 2024 Guide. More here.
    (Discount code sent to you by Private Message after your donation)

Search 69,459 Camino Questions

Portuguese place names in Spain

Ironchic

New Member
Time of past OR future Camino
Planning on 2024
Howdy! I've noticed that there are many places in Spain with Portuguese names. Speaking a fair amount of Spanish and also some Portuguese, I thought I'd ask if the Portuguese names in Spain are normally pronounced like Spanish names by native speakers or if they are pronounced like Portuguese? My husband and I are planning a 2024 Camino and being a lover of languages... I just wondered. Thanks!
 
Technical backpack for day trips with backpack cover and internal compartment for the hydration bladder. Ideal daypack for excursions where we need a medium capacity backpack. The back with Air Flow System creates large air channels that will keep our back as cool as possible.

€83,-
It would be helpful if you gave some examples, but they are probably names in Galician, not Portuguese.

Either way, if they are in Spain, they should be pronounced like in Spanish (or Galician)
O Cebreiro would be an example. So, if in Galician... the "O" at the beginning would be a Spanish "o" sound and not a "u" sound? I wasn't sure how close to Portuguese it would be... appearance only... 😋
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
Galego pronunciation is somewhere in between, but probably closer to "o" than "u". And the "ce" at the beginning of "Cebreiro" would be pronounced (like in European Spanish) as a theta by most galego speakers (the sound in the English word "thing"), but this varies by region. On the coast, in Fisterra for example, you will more likely hear it pronounced "ce" (like in Portuguese and in Latin American Spanish).

Galego is very similar to Portuguese in vocabulary but much closer to (European) Spanish in pronunciation. Of course, it also has some of its own unique vocabulary and grammar, but the oversimplification that it's Portuguese spoken with a Spanish accent is not that far from reality.
 
Eu tenho a mesma pergunta! Seeing Gallego triggers both my Spanish and my Portuguese at the same time. I’m planning to just roll with “portañol” and pantomime where necessary. I bet people there will understand US faster than we understand THEM! 🤣 caminhar vino igreja dormir repeat. Only a few weeks left until I find out!!
 
You may also see names in Asturian (in Asturias of course). One feature is a U at the end of the word rather than an O (e.g. asturianu vs. asturiano in castellano). Where the signs for towns and villages are only in Castilian Spanish, locals often graffiti in the Asturian instead. Here's an interesting article about the political aspect of it all:
 
Join our full-service guided tour and let us convert you into a Pampered Pilgrim!
You may also see names in Asturian (in Asturias of course). One feature is a U at the end of the word rather than an O (e.g. asturianu vs. asturiano in castellano). Where the signs for towns and villages are only in Castilian Spanish, locals often graffiti in the Asturian instead. Here's an interesting article about the political aspect of it all:
In Asturias there are only Asturian speakers of the central variant in the center of the region excluding the cities.
The other two variants are almost extinct.
There are also Galician speakers in the West. Only some people living in Central Asturias want the language to be official.
 
Eu tenho a mesma pergunta! Seeing Gallego triggers both my Spanish and my Portuguese at the same time. I’m planning to just roll with “portañol” and pantomime where necessary. I bet people there will understand US faster than we understand THEM! 🤣 caminhar vino igreja dormir repeat. Only a few weeks left until I find out!!
Regardless of what you speak to them, people in Galicia will almost certainly respond to you in Spanish, so how well you understand them simply depends on how well you understand Spanish.

As someone who has made a big effort to learn Galego and now speaks it pretty fluently, I still have a really hard time getting them to speak to me in Galego. Even people who know I want to practice and are happy to help in theory still slip back into Spanish unconsciously. It's deeply ingrained in them that Galego is not a language to be used with anyone from outside Galicia, or even with anyone outside close friends and family. There are historical and cultural reasons for this that are beyond the scope of this post.
 
You may also see names in Asturian (in Asturias of course). One feature is a U at the end of the word rather than an O (e.g. asturianu vs. asturiano in castellano). Where the signs for towns and villages are only in Castilian Spanish, locals often graffiti in the Asturian instead. Here's an interesting article about the political aspect of it all:
Thanks… I’ll read the article. Always nice knowing what’s going on! 😁 The final o sounding like a u is what I’m used to as well when it’s anything similar to Portuguese.
 
Technical backpack for day trips with backpack cover and internal compartment for the hydration bladder. Ideal daypack for excursions where we need a medium capacity backpack. The back with Air Flow System creates large air channels that will keep our back as cool as possible.

€83,-
Regardless of what you speak to them, people in Galicia will almost certainly respond to you in Spanish, so how well you understand them simply depends on how well you understand Spanish.

As someone who has made a big effort to learn Galego and now speaks it pretty fluently, I still have a really hard time getting them to speak to me in Galego. Even people who know I want to practice and are happy to help in theory still slip back into Spanish unconsciously. It's deeply ingrained in them that Galego is not a language to be used with anyone from outside Galicia, or even with anyone outside close friends and family. There are historical and cultural reasons for this that are beyond the scope of this post.
I’m sure that if I lived there or spent time there I’d be trying to pick it up as well. 😋 Glad you have able to become fluent even with the difficulties getting folks to use it with you.
 
Thanks everyone for taking the time to give me some insight! I’m a Texan who learned Spanish spoken in Mexico, have been exposed to Tex-Mex for my whole life (a mix of Mexican Spanish and English) and learned Portuguese living in Brazil for six months waaaaayyyyy back… 1978! LOL… even with differences in them all… it’ll be a hoot having a conversation for sure! Glad to have all this info to work with. 😁
 
Thanks everyone for taking the time to give me some insight! I’m a Texan who learned Spanish spoken in Mexico, have been exposed to Tex-Mex for my whole life (a mix of Mexican Spanish and English) and learned Portuguese living in Brazil for six months waaaaayyyyy back… 1978! LOL… even with differences in them all… it’ll be a hoot having a conversation for sure! Glad to have all this info to work with. 😁
It will be fun, but be warned, Latin American Castilian is much closer to the Spanish variety than Brazilian Portuguese is to the Portuguese of Portugal - the stress and intonation patterns are completely different.
 
Join our full-service guided tour and let us convert you into a Pampered Pilgrim!
It will be fun, but be warned, Latin American Castilian is much closer to the Spanish variety than Brazilian Portuguese is to the Portuguese of Portugal - the stress and intonation patterns are completely different.
You are right about that! I was in Portugal once and it was crazy how hard I had to focus to understand anything! 🤣 It's almost like a sentence is one long word. Great challenge for my brain for sure!
 
You are right about that! I was in Portugal once and it was crazy how hard I had to focus to understand anything! 🤣 It's almost like a sentence is one long word. Great challenge for my brain for sure!
Flying on TAP (Portuguese Airlines, aka 'Take Another Plane'), we would be regaled with announcements for 'Laydizun Chlum'. European Portuguese is stress-timed (like English) rather than syllable timed (like Spanish or Brazilian Portuguese). This gives it totally different rhythm added to which the pitch variation is comparatively small. Having learnt a bit of Portuguese in Brazil, then living for a while in Oporto, I came to prefer the sound of Portuguese Portuguese and even ended up beginning to like Fado. But it does take some getting used to.
 
Incidentally, Galego has claims to pre-date Castillian and was once a prestigious language. Most of the Cantigas de Santa Maria of Alfonso X were written in Galician.


Lorca had friends in Santiago, and as a kind of homage to them, also wrote some poems in Galego.
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
Having learnt a bit of Portuguese in Brazil, then living for a while in Oporto, I came to prefer the sound of Portuguese Portuguese and even ended up beginning to like Fado. But it does take some getting used to.
I adore fado, but for me the spoken and the sung language are two very different things. After six years living in Lisbon, I have yet to make my peace with português de Portugal.
 
I adore fado, but for me the spoken and the sung language are two very different things. After six years living in Lisbon, I have yet to make my peace with português de Portugal.
Loving Brazilian samba… it has been a little difficult for me to give fado sufficient listening time to appreciate it.
 
Loving Brazilian samba… it has been a little difficult for me to give fado sufficient listening time to appreciate it.
Samba and fado are very different! You could almost say they are exact opposite musical genres. And they are quite representative of the personality of Brazilian and Portuguese people, respectively.
 
Down bag (90/10 duvet) of 700 fills with 180 g (6.34 ounces) of filling. Mummy-shaped structure, ideal when you are looking for lightness with great heating performance.

€149,-

Most read last week in this forum

Can anyone highly recommend an intro, fast track Spanish course, anywhere in Spain? I took Spanish lessons years ago, but was waylaid by learning Dutch, and couldn't cope with both...
Mark Taubert in FranceInfo, 24 Mars, 2024 , describes a new GR hike which has been planned for the past 10 years along the Seine passing the locations where famous 19th c Impressionist...
Moderator, please place this in the appropriate thread. Thank you. Well, it's about time.😊👍...

❓How to ask a question

How to post a new question on the Camino Forum.

Similar threads

Forum Rules

Forum Rules

Camino Updates on YouTube

Camino Conversations

Most downloaded Resources

This site is run by Ivar at

in Santiago de Compostela.
This site participates in the Amazon Affiliate program, designed to provide a means for Ivar to earn fees by linking to Amazon
Official Camino Passport (Credential) | 2024 Camino Guides
Back
Top