Why is Italian more popular than Portuguese?

[William Camden]

Portuguese is one of those languages that I might get round to studying one of these days, like Swedish/Norwegian/Danish, Serbian or Chinese. On the printed page, to someone who knows Spanish, it is pretty transparent but phonetically European Portuguese in particular is quite different.
I was once on a London bus and two Africans were talking. Language nerd that I am, I asked two complete strangers what language they were speaking, expecting to be told the name of some indigenous African language. I was surprised to be told "Portuguese" (it turned out they were from Angola).
Italian does have a "cool" cultural factor. Think of Maude Lebowski in The Big Lebowski. She talks to someone on the phone in one scene and she is speaking Italian, to the annoyance of the Dude who is also in the room. Her character probably went to an expensive boarding school in Europe. If she spoke in Spanish or indeed Portuguese in that scene, it would not have the same effect, though possibly French would also have a certain je ne sais quoi.

[Daristani]

The above comment on Portuguese as "the language of the future" reminded me of a comment by my professor of Portuguese when I took classes in it many years ago. Referring to the title of a well-known book (Brasilien: Ein Land der Zukunft) by Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, he said a good many Brazilians at the time would refer to the book by saying that "O Brasil é o país do futuro... e sempre será."

[Jar-Ptitsa]

Pizza, pasta, Italian ice-cream, Venice, Rome, clothes designers like Versace, wine, an elegant language, a country with a boot shape in the middle of the meditteranean so big and you notice it on a map, etc people know a lot about Italy.

I think that Portugal seems beautiful and interesting, but it's forgotten and hidden behind Spain, not famous for things, I mean not as famous as Italy.

Portuguese has a Russian sound, but if you can listen through that then you can see the similarity with Spanish.

[Jar-Ptitsa]

It doesn't take a fusion reactor scientist (rockets seem to be getting easier now, so I'm changing the phrase! lol),

good. I find the phrase "it's not rocket science" so annoying. I suppose they mean aeronautical engineering (?). Cold fusionist haha

[garyb]

Culture aside, I simply find that at least in the UK and almost everywhere I've visited in Europe, Italian is much more common. Everywhere I go I hear it spoken, whereas hearing Portuguese is a bit of a novelty. This helps to give it the feeling of a "bigger" and more useful language.

[iguanamon]

Language-learners are somewhat analogous to car-buyers. After you've bought a certain make and model you tend to see them everywhere. I notice Portuguese-speakers, especially Brazilians, whenever I travel abroad. I would wager that European learners of Portuguese who live in the industrialized countries of the EU would notice Portuguese-speakers more, even if they aren't as numerous as Italians..

Italy has a population of about 59.8 million and the Italian-speaking population of Switzerland is about 350,000. Portugal has a population of about 10.5 million. So, obviously, Europeans are going to encounter Italian more often than they will Portuguese. The rest of the Lusophone world is spread out mostly over the Southern Hemisphere. Add in the large numbers of Italian descendants in the Americas and various European countries with the long history of the Italian peninsula dating from antiquity and it is no wonder Italian is more popular among language-learners.

For those willing to make the effort to learn the language I can say that Portuguese opens a wide variety of all the benefits associated with learning a large language. There is enough literature to last me several lifetimes. Portuguese-speaking cinema is vibrant and diverse. Both Brazil and Portugal offer amazing travel experiences. I definitely want to visit Mozambique one day soon. Portuguese-speakers are glad when you speak their language and very helpful. Both Portugal and Brazil have a vibrant cultural scene. I'm never without quality books, films, television series or great music. It doesn't matter to me that Portuguese is less "popular" than Italian among language-learners here on the forum and in general. I get plenty from knowing Portuguese.

[reineke]

I like Italian. I don't find it strange that it's popular. I also enjoy listening to Portuguese. I see no good reason for extensive comparison between these two languagea. Japanese, Chinese, Latin, and Russian are also more popular than Portuguese and they take longer to learn for an English speaker . The best tool to learn a second Romance language, assuming you've reached an advanced level in the first, is right between your ears. You can use previously learned material as building blocks for future learning - build cathedrals out of temple ruins, so to speak. An advanced level of language skill is difficult to overwrite, however.

Neither language is a great choice professionally, at least in the US.

[YtownPolyglot]

For what it's worth, Portuguese is the sixth most spoken language in the world. One potential problem is that for most of us, the people who speak Portuguese tend to be so far away.

Spanish is seen as the default practical language for English-speakers to learn in the USA, but that doesn't help as much when everyone else seems to have received and followed the same advice. If you want a language that lots of people in the world speak but not all of the people around you, Portuguese may not be such a bad idea.

[tarvos]

Oh yeah. The language popularity contest is back in town.

Honestly, learn what you need to learn. If that's Italian, learn Italian; if it's Portuguese, learn Portuguese; and if it's Farsi or Ainu, learn those.

[tastyonions]

If I had used my needs as a guide, I would have stayed monolingual. :-)