Which is a better language to learn if traveling abroad?

[Johnny Cocksville]

Better language to learn:Thai or Portuguese?

If one was to travel to either Brazil or Thailand, how much of each language would one need to communicate? Which language is harder to learn? Also, how different is Portuguese from "regular" spanish?

[LG]

I cannot speak either language, but I do know that Portuguese is very different from, as you put it 'regular' Spanish although speakers of Spanish can probably almost get by in Protuguese and vice versa and learning one can be easier if you speak the other well.

In addition, Brazilian Portuguese is very different from Iberian Portuguese to the extent that you could easily be misunderstood in Brazil if you only speak the latter. Here are some examples I found on the net:

absolutamente: EP: “absolutely”. BP: “absolutely not”
bizarro: EP: “smart”, “elegant”, or “kind”. BP: “weird”, “bizarre”.
cacete: EP: a kind of bread (French stick). BP: obscene word, meaning “penis”.
puto: EP: “boy”. BP: “male homosexual”

However, I would say that Thai must be much more difficult to learn simply because written Thai has a different character set that is nothing like the English alphabet, so reading and writing will probably be a difficult task for beginners. In addition Portuguese, being an Indo- European language must be easier to grasp since the grammar and vocabulary bear similarities to English (a lfew), French and Italian (some) and Spanish (many). All these languages are Indo-European, as are Greek, the various Slavic languages and the languages of India and Iran (Farsi or Persian). Most languages spoken in Europe fall into this family, but not Magyar (Hungarian) , Finnish , Estonian, Turkish or Basque.

[GroobySteven]

Spent time in both countries extensively.
If you have any background in other Latin based languages than Portuguese is relatively easier to pick up.
Thai is actually a language which you can pick up bits and pieces of fast also.

Less Brazilian's speak English than Thais. Pretty much every Thai working in tourist areas speaks some English and most of the bar girls are decent enough with it. Many of the ladyboys have been to University and speak excellent English. Brazilian transsexuals in my experience...not many speak any English.

Personally, I'd love to speak Spanish - you'd get more use out of it than just a once a year trip!
seanchai

[Ecstatic]

Great points, LG and seanchai. Wouldn't the real question here, though, be which country you'd rather visit and which girls you'd rather see? Picking the language ahead of the country and type of girl, that's cart before the horse (unless you're planning on going to both countries, then I'd take seanchai's advice and pick up a little Portuguese because you'd need it more in Brasil than you would Thai in Thailand where English is more commonly spoken).

LG, great bit of linguistics there, a favortie subject of mine. One of the major differences between Portuguese and Spanish is the number of irregular verbs; iirc, Portuguese has over 4,000! I don't speak Portuguese (though I can puzzle my way through some written samples), but I think in some ways Portuguese is actually closer to Italian than it is to Spanish (or, more precisely, Portuguese and Italian are both closer to Latin than Spanish, which has evolved further since the collapse of the Roman Empire 1500 years ago).

P.S. I'd go with Thai, but that's because my best girl is Thai and it would be a kick to talk to her in her own language. Sarwasdee Kha! ("Welcome!") is about all I know, though.

[Quinn]

I would definitely recommend Portuguese. Not only can you use it, with minor variations, in both Portugal and Brazil, but Portuguese is also spoken in parts of Africa. If you learn Portuguese, it is also relatively easy to understand Spanish (easier than it is for a Spanish speaker to understand Portuguese anyway).

-Quinn