Portuguese needs a country, not just a language code
A manual for Portugal and a product website for Brazil share many words and differ in technical vocabulary, grammar and customer address. Everyday computing terms show it: ficheiro, ecrã and telemóvel in Portugal are arquivo, tela and celular in Brazil. The source language gives no automatic answer to that locale decision.
Portuguese (Africa) is one of the agency’s listed variants, but Africa is not a single national locale. Angola and Mozambique, for example, have distinct administrative contexts. The request should name the country, readers and purpose; existing local terminology is more useful than an instruction to suit a whole continent.
Language and locale
One language,
several publication contexts
| Convention | Portuguese | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Alphabet | Latin with ç and accents such as ã, õ, á, é, ê and ô. | Accents separate words and tenses, so they cannot be dropped. |
| Where it is official | Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, Timor-Leste and Equatorial Guinea. | Each country has its own administrative language. |
| Numbers and dates | Decimal comma; dates as day/month/year; thousands with a full stop in Brazil and often a space in Portugal. | Country and document conventions still govern presentation. |
| Address | Tu, você and formal forms differ by country and relationship. | Brazilian text normally uses você; Portuguese text often avoids a pronoun. |
| Verb constructions | Brazil: estou fazendo. Portugal: estou a fazer. | Interface strings reveal the wrong variant immediately. |
| Company data | Portugal: NIF, Lda. Brazil: CNPJ, Ltda. | Identifiers and entity forms stay as registered. |
What the orthographic agreement does not decide
The 1990 Orthographic Agreement is not a conversion tool between Brazilian and European Portuguese. It addresses spelling, while country-specific vocabulary, syntax and usage remain. Adoption and transition periods have differed by country, so a project should state the required convention and supply an approved style reference where one exists.
Earlier texts can carry pre-agreement spelling. They should be identified as reference material so an inherited convention is not mistaken for a requirement. An African destination needs its own brief rather than a copied Portugal setting.
The same word can change sense across borders. Propina means a tuition fee in Portugal and a bribe in Brazil; actual and atual mean current, not actual. The destination, not only the language, decides the reading.
The locale follows the assignment
Native-country translation,
independent revision
The project manager establishes which Portuguese is required before assigning the translator and reference terminology.
Translators have more than ten years of experience in their field and live in the country the text is written for. When Portuguese is the source, the variant still matters: the translator into another language must read the source country’s terminology rather than assume the meaning most familiar from another market.
CAT tools, including Trados Studio, hold consistent terms and repeated material. Country versions need clearly labelled references so a Brazilian term does not enter a Portugal text unnoticed. A second qualified linguist compares source and target under ISO 17100, supported by dedicated QA software.
Several destinations, one brief
A Portuguese company form or administrative title should not be silently replaced with an institution in another country that plays a different legal role; it is kept and explained. Technical manuals need product terminology for the actual market, and marketing translation needs a local voice without altering product facts.
When several destinations are involved, the multilingual project brief should distinguish shared content from country-specific versions and references.
Practical questions
Portuguese translation
before commissioning
Which Portuguese variants does Babylon Translations offer?
The agency lists Portuguese for Portugal, Brazil and Africa. The African destination needs a named country and audience because administrative terminology and usage differ. A quotation request should identify the target market and the source or target language, rather than treating Portuguese as one interchangeable version for every destination.
Does the 1990 Orthographic Agreement make all Portuguese identical?
No. The agreement concerns spelling and does not remove national vocabulary, grammar or usage. Brazilian and European Portuguese still need locale decisions. A project also needs the spelling convention its publisher or receiving institution expects, especially where older reference texts or country practices are part of the document set.
Can Brazilian Portuguese be adapted for Portugal?
A Brazilian version needs linguistic assessment before publication in Portugal. Replacing a few visible words does not cover differences in syntax, address, terminology and style. The original source and the intended Portugal audience show which content can stay and which passages need a more substantial rewrite.
What does Portuguese for Africa mean in a brief?
It names a broad service category, not one uniform locale. The brief should give the destination, such as Angola or Mozambique, and the receiving audience. Local institutional names, terminology and spelling expectations can then be assessed instead of being inherited from a Portugal or Brazil version.
What affects the price of Portuguese translation?
Price depends on source length, subject, repetition, file condition and the number of country versions. The schedule must also include revision. Complete files and a destination list allow an accurate assessment; the quotation guide explains the information needed to define the work.