Learning Portuguese (Part 1)

I guess one thing that makes us all reluctant to move to Portugal is the language. Although most locals you meet would assure you that "It's fine. Portuguese speak very good English", this statement doesn't hold so true if you're living here long term. You still need to know a few words to get by. Some restaurant menus are only in Portuguese. The vendor at the train ticket office only speaks Portuguese. So are the people in the markets & shops, your hairdressers & handymen, and not the least, when you need to deal with bureaucracy: tax authorties, immigration officers etc. That's when your real nightmare begins.

You really don't need Portuguese to live here? Oh boy, please don't be disillusioned to believe in such a myth. 

Being a resident in Portugal is completely different from being a tourist in Portugal.

I've been living in Portugal since 2015. In my first few years, I worked at a Portuguese company and my colleagues are Portuguese millennials like myself. All educated abroad to at least a Masters degree, they are multilingual. By that I mean they speak exotic languages like Arabic, Japanese, Korean and Mandarin Chinese fluently besides their own native tongue Portuguese, and like most Europeans out there, these colleagues have an excellent command in Spanish, English, French & German. That batch of colleagues I worked with are the most amazing people I've ever met in my life. They have the warmth of the Portuguese yet they are open minded and embrace everybody genuinely. Their love for anything foreign amuses me. So I was very fortunate to have worked with such folks and although it was a Portuguese company, I felt the work ambiance was truly multicultural. When I got anxious for not being able to pick up Portuguese fast enough, my boss even comforted me by saying, "One really doesn't need to know Portuguese to get by. I've seen tons of Brits who don't speak a word of Portuguese after settling here for decades yet they flourish." 

Due to a hectic travel agenda, I had no time to study the language properly too. And given the international work environment, I seriously don't need the language that much in daily & work life. In 2019, I joined an MNC, and now working with a group of Portuguese colleagues coming from a more elite background. They're slightly more mature compared to the last batch of colleagues, and most of them speak either very poor English or no English at all. Meetings and correspondences are all in Portuguese. Again, I was brought on board to deal with their international businesses so the Portuguese language is irrelevant to my job. With time, it gets very frustrating and even isolated because I feel like I'm deaf-mute, and look extremely silly during the mandatory team meeting in which I am required to be present whether I understand it or not. 

It was fun in the beginning being an "alien", and having lived and worked across multiple countries in North America, Asia and Europe, this is not the first time sitting in a room full of people speaking a language completely unintelligible to me. But after years, I don't find it fun anymore. I find the meeting to be a waste of my precious time yet I had to be there out of courtesy. 

Does this affect my performance? No. Because my business responsibility is to look after the international market. Does this affect my mood? Absolutely. Do I still want to live in Portugal? Yes! So do I need to take my language to the next level? Is it even necessary? After 7 years here, I feel the need to do so. I know the Brits my boss mentioned flourish here even without speaking a word, nor do they have a desire to understand the local culture (my guess), I think it never hurts to learn another language. 

And with all the legitimate reasons I have outlined above, I do suggest anyone who is considering moving to Portugal for the long term should definitely learn a little bit. You don't need to be fluent to survive here, but to get by you still need it. I've encountered a situation which I'm sure you might too if you come here. You hopped on an Uber in the middle of the night. A Brazilian driver who is just new in town and doesn't know the way. GPS is not working well. He speaks no English. You have to direct him to drive you home. It happened to me. One night. After a long exhausting day. And imagine if you don't even speak a word. A tiny incident like this is enough for you to have a nightmare. 

Many expats do rave about the unnecessity to speak Portuguese and are pleasantly surprised that one can speak English even when they encountered a very bad moment (car broken in the middle of the highway, calling for emergency help etc), but this is just a matter of luck and time before they realize they need to level up should they want to call Portugal their forever home. 

So I definitely understand many who are reluctant to move here due to language issues. As much as you should not be disillusioned that English will do the job here, you should also not be intimidated by the language either. If you're coming here to live as an expat or retiree, some basic knowledge will be fine. If you're planning to work here like myself, then I'd say you need it even you don't need it for work purposes. I've learned a good lesson.