Portuguese is a Romance language that originated in the Northwestern Iberian Peninsula about a thousand years ago. Today, it is the most widely spoken language in South America, is a major lingua franca in Africa, and is an official language of eight countries spanning each of the earth’s inhabited continents. You already use words of Portuguese origin such as tapioca, petunia, piranha, cashew, macaw, and toucan.
Portuguese has one of the richest vowel phonologies of all Romance languages, with seven to nine oral vowels, five nasal vowels, 10 oral diphthongs, and five nasal diphthongs. The Portuguese alphabet consists of 23 letters: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, X, Z. The letters K, W, and Y may appear in personal names and in words derived from them.