European Portuguese - The Prominence of European Portuguese

The Prominence of European Portuguese

Portugal maintained its colonial rule over its old world empire much longer than it did over Brazil. Thus European Portuguese is used as a norm of reference for African and Asian Lusophone spaces (Angola, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Macau, Mozambique, and São Tomé and Príncipe), given the lack of existing official norms in those countries. Portugal remains a destination for postsecondary education for the elites of these places. In Europe, European Portuguese remains the learning standard for PLE (Portuguese as a second language).

The Instituto Camões is an organization which promotes not only the Portuguese language but also Portuguese culture. Thus, it promotes Continental Portuguese as a norm for learners.

RTP is the Portuguese public television network and also serves as a vehicle for European Portuguese providing media content throughout the world. There is a branch of RTPi named RTP África, which serves Lusophone Africa.

In estimating the size of the speech community for European Portuguese, one must take into account the consequences of the Portuguese Diaspora: Immigrant communities located throughout the world in the Americas, Australia, Europe and Africa.