Where is Portuguese spoken in America?

28 comments

1. Mostly cities in New England, I saw a lot of Portuguese and Brazilian stuff during a trip to Boston. I don’t think it’s common at all though. Mostly limited to a few immigrant communities in northeastern cities.

2. There’s a decent amount of Lusophone Americans in New York State. I hear people speak Portuguese maybe once or twice a month, usually at the mall or on my university’s campus. I was actually going to take Portuguese classes, but their time slots conflicted with other classes. There’s more in New York City though, I live in upstate NY.

3. Massachusetts is full of Brazilian people, and Cape Cod and the South Shore in Massachusetts, both have large Portuguese (mostly Azorean) and Cape Verdean populations. There’s a Portuguese Feast in New Bedford, MA every year.

4. There are a few pockets in Massachusetts. At one point we were the only state where is was the third most commonly spoken language (behind English and Spanish), not sure if that’s still true. Many immigrants from Portugal settled on the south coast (Fall River and New Bedford areas) and there are Brazilian diaspora communities in a few areas in Metro Boston.

5. South Florida, for sure.

   I don’t really meet more than one or two people a year (that I know of) who speak Portuguese.

6. Newark and some places in Massachusetts. In Massachusetts I believe there is small population from Cape Verde too.

   Edit: what I mean is that there is a Portuguese population in Newark NJ and some parts of Massachusetts.

7. Here in New Jersey there are sizable Portuguese and Brazilian populations. Newark and Elizabeth, NJ especially.

8. Hawaii is full of Portuguese people. Those that have been there for 3+ generations think they’re native Hawaiian. The older ones still speak Portuguese at home.

9. *-In terms of total numbers, California has the largest Portuguese population with 327,558 residents of Portuguese descent, followed by Massachusetts with 270,183. Rhode Island, despite having the highest percentage of Portuguese per state, has a smaller total number with 83,002 residents of Portuguese descent.*

   *-Among states with significant Brazilian populations, Massachusetts has the largest number of Brazilians, with 84,214 individuals*

   https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/brazilian-population-by-state

   Massachusetts has 2nd highest percent of Portuguese and highest percentage of Brazilians.

   This is close to me. My closest city is Worcester, Massachusetts and there are dozens of Brazilian and Portuguese restaurants and businesses.

   Weirdly I just left “Salgabom Snacks” and like every Brazilian I’ve ever met — the owner is super kind.

   Oh– and all my painters this year were from Brazil! No English but super nice. One brought his kid to my house everyday so I learned a couple words because I babysat him while his dad and uncle worked.

   ​

   *”Which US state speaks the most Portuguese?Portuguese and Portuguese-Americans are present in all U.S. states, but about 30% of them live in a cluster encompassing Massachusetts (258,238), Rhode Island (81,685) and Connecticut (43,079). California is the state with the largest Portuguese-American community (309,958).”*

10. There are actually a lot of people in my area of northern California who are of Portuguese origin, mostly from the Azores. But their families have been in the US usually for a few generations and they don’t speak Portuguese. (Not always, I had one coworker who spoke Portuguese even though she was born in the US.) There’s a Portuguese community center in a rural area outside town and I see Portuguese flags on buildings occasionally.

    Brazilians are not common around here but one of my coworkers is one. He’s not an American though.

11. Providence has a big Cabo Verde population and Portuguese.

    Massachusetts I believe has the second largest Brazilian population in the US (CA is #1) and places like Framingham are hugely Brazilian by percent. The whole south coast of MA has a lot of Portuguese speakers from Portuguese, to Cabo Verdean, to Brazilian.

    I’m in the airport right now (Logan) and a family here at baggage claim is speaking Portuguese aka drunk Spanish.

12. Central Florida, basically anywhere I go even in class or the super market.

13. My wife is of Portuguese ancestry but doesn’t speak Portuguese. Her dad maybe knows a little but doesn’t really speak it. Her grandparents did speak it. She would like to learn it but hasn’t done any really formal study of it.

    There is definitely a Portuguese and Portuguese-American community in parts of California. It’s not rare to encounter someone who speaks Portuguese but they are similar to other immigrant groups in that the language is generally lost after a couple generations, except some names of foods and cultural terms.

14. Naugatuck, Connecticut has a big Portuguese-speaking population.

    I don’t know what Lusophone is.

15. Brazil, mainly. Heyyooooooo.

16. There’s no such thing as a quiet Brazilian. You can hear them from a mile away.

17. New Jersey, Massachusetts and California. Also Hawaii and Florida plus NY to an extent.

18. MA (and to an extent southern NH) is full of Portuguese, Portuguese-Brazilian, Azorean, Cape Verdean and other Portuguese-related people.

    I once (jokingly) got go call someone a Lusophobe. Good times.

19. There’s a Portugese section of Newark called the Ironbound. It’s known for the great restaurants.

20. My SO is of distant Portuguese ancestry. Both her grandparents in two very different ways even.

    Only bits of south-eastern Massachusetts has counties that are majority or plurality Portuguese though.

    Brazilian tourists are popular enough in and around Orlando that you can get some services in Portuguese.

21. Torrance, California has a decent sized Brazilian community with quite a few BJJ dojos. Royce Gracie lives there

22. Some places in Texas have some people from Brazil.

23. Honestly, I’ve never heard anyone speak portuguese casually. The main second language I hear around here is definitely Spanish (I live in Southern California)

24. Miami has a decent Brazilian population it’s not as big as other Latin American and Caribbean countries.

25. There’s a little cluster of Brazilian businesses I drive past: hair salon, bakery, restaurant. I imagine there’s some Portuguese spoken in those buildings

26. Nowhere(to my knowledge) really. I’ve met ONE person who spoke Portuguese my entire life in America and it was at the mall. My degree is actually in Portuguese and Spanish from Glasgow uni so he found it so fascinating that I spoke Portuguese lol

27. Massachusetts and a lot of Brazilian in Orlando

28. Long branch nj