Portuguese Language Museum in São Paulo There are a number of other languages spoken in Brazil, although even collectively they account for only a very small minority of the population. According to the 1940 Census, the most popular second language (after Portuguese) at the time was German. Although the percentage of Italian immigration to Brazil was much more significant than that of the Germans, the German language had many more speakers than the Italian one, according to that Census. The main reason for this was that two-thirds of the children of German immigrants spoke German at home, while half of the children of Italians spoke Portuguese at home. This illustrates the fact that the new Italian immigrants had a much easier time assimilating to the Portuguese language.

Today there are still pockets in Brazil where the German and Italian languages can still be heard. However, these languages are rarely taught…