The Interview with a Representative of Portuguese Culture

I chose to interview my great aunt, Ruth Cordeiro. She is Portuguese and still lives in Portugal to this day. I completed this interview over the telephone. In this interview I concentrated on the following points, language and verbal communication, non-verbal communication and family communication. I feel that I am now more knowledgeable about my great aunt's Portuguese culture and how it differs from mine in America.

My great aunt and her culture mainly speak the language Portuguese. This language is known as a romance language, meaning it evolved from Vulgar Latin. It is heavily influenced by Arabic; many words of Arabic origin remain in everyday words. The example Ruth provided in the interview was the word “bottle,” “garrafa” in Portuguese. Portuguese is a pretty common language, contrary to popular believe. It is the fastest growing European language in the world besides English. There is a very large number of Portuguese speakers, approximately 206 million totals. Portuguese is the sixth most spoken language. According to the UNESCO, it has the potential to be an “international communication language” at the rate it is spreading. In comparison, English is already an “international communication language.”

Portuguese has had its influence on other languages, this includes English. An example is the word “embarrass.” Ruth said that this derives from the Portuguese word “embaraçar.” One major difference however between English and Portuguese is the conjugation of Portuguese words. Each verb has six different conjugations for a variety of pronouns in Portuguese. Another major difference is that Portuguese only had 23 letters in their alphabet until 2009.

Additionally, most Portuguese people tend to avoid discussing business in social situations. When it comes to business, they prefer to do it with those they are comfortable with and trust. They also prefer face to face business meetings rather than telephones, because they are so impersonal. My great aunt said this telephone interview would not have happened if business was involved. This differs greatly from American culture, which relies heavily on telephones and conducts much business this way.

I also discussed Nonverbal Communication in Portugal. Interpersonal communications in Portugal differ from those in America. Once close with one another, women greet each other with two kisses on the cheek, beginning with the right side. They call this 'beijinhos' ('little kisses'). Only the women do this and only to other woman, never to a man. Depending on location and circumstance, they might kiss twice, three, four times, or in some places not at all. Not many Americans do this, I have to say I am glad my culture differs in this situation. I would feel extremely awkward having to greet anyone this way. Portugal and American greeting are alike in that they both use handshakes with those you are not very familiar with, but Portuguese may say “bom dia.” Eye contact should be maintained, a principle seen in both American and Portuguese cultures.

Portuguese speakers typically do not use nonverbal hand gestures while verbally speaking. According to my great aunt, most people of her kind will confuse people who talk with their hands as being overly demonstrative. Americans on the other hand can tend to talk with their hands quite often. Most people here do not think this is anything out of the ordinary. Portuguese people though would. I talk with my hands quite often, and my great aunt is always confused by this because of how uncommon this is to her. My great aunt has always told me not to point, which so did my mother? I find that this is rude in both cultures.

In greetings of others, touching is common among Portuguese culture. Kissing is more used their culture than in American culture. In business meetings, it is common Portuguese culture to not remove your jacket unless your associates remove theirs. My great aunt participated in many business meetings prior to retiring. This is because she had a business centered career. Portuguese culture is very formal. They communicate this in a nonverbal manner with their appearance. They dress in a very formal fashion a large majority of the time. While Americans do dress formally, they do not as frequently as those of Portuguese culture. Their appearance is very important to them they take great pride in dressing nice. Though dressing conservatively. Women usually wear dresses, and male dressing is based primarily around a jacket and tie. Like I said before we differ in the fact that work and social life attire in Portugal is practically the same while Americans usually dress differently for work verses when they are out with friends.

In Portugal, the family is seen as the foundation of the social structure of the country. Extended family is quite close, something that is not as heavily present in American culture. Portuguese people are mostly very formal people. However, when communicating with family, they take their level of formality down a little. While my great aunt is a formal lady even during family interactions, I, being from American culture, am much more informal compared to her.

During the interview, my great aunt told me that friendship and family communications are very similar. She said that during both, people of Portuguese culture take down their level of formality. Communication in friendships involve more humor than those of family. Jokes typically involve teasing and witty puns. Ruth stated that she would not tell her father the teasing jokes she tells her friends. This compares to America since both cultures vary their family humor and friendship humor. They are a people who retain a sense of formality when dealing with each other, which is displayed in the form of extreme politeness.

In Portugal, 97% of people claim to belong to the Roman Catholic religion. My great aunt is personally Roman Catholic. She said this impacts her communication on an everyday basis. Their religion influences their decision making, ultimately making an impact in communication as well. When asking my great aunt if she thought Portugal was more collective or individualism, she responded that a very large amount of Portuguese culture is collective. America on the other hand is mostly an individualism culture.

In conclusion to this interview and research you can see, the culture and communications of Portuguese culture varies greatly from that of American culture. They do share their similarities but are very different from one another. Their culture is much more formal, collective, and religious than ours. This interview made me aware of the vast differences among Portuguese and American culture and the interpersonal communication differences the two cultures have. Before conducting this interview, I always thought Portuguese people had standoff personalities, which now I know is all in the difference of our cultures. They differ in so many ways but still somehow have quite a few similarities. I enjoyed learning and getting to know my great aunt better.

Bibliography

• Commisceo Global Consulting Ltd. Portugal – Language, Culture, Customes and Etiquette. www.commisceo-global.com http://commisceo-global.com/resources/country-guides/afghanistan-guide
• Portugal. Cultural Differences. Nonverbal Communication. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://ldldproject.net/cultures/portugal/differences/nonverbal.html