Sunday, August 7, 2016

Galician

Galician is a language which is spoken in northwestern Spain. Though similar to Portuguese, it's a separate language. Here is a list of words to illustrate the differences:

eye Spanish ojo Portuguese olho Galician ollo
person Spanish persona Portuguese pessoa Galician persoa
today Spanish hoy Portuguese hoje Galician hoxe
game Spanish juego Portuguese jogo Galician xogo
leaf Spanish hoja Portuguese folha Galician folla
make Spanish hacer Portuguese fazer Galician facer
four Spanish cuatro Portuguese quatro Galician catro
yesterday Spanish ayer Portuguese ontem Galician onte
one Spanish uno Portuguese um Galician un
good Spanish bueno Portuguese bom Galician bo

The Galician words are closer to Portuguese than they are to Spanish. However, Galician has less nasalization. Compare the words for good and yesterday: bom vs. bo and ontem vs. onte. Another difference is that an lh in Portuguese often corresponds to an ll in Galician. Notice the words for eye and leaf: olho/ollo and folha/folla. Nevertheless, Galician and Portuguese are similar.

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