Gadling

So I suppose that Portugal is not interested in hosting tourists from Latin America?

I hear that they also have an inferiority complex vs Brazil since the old colony is now the most important Portuguese speaking country in the world. Almost all books, movies, and art in that language come from Brazil.

For a while Philip II of Spain was also king of Portugal. Too bad that afer he died Portugal regained its independence.

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So I suppose that Portugal is not interested in hosting tourists from Latin America?

I hear that they also have an inferiority complex vs Brazil since the old colony is now the most important Portuguese speaking country in the world. Almost all books, movies, and art in that language come from Brazil.

For a while Philip II of Spain was also king of Portugal. Too bad that afer he died Portugal regained its independence.

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Brazil is not the only country other than Portugal to speak Portuguese......in fact the majority of Latin American countries list Portuguese as their main language.
The point of the sign, and the sentiment behind it, is respect.
These type of disputes goes back centuries and are not easily explained as "this way" or "that way".....
Although, having lived in Europe for several years I can say that many Americans are just as arrogant as the Spanish by expecting other countries to cater to their language, etc.
How about tourists start catering to the ways of the country they visit by at least attempting to communicate in the host countries language. After all the Spanish require the same courtesy of the Portuguese when they travel to Spain.

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"the majority of Latin American countries list Portuguese as their main language"

Hardly.

Portuguese has "official" language status in the Mercosur countries, but is only the "main language" - or even spoken - in Brazil. You'll have to go to Africa, Macau or Timor to find other places where it is close to being the main language.

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Portuguese language has been around for centuries Not only Brazil speaks it but Angola Mozambique ,Azores ,East Timor, Cape Verde ,Madeira
and others that i can't remember now.
Yes Portugal was under the Spanish domain for 60 years, but after the Spanish Armada tragedy,Portugal regained its independence It was not because Philip II died. Portugal has always been a hospitable country to visit. But here in the USA Portuguese people are required to speak Spanish to latinos Because Latinos and other Spanish speaking Countries REFUSE !!!! to learn English or sacrifice learning other languages

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That latinos in the USA "refuse" to learn English is patently untrue, but it keeps on being repeated, like a myth that will not die. Statistics prove once and again that immigrant Latinos strive hard to learn English, even to the point of forgoing Spanish for their children, and by second generation the language switch is a certainty. For a survey on the topic, see this link: http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=82

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What happens is simple: very often Portugal is confused as a part of spanish by northern european and american tourists.

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I think portuguese speaking people has indentity problem because brazil is bordered with spanishs peaking countries and portugal is bordered by spain that is why most people think portugal and brazil are spanish speaking country too.

even here in the philippines, many filipinos speaks spanish but we speak english in public and spanish at home for spanish lineage only of course because we were colonized by Spain.

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