Which type of portuguese should I learn?

Hello Michael.

I’m suspect to answer you because I’m Brazilian. So I like my language. Obviously.

However Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese is the same language. No differences about rules and grammar. Naturally there are different accents, sentence construction and meanings of some words. But both people understand each other without many difficulties.

If you learn how to speak Brazilian Portuguese fluently you’ll be able to communicate in all country where Portuguese is official language. America, Europe, Africa and Asia don’t make difference. It will be a question of adaptation. A few days it’s enough to get accustomed. The opposite it's the same thing.

But I feel morally required to warn you. Portuguese is a very difficult language for foreigners. Including other people who speak Romance languages.

I’ve 54 years old. In my entire life I have met only four foreigners who have learned when they are already adults that speak Portuguese without accents and mistakes. Three of them were born in countries of Romance languages. Two guys, an Argentine and an Italian, and a Belgian girl. The other one is a Greek guy.

But you must not discourage. It's necessary patience and dedication. And study hard, of course.

I wish you all the greatest success and lucky. Good studies.

May I finish your answer in Portuguese?

Dedique-se bastante e não se importe com as dificuldades. Obstáculos existem para serem superados.

I think you will be able to understand using Google Translate. Goodbye.

European Portuguese is indeed more closely related to the Portuguese spoken in Africa and Asia, it is also considerably different from Brazilian Portuguese, the accents within Brazil vary a lot as it is, and most of them are pretty different from the European one. Having said that, once you get a deep grasp of either accent, you'll be able to understand any accent with not a lot of effort, so I guess it all depends on which one you think is more beautiful or cooler or whatever, if you decide to learn Brazilian Portuguese (the one I speak, being Brazilian) and decide to take lessons, it is likely you'll end up learning either Carioca or Paulista accent (Rio de Janeiro town or São Paulo town, respectively), seeing as they are the most spoken and standard ones in nationwide television.

Cheers.

Some persons say that brazilian portuguese could be more better to learn, because of way they write, the grammar and the pronounce is easier, but there more slangs than europan portuguese.