Why Does Portuguese Sound Like Russian?! (or Polish)
LangfocusCited 4× on HN, 2021–2025
explainer · general · evergreen · 2021–2025 on HN
A Langfocus video examining why Portuguese, especially European Portuguese, sounds like Russian or Polish. It compares shared sounds such as vowel reduction and palatalization.
Cited as the explanation whenever commenters notice Portuguese sounds Slavic.
Up next
12 mo on HNGeorge Lakoff: Moral Politics
University of California Television (UCTV)
3 HN recommender · 2016–2024
6 mo on HNStephen Fry Kinetic Typography - Language
Built By Matt
4 HN recommender · 2012–2025
6 mo on HNWhat Languages Sound Like To Foreigners
Sara Forsberg
6 HN recommender · 2014–2021
6 mo on HNAdriano Celentano - Prisencolinensinainciusol
Le Pietre Rotolanti
6 HN recommender · 2016–2024
5 mo on HNIrving Finkel | The Ark Before Noah: A Great Adventure
The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures
4 HN recommender · 2021–2025
5 mo on HNCracking Ancient Codes: Cuneiform Writing - with Irving Finkel
The Royal Institution
3 HN recommender · 2020–2024
5 mo on HNHow to learn any language in six months | Chris Lonsdale | TEDxLingnanUniversity
TEDx Talks
5 HN recommender · 2014–2019
5 mo on HNThe Unanswered Question 1973 1 Musical Phonology Bernstein Norton
cagin
4 HN recommender · 2018–2023
4 mo on HNRSA ANIMATE: Language as a Window into Human Nature
Royal Society of Arts
2 HN recommender · 2011–2022
3 mo on HNJorge Luis Borges: This Craft of Verse Lectures - thepostarchive
thepostarchive
3 HN recommender · 2019–2022
4 mo on HNThe US Has More Tribes Than the World Has Countries
CGP Grey
4 HN recommender · 2020–2026
4 mo on HNGeorge Carlin - Euphemisms
poyani
4 HN recommender · 2014–2025
4 comments from Hacker News
> My wife is a native Russian speaker, and despite making numerous grammatical errors is far better understood than I am. There's an explanation for this ▶ this video
It caught me off guard too, portugese from portugal do sound somewhat slavic if you're not familiar with either: link Even my slavic gf was tricked for a few seconds and wasn't sure if it was some kind of eastern language she wasn't aware of. And for the explanation ▶ this video
It’s because Pt-Pt is a stressed timed language vs Br-Pt which is a syllable timed language. Pt-Pt drops a lot of unstressed vowels whereas Br-Pt almost all syllables are pronounced. Langfocus did a video on why (European) Português sounds like Russian. ▶ this video
He also has one about Portuguese vs. Russian/Polish: ▶ this video And extreme syllable-timed language family (opposite of these) are languages Tagalog, Malay, Indonesian. EVERY syllable is pronounced and it becomes a mouthful but there's a strict cadence that comes from it. Foreign words break it a bit but native words are "ma-ka-ba-la-bu-sa-ng-ah-ga-ta-na..." link