Brazilian Portuguese – Expanding your potential

Master Brazilian Portuguese for Business

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Professional Portuguese language training tailored for business professionals, executives, and entrepreneurs.

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Professional Portuguese language training tailored for business professionals, executives, and entrepreneurs.

Business Etiquette

Doing business in Brazil runs on relationships first, transactions second. Meetings often start with genuine small talk, family, football, the weather, before getting to the agenda, and rushing that step can come across as cold rather than efficient. Punctuality is expected for the meeting itself, but flexibility is normal once it’s underway, so build in some breathing room rather than treating a schedule as fixed to the minute. Titles and formality matter more than in Australia, especially on a first meeting, so err toward the more formal register until your counterpart signals otherwise.

Language for Meetings

A few adjustments make a real difference in a Brazilian business setting. Address people as “senhor” or “senhora” plus their first name until invited to use “você” alone, which is a common and comfortable middle ground. Phrases that soften a request go a long way: “Você poderia me ajudar com isso?” (could you help me with this?) lands better than a direct imperative. And when something isn’t quite agreed yet, “Vamos pensar melhor sobre isso” (let’s think this through a bit more) is a graceful way to hold a decision open without saying no outright.

Cultural Tips

Physical greetings are warmer than in Australia: a handshake is standard in business, but a light kiss on the cheek is common once a relationship is established, even in a professional setting. Personal space in conversation tends to be closer too. Silence in a meeting isn’t necessarily a bad sign, and a lively, overlapping conversation style is normal rather than rude. Saying yes to something doesn’t always mean immediate commitment, it can mean “I’m open to it,” so following up to confirm specifics is a normal and expected part of doing business, not a sign of distrust.

Meet the Tutor

Iara Leão is originally from Belo Horizonte, the capital city of the state of Minas Gerais (known for its food and coffee) in Brazil.

She began teaching Brazilian Portuguese back in 2009 in the United States while she was doing her Master’s degree. Since then, Iara has had the opportunity to teach a wide range of students, always accomodating their needs and goals in learning the language.

In 2020, Iara published a book entitled ‘Doing Business in Brazil: a guide to the language and the culture’. In this book, she introduces the basic knowledge of the Brazilian Portuguese language and also presents facts about the Brazilian culture that should help readers to communicate and to understand Brazilians in verbal and non-verbal ways.

Her approach to teaching is to get students to feel comfortable to speak the language. Students are encouraged to participate in class and are shown that it is perfectly normal to make a mistake while speaking a foreign language, and that that should never be a reason to make someone scared of learning.

Iara believes in enjoying learning the language and having fun doing so!

Doing Business in Brazil: A guide to the language and culture

This book was written to be your helpful guide to understanding the basic concepts of the Portuguese language, as well as Brazilian culture. Whatever may be the reason that is motivating you to learn a new language – a short vacation, business opportunities, friends and/or partner, or simply a hobby – learning about the culture of a country is also very important. Learning about it might help you to blend in, to understand and to be understood, and to avoid doing or saying something that might come across as offensive. When it comes to learning Brazilian Portuguese, it is the same principle. You are not only learning Portuguese, you are learning the variation of the language spoken in Brazil and the cultural aspects that might help you understand the language, the people and their habits more clearly.