distant_traveler

How different are Portugal and Spain culturally. I am visiting these countries for the first time this fall and am looking forward to people watching and learning about their culture and society.

When people go from Germany to Italy there is a huge shock on how different the people from each country is from each other. Their cultures are so different.

How about Portugal and Spain? How are the countries and people different (other than language)?

elina

Yes, they are different. Portuguese seem to be more solemn.

I donīt know where OP comes from, but for a European it doesnīt come as any kind of shock or surprise to go from Germany to Italy. Or from France to Germany. Even Norwegians and Swedes are different.

GeoffHamer

They are very different culturally, but then so are the different parts of Spain (or Germany or Italy). I'm sure there are also differences between the regions of Portugal.

cruiseluv

Very good point that even within the different regions of Spain, Spaniards can be different. I haven't been to Portugal but would not be surprised that people from Galicia (northwest Spain) have more in common with Portugal that with people from Andalucía. Even their language "gallego" is very similar to Portuguese.

irishface

I remember being surprised at how different Sp & Port are when I first visited 40 years ago. I shouldn't have been after all sorts of geography lessons in school, but I assumed (and what does "assume" to you and me?) that being isolated by the Pyrennees on the same peninsula, they would be more similar.

Later I moved from one end of Massachusetts to the other, and Mass. is not a large state and I found a big difference in many things. Though there are common threads in all human interaction. It was the first time I saw people eating ketchup on french fries and tried it myself.

I remember the first time I went home for a visit, my brother said in disgust, "You're starting to talk like those people out there." And he made gagging noises when I put ketchup on my fries.

In 40 years, things have changed and we are more alike than different, but I still here nuances in speech that are distinctive. The ironic thing is people here often say, "I can hear that Cape Cod speech pattern!" or ask me where I come from with that funny accent.

My brother now eats ketchup on his fries as well. At 60+ we are more and more alike.

lobo_mau

I believe our world is one country and one people

traveller1959

>>When people go from Germany to Italy there is a huge shock on how different the people from each country is from each other. Their cultures are so different.<<

Are the cultures really so different?

Ferrari was very successful with a German driver. Beethoven is played in Milano as often as Puccini in Berlin. You find Italian restaurants at every corner in Germany, and Italy's most acclaimed chef (from La Pergola in Rome) is a German. Germans love Italian design, and Italians love German luxury cars. 13.1% of Italy's exports go to Germany, and 16.7% of Italy's imports come from Germany. Jürgen Klinsmann and Oliver Bierhoff played very successfully in Italy's football league, and currently Luca Toni is the star of Bayern München.

I have never experienced a culture shock when I travelled to Italy.

Viajero2

I did notice Portuguese are well more reserved than Spaniards. It really compares to the differences between people in Catalunya and Andalucia, though.

Portuguese also seemed more willing to speak English than Spanish; maybe a result of the centuries of substantial and well established wine trades with the UK.

tyedye33

I was in Spain in 1993 followed the next year by Portugal. I took Spanish in school so I faired well in Spain. This "skill" did not hold up so well in Portugal. I asked a bartender why the words I read looked Spanish but were pronounced so differently? I got a history lesson on the Spanish invasion of Portugal and how once they regained their independence they wanted to distance themselves by using different pronunciation of the same words. When I asked the same “BARISTORIAN” why everyone spoke English? I was also told at the time English was a mandatory subject in school…this helped this tourist greatly.

mikelg

The differences within the different autonomous communities (17) in Spain are quite big...so imagine the difference with Portugal. Portuguese people donīt hang around as much as the Spanish, and yes, there is a certain air of "saudade" around them. Two topic ideas that may be true to some extent. Spain lives ignoring Portugal, sad, but true. We donīt have the slightest idea of who is their president, what do they like or what kind of music they listen to. Neighbours, but truly ignorant about them...

Sad, I love Portugal and getting lost in the interior cities, but most of my fellow citizens just donīt care...

kerouac

I would describe the difference as mutual disdain.

mikelg

Those are the exact words, but probably Portugal is more keen on Spain that the opposite.

Aduchamp1

The Portuguese are a morose but kind people. My Father-in-law was a Gallego and we visited that region many times and they are a gregarious and generous people. The speak Gallego which is a combination of Potuguese and Spanish with the pronounciation closer to Spanish. The Gallegos culture has a distinct Celtic flavor as the bagpipes are played and as many surnames reflect. As noted in other posts Spain is many countries under one flagthus the comparison has to made to each.