SFImporter

I'm heading on my first "buying trip' to Portugal for my ceramics import shop (www.ceramicsofeurope.com). I started my business a few years ago with a buying trip to Deruta in Italy. For Italy I hired a translator to help me do business, but found that the Italians in Deruta do so much business with the U.S. that I could have gotten along fine by myself.

Is Portugal the same, or would a translator be a necessity? I'm most likely going to be looking for connections in the Evora/Elvas region of the country.

Any feedback would be most appreciated.

GeoffHamer

Do you know any other languages apart from English? Many Portuguese people know some Spanish or French.

SFImporter

I'm a bad American. I took years of Spanish in high school to little avail.

I did try to learn a bit of Italian before my visit there - but don't have the time to dedicate to Portuguese as my trip is set for the second half of April.

lobo_mau

The spot you are looking for is Sao Bento do Corval, near Reguengos and Monsaraz, a village with a few hundred of inhabitants and a douzen of family run factories. The alternative spot is Redondo.
While there, indulge youself with the Reguengos' (or Redondo or Borba) world class red wines.

rex

<<I'm a bad American.>>

<<don't have the time to dedicate to Portuguese as my trip is set for the second half of April.>>

I shouldn't be so scathing, but I say that these two sentences go together, "fer sure!"

Assuming you mean April 15 or after... you have fifty days. Even with a fairly modest effort, you could learn 500 words. Today would be a good day to start.

Best wishes,

Rex

gracejoan

I have just returned from a month in Spain/Portugal.

I can't begin to tell you how wonderful the Portuguese people are. Also, it is mandatory that the children choose a 2nd language to begin learning with the 1st grade. Most of them want english,and the parents are also speaking english!! I found this out in a shop in Evora when I asked about finding so much englsh being spoken.

mikemo

Agree, the PT children study English and French and very few speak (or are willing to speak) Spanish.
M

flanneruk

However wonderful the local people are (and they are), and however useful it most certainly is to acquire a few basic words of Portuguese, don't some fundamental principles apply?

1. You will not, even spending 12 hours a day with a language tutor, get yourself to a level of skill to enable you to negotiate in Portuguese without spending time in the country.
2. If you rely on a vendor's English skills (and practically no B2B business in Portugal sells only on the domestic market, and England, not Spain or France, is the traditional trading partner - so reasonable English is highly probable), you're putting yourself at a disadvantage.
3. You should never underestimate the ability of a badly-taught foreigner to make serious mistakes in English. And until recently, English teaching in Portugal was poor for most people, in spite of the country's traditional Anglo-centrism.
4. Unless you're fluent in a foreign language, or negotiating over deals so trivial they're not worth crossing an ocean for, it's always wisest to have a translator you control. I never, anywhere, negotiate with a vendor's interpreter - even in languages I think I'm modestly fluent in - unless there's a strong established relationship. And the lower the local wage (and in Western Europe they don't come lower than Portugal), the cheaper the interpreter.
5. All of which said, you'll have a more complaisant vendor, and a better time in Portugal, if you can get beyond "obregado".

Learn Portuguese: but for the first few trips, hire an interpreter.

LarryJ

Only if you are going to negotiate new treaties and trade policies with the Portgal government on behalf of the United States.

Larry J