Taking your company to new international markets is a great opportunity for growth. Did you know that Portugal and Brazil are great options for that? So, if you’re planning to do business there, we bet you won’t regret it.
Whether that means a new franchise in another country or relocating some of your employees there. We wish you the best of luck!
But, honestly, luck is not everything you’ll need to do that and we can help you with more than that. You have knowledge related to your work industry. We have the language skills you need.
For starters, you must learn Portuguese vocabulary and phrases for business. So you know exactly what you’re doing there and what natives tell you. This way the business goes as smoothly as possible.
Portuguese Words for Business
Here are some words you might hear in an office, meeting or business environment in general.
- Business – Negócio
- Contract – Contrato
- Job / Work – Trabalho
- Recruitment – Recrutamento
- Company – Empresa
- Office – Escritório
- Desk – Mesa
- Salary – Salário
- Payment – Pagamento
- Coworkers – Colegas de trabalho
- Meeting – Reunião
- Presentation – Apresentação
- Proposal – Proposta
- Project – Projeto
- Report – Relatório
- Deal – Negócio / Acordo
- Document – Documento
- Schedule – Horário
- Calendar – Calendário
- Shift – Turno
- Morning – Manhã
- Nocturn – Noturno
- Departament – Departamento
- Query – Consulta
- Human Resources – Recursos Humanos
- Economy – Economia
- Finances – Finanças
- Accounting – Contabilístico
- Sales – Vendas
- Plummet – Cair
- Capital – Capital
- Income – Rendimento
- Cash outflow – Saída de caixa
- Shareholder – Acionista
- Shares – Acções
- Investors – Investidores
- Investment – Investimento
- To hire – Contratar / Alugar
- To fire – Demimtir
- Employee – Empregado / Funcionário
- Workflow – Fluxo de trabalho
- Proactive – Pró-ativo / Proactivo
- International – Internacional
- Production – Produção
- Formal – Formal
- Computer – Computador
- Keyboard – Teclado
- Monitor – Monitor
- Printer – Impressora
- Copy / Copies – Cópia / Cópias
- Telephone – Telefone
- Apply for – Candidatar-se
- Day off – Dia de folga
- Call it a day – Dar o dia por terminado
- Businessman / Businesswoman – Homem de negócios / Mulher de negócios
Job Positions in Portuguese
There are so many specialties and job titles at a company, because many people work there. And everyone studied for something different. It takes a whole team to keep a business running. Therefore, we can’t teach you all the job positions in one blog. But here are some important and common ones you’ll hear around the office:
- Founder – Fundador
- CEO – Director Executivo
- President – Presidente
- Chief Operating Officer – Diretor de Operações
- Manager – Gerente / Gestor
- Secretary – Secretário / Secretária
- Assistant – Assistente
- Marketer – Comerciante
- Salesman – Vendedor
- Programmer – Programador
- Engineer – Engenheiro / Engenheira
- Lawyer – Advogado / Advogada
- Accountant – Contador / Contadora
Portuguese Phrases for Business
- I’m an accountant. / Eu sou Contador.
- We have to have a meeting immediately. / Temos que ter uma reunião imediatamente.
- Call for a meeting, please. / Convocar uma reunião.
- Your salary raise has been denied. / O seu aumento de salário foi recusado.
- Send me the files by email, please. / Enviar-me os ficheiros por correio electrónico, por favor.
- The new product had low sales. / O novo produto teve vendas baixas.
- I have a reunion with the Account Manager. / Tenho uma reunião com o gestor de conta.
- Her business proposal is really good. / A sua proposta de negócio é muito boa.
- We made a lot of progress today, so I’m going to call it a day. / Fizemos muitos progressos, por isso vou dar o dia por terminado.
- I want to see your proposal on my desk by Thursday. / Quero ver a vossa proposta na minha mesa até quinta-feira.
- How much will it be from the production costs? / Qual será o montante dos custos de produção?
- The new programmer is very proactive. / O novo programador é muito proactivo.
How to Learn Portuguese Business Vocabulary
Learning is not just about memorizing. It’s about understanding and being able to use your knowledge at the right moment and situation. So if you try to memorize the list above, there are more chances you forget about their meaning. You need practice to truly learn this vocabulary and any language.
Here are some ways in which you can learn and practice the words and phrases we taught told you:
Mirror practice
Are you having a business meeting or any particular business situation in Portuguese soon? Practice what you’ll say in front of the mirror. You can first write down a list with words and phrases you’ll use, like the ones above. And practice saying them in front of the mirror.
Pay attention to your pronunciation and fluency, but also to your gestures and voice tone. Make sure you sound and look formal.
At first you might feel embarrassed, especially if you’ve never done this. But there’s no reason to be ashamed. You’re practicing so you can impress everyone and achieve whichever business goal you want to achieve in that meeting. There’s a lot of value in your effort. Once you’re past the shame, this practice will give you confidence.
Watch business-related series
Watching television or movies is one interesting way to learn languages. It’s super fun, it doesn’t feel like studying and you’ll learn how natives truly express themselves on an everyday basis.
We recommend you watch movies or series related to business. This doesn’t mean it has to be something boring. There are some interesting shows out there where characters are involved in a business environment and the conflict develops in that world.
The series or films can be from a Portuguese speaking country or from any other country. But if they’re from another country, make sure they’re dubbed in Portuguese, and you listen to them in that language. So you strengthen your listening.
You can also turn on the Portuguese subtitles. This is especially useful if you aren’t advanced yet and need the text to guide you in understanding what’s been said.
Speak to Portuguese colleagues
If you still don’t go to the Portuguese speaking country of your choice, that’s okay. Maybe you already have some Portuguese colleagues at your office in your country. Ask them to help you practice your Portuguese vocabulary for business.
Maybe you can go get a beer after work and you tell them what you need to practice. For example, maybe you’re going to have an online meeting with Portuguese speaking people and you don’t know how to present yourself. Ask them how to do it.
Or you can also practice a business situation in which you know you’ll encounter yourself in the future. For example, your coworker can act as the investor for your company in a new Portuguese speaking country. So you have to convince him/her to close the deal.
Just make sure you speak, speak and speak in this beautiful language. So your fluency starts to improve. And don’t be afraid of your coworker correcting you; after all, you’re just learning.
If you don’t have Portuguese colleagues, that’s okay. Use a language exchange app or website. These are about finding a native speaker of your target language that wants to learn your mother tongue. That way you both help each other.
You’ll speak half of the time in their native language, and they’ll speak half of the time in yours. Tell them you’re going to use mainly business jargon, because you have specific goals associated with your work. Just so they know why you’re speaking more formally and using that type of vocabulary.
Leave a Good Impression at Your Workplace: We Tell You How!
Now you’re ready to thrive at the workplace, because you’re finally packed with a bunch of Portuguese business vocabulary. You’ll impress everyone, both Portuguese native speakers and compatriots.
But you still can learn more language skills to be truly ready for the international business world. Do you want to know how? Well, just enroll in TruFluency language classes.
We are a language school fully committed to your language journey. This is proved in the way we customized all lessons for you, so they align with your language goals and needs. So, if you tell us you have to learn Portuguese for your next business trip, we’re here for you.
Or if you need to learn how to properly express yourself in a Portuguese business meeting, we’ll be glad to help. Or if you want to learn to write an email in Portuguese, we’ll teach you. Whatever your goal is, we can achieve it together.
Our native teachers will make sure you learn truly useful things for a real-life situation. For example, next time a Portuguese business partner calls you with a proposal, you’ll know exactly what to say and ask.
Oh, and all lessons are based on our Bellieu Method, created by our founder and language expert, Micah Bellieu. It is made to make you speak using all you’ve learned so far. So you achieve language fluency and can hold long conversations with natives. You’ll be impressed by it and by yourself!
Take two trial classes of one hour now! During the first class we’ll assess your needs and goals. Oh, and we know you’re a busy bee, so we offer flexible schedules. See? We’re truly committed to making you master your target language!
