Spanish languageSpanish (español or idioma español) or Castilian (castellano) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a global language with about 474.7 million native speakers, mainly in the Americas and Spain. Spanish is the official language of 20 countries. It is the world's second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese; the world's fourth most spoken language overall after English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu); and the world's most widely spoken Romance language.
Italian languageItalian (italiano itaˈljaːno or lingua italiana ˈliŋɡwa itaˈljaːna) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Together with Sardinian, Italian is the least divergent language from Latin. Spoken by about 85 million people (2022), Italian is an official language in Italy, San Marino, Switzerland (Ticino and the Grisons), and is the primary language of Vatican City. It has official minority status in Croatia and in some areas of Slovenian Istria.
BrazilBrazil (Brasil; bɾaˈziw), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in South America and in Latin America. Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area and the seventh most populous. Its capital is Brasília, and its most populous city is São Paulo. The federation is composed of the union of the 26 states and the Federal District. It is the only country in the Americas to have Portuguese as an official language.
MacauMacau or Macao (məˈkaʊ, ; mɐˈkaw; , ōu.mǔːn), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a population of about 680,000 and an area of , it is the most densely populated region in the world. Formerly a Portuguese colony, the territory of Portuguese Macau was first leased to Portugal as a trading post by the Ming dynasty in 1557.
Romance languagesThe Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are numerous modern languages that evolved from Late Latin and its spoken form, often called Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages branch of the Indo-European language family. The five most widely spoken Romance languages by number of native speakers are Spanish (489 million), Portuguese (283 million), French (80 million), Italian (67 million) and Romanian (24 million), which are all national languages of their respective countries of origin.
PortugalPortugal (puɾtuˈɣal), officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa ʁɛˈpuβlikɐ puɾtuˈɣezɐ), is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the macaronesian archipelagos of the Azores, Madeira, and the Savage Islands. It features the westernmost point in continental Europe, and its Iberian portion is bordered to the west and south by the Atlantic Ocean and to the north and east by Spain, the sole country to have a land border with Portugal.
Catalan languageCatalan (ˈkætələn,_-æn,_ˌkætəˈlæn; autonym: català, kətəˈla), known in the Valencian Community and Carche as Valencian (autonym: valencià), is a Western Romance language. It is the official language of Andorra, and an official language of two autonomous communities in eastern Spain: Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. It is also an official language in Valencia, where it is called Valencian.
AngolaAngola (ænˈɡoʊlə ; ɐ̃ˈɡɔlɐ; Ngola, ŋɔla), officially the Republic of Angola (República de Angola), is a country on the west-central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Lusophone (Portuguese-speaking) country in both total area and population (behind Brazil in both cases), and is the seventh-largest country in Africa. It is bordered by Namibia to the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Zambia to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west.
JesuitsThe Society of Jesus (Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits (ˈdʒɛʒu.ɪts,_ˈdʒɛz(j)u,_ˈdʒɛs-; Iesuitæ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 by Ignatius of Loyola and six companions, with the approval of Pope Paul III. The society is engaged in evangelization and apostolic ministry in 112 nations. Jesuits work in education, research, and cultural pursuits.
Chinese languageChinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the world's population) speak a variety of Chinese as their first language. Chinese languages form the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages family. The spoken varieties of Chinese are usually considered by native speakers to be dialects of a single language.
LatinLatin (lingua Latīna ˈlɪŋɡwa ɫaˈtiːna or Latīnum ɫaˈtiːnʊ̃) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in Latium (also known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area around present-day Rome, but through the power of the Roman Republic it became the dominant language in the Italian region and subsequently throughout the Roman Empire.
Occitan languageOccitan (pronˈɒksᵻtən,-tæn,-tɑːn; occitan utsiˈta, uksiˈta), also known as lenga d'òc (ˈleŋɡɔ ˈðɔ(k); langue d'oc) by its native speakers, and sometimes also referred to as Provençal, is a Romance language spoken in Southern France, Monaco, Italy's Occitan Valleys, as well as Val d'Aran in Catalonia; collectively, these regions are sometimes referred to as Occitània. It is also spoken in Calabria (Southern Italy) in a linguistic enclave of Cosenza area (mostly Guardia Piemontese).
Aspirated consonantIn phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of breath that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. In English, aspirated consonants are allophones in complementary distribution with their unaspirated counterparts, but in some other languages, notably most South Asian languages (including Indian ones) and East Asian languages, the difference is contrastive.
MozambiqueMozambique (ˌmoʊzæmˈbiːk; Moçambique, musɐ̃ˈbikɨ; Mozambiki; Msumbiji; Muzambhiki), officially the Republic of Mozambique (República de Moçambique, ʁɛˈpuβlikɐ ðɨ musɐ̃ˈbikɨ), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Africa to the southwest. The sovereign state is separated from the Comoros, Mayotte and Madagascar by the Mozambique Channel to the east.
ApproximantApproximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough nor with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no turbulence. This class is composed of sounds like [ɹ] (as in rest) and semivowels like [j] and [w] (as in yes and west, respectively), as well as lateral approximants like [l] (as in less).
Equatorial GuineaEquatorial Guinea (Guinea Ecuatorial; Guinée équatoriale; Guiné Equatorial), also rarely known as Equatoguinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea (República de Guinea Ecuatorial, République de Guinée équatoriale, República da Guiné Equatorial), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa, with an area of . Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, its post-independence name refers to its location near both the Equator and in the African region of Guinea.
FortalezaFortaleza (foʁtaˈlezɐ, Portuguese for Fortress) is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. It is Brazil's 4th largest city, the city has passed Salvador in 2023 census with a population of slightly over 2.7 million, and the 12th largest city by gross domestic product. It forms the core of the Fortaleza metropolitan area, which is home to over 4.1 million people. Fortaleza is an important industrial and commercial center of Northeast Brazil.
MauritiusMauritius (məˈrɪʃ(i)əs,_mɔː- ; Maurice mɔʁis, moʁis; Moris moʁis), officially the Republic of Mauritius (République de Maurice; Repiblik Moris), is an Indian Ocean island country, approximately off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Agaléga and St. Brandon. The islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues, along with nearby Réunion (a French overseas department), are part of the Mascarene Islands.
Nasal consonantIn phonetics, a nasal, also called a nasal occlusive or nasal stop in contrast with an oral stop or nasalized consonant, is an occlusive consonant produced with a lowered velum, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. The vast majority of consonants are oral consonants. Examples of nasals in English are [n], [ŋ] and [m], in words such as nose, bring and mouth. Nasal occlusives are nearly universal in human languages. There are also other kinds of nasal consonants in some languages.
Guinea-BissauGuinea-Bissau (ˌɡɪni_bᵻˈsaʊ ; Guiné-Bissau; Gine-Bisaawo; Mandinka: ߖߌߣߍ ߺ ߓߌߛߊߥߏ߫ Gine-Bisawo), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau (República da Guiné-Bissau ʁɛˈpuβlikɐ ðɐ ɣiˈnɛ βiˈsaw), is a country in West Africa that covers with an estimated population of 2,026,778. It borders Senegal to its north and Guinea to its southeast. Guinea-Bissau was once part of the kingdom of Kaabu, as well as part of the Mali Empire. Parts of this kingdom persisted until the 18th century, while a few others were under some rule by the Portuguese Empire since the 16th century.
