Lusophone: What is it

A Lusophone is someone who speaks the Portuguese language natively or by adoption. As an adjective, it means "Portuguese-speaking". The word itself is derived from the name of the ancient Roman province of Lusitania, which covered an area that is today Portugal.

The definition of "Lusophone" reaches beyond the dictionary definition of "Portuguese speaker". The term refers to people whose cultural background is primarily associated with the Portuguese language, regardless of ethnic and geographical differences.

The Lusophone culture is the legacy of the Portuguese Colonial Empire. Even after the empire's collapse, the corresponding countries continue to exhibit cultural and political affinity, expressed in the existence of the Community of Portuguese speaking countries, created in 1996.

Lusophone countries include Portugal, Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, São Tomé e Príncipe, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, East Timor, Macau and others in various parts of the world, as well as India's Goa state. The Community of Portuguese speaking countries is an international organization consisting of the eight independent countries where Portuguese is an official language. These countries are also referred to as the "Lusosphere".

Sometimes Galicia, in Spain, where the Galician dialect is spoken, is also included, as Galician is similar to Portuguese and sometimes considered the same language.

The Galician dialect pronounciation