‘I’m an expat in Portugal – these are the four mistakes people make when moving here’

An expat living in has lifted the lid on the four mistakes people make when moving to the beautiful

Portuguese and Spanish, although closely related Romance languages, differ in many aspects of their phonology, grammar, and lexicon.

And it seems many Brits are guilty of addressing Portuguese locals with an “adios” rather than the native goodbye of “tchau”, according to @AlexandraVictoriaBonte, and mistaking the language is one of the first mishaps tourists tend to make.

Taking to she explained a common mistake made is “assuming ‘obrigado’, the Portuguese word for thanks, works for everyone.”

Alexandra explained the word is gender specific – “it’s ‘obrigado’ for male and ‘obrigada’ for female”. The gender of the person being spoken to is not relevant. 

There is no doubt that bacalao, a salted cod dish, is a fan favourite for this visiting Portugal. However, the second mistake Brits make is assuming this is the only popular dish.

She said: “Expats often think that bacalao is the only dish – it’s codfish. No, here we have amazing fresh seafood, and that’s what [we’re] known for.”

Although Portugal has many beautiful beaches, a common assumption is “believing that all beaches are tropical paradises”, which sadly is not the case.

“The Algarve has pretty beaches but get ready to have a bit of a cold plunge because that Atlantic Ocean is pretty chilly””, said Alexandra.

Finally, Alexandra said a key misconception is “assuming Portugal is just like Spain”, which she described as a “big mistake”

Both countries are popular holiday destinations but that does not mean Portugese locals want to be thought of as the same and in fact feel their identity is being stolen if they are thought to be Spanish.

She said: “Do not confuse the Spanish with the Portuguese, they will not like that. You don’t say ‘gracias’.”