Hi Everybody!
Sorry if this enquiry is slightly off topic but
as an English speaker with a knowledge of Spanish it surprised me how much
Galician I could understand during a recent trip tp north west Spain, whereas I
can hardly understand any Portuguese at all. Am i correct in thinking that the
grammar and vocabulary of Galician is almost identical to that of Portuguese and
that many linguists regard Galician as dialect of Portuguese? Can Galicians
generally understand the Portguese language? I have heard conflicting evidence
regarding this point. Interestingly I have heard that the local Potuguese
dialect of the Minho region of northern Portugal is called Galego although to my
untrained ear it sounds completely different to the *Gallego* of
Galicia.
One final question; if Galician and Potuguese
share a common history at what point did they start to diverge and,
hypothetically, if we were to travel back in time, say 500 years, to Portugal
would the language sound more like Galician than conteporary
Portuguese?
Thank you in advance
David (an interseted amateur).