The differences between the two Portuguese variations are many, and very significant. Some people tell me they would expect me, after being in Portugal for such a long time, to "speak Portuguese". Well, I always tell them: "that's what I do, in fact". Brazilian Portuguese, that is true, but not less Portuguese.
I do understand them. In spoken Portuguese, not only my accent is characteristic, but also my vocabulary is completely different. Many times they will laugh at my choice of words – they think Brazilians like to invent them – which is true, but not always, for sometimes these strange words do exist! And of course there are idioms, which sometimes can be used in both countries, with slight variations, but sometimes are totally inexistent in the other country.
Also, in written Portuguese, there are many different aspects I can remember. The first one that comes to my mind is the use of pronouns. For example, to translate a simple text like "to do it", while a Portuguese would say "para o fazer", a Brazilian would say "para fazê-lo", depending on the words that are located before this part of the text. Also, in technical texts, Brazilians love to use the pronoun "you", which translates as "você". The Portuguese would prefer to omit it, letting the verb show they are talking to you. The vocabulary used in writen Portuguese is of course as different as in spoken English, although I have noticed that, in some contractual/legal texts I have converted from European into Brazilian Portuguese, these differences are minor. They will mostly appear, though, in technical texts and literary texts. Just to have an idea, after 8 years living in Portugal, I still come up with new words that I have to look up or to ask a friend about its meaning.
Spelling is a major difference too. There is an Ortographic Agreement for Portuguese-Speaking Countries (which has already started in Brazil), which tries to unify the major differences, basically according to pronunciation. But there are still some years before we will see this real unification applied in daily texts. Also, many words will have double-writing, that is, a native speaker will be able to choose which version he/she will use. In my opinion, the differences will remain. Some of the words that will be written in two ways are "aspect", which will be translated both as "aspecto" and as "aspeto", and "cactus", "reception", "conception", "fact", "character", among others.
Some clients have asked me if I could use a standard Portuguese, that could be understandable in both countries. In my view, I believe such a text (in case we tried to create one) could possibly be understood in both countries, but it would most likely sound very awkward, and I am not sure the client would be willing to risk his image.
Now a little bit about my specific position of a Latin American working here in Europe. My mother tongue is Brazilian Portuguese, and that's the language I feel more confident translating into. But I also dare to translate some texts into European Portuguese, and I will explain why. First, because I work together with my invaluable colleagues, who help me out with the final editing. Being aware of the most important differences helps create an initial text that resembles European Portuguese, which makes my colleagues' job much easier. Second, I work into European Portuguese only in fields I am familiar with, based on my experience of living in Portugal, for example, computer technology and other technical texts, that do not require the use of idioms and native expressions. I am very glad to say that my colleagues find my work pretty easily adaptable, which makes my very happy too.
Anyway, my specialty is really Brazilian Portuguese. So, in order not lose contact with my mother tongue, I use several methods: I travel about once a year to Brazil (it is incredible how a one-month stay can refresh everything you might be forgetting!), I subscribe a Brazilian TV channel (which helps me keep up with news, idioms, culture, etc, in my daily life), I read Brazilian online newspapers, I talk to my friends on the phone (mostly on Skype), and I always keep my ears tuned to the Brazilian musical scene, which is particular influential in language, and gives me a lot of inspiration to carry on with my work.
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