Spanish vs Portuguese

[Baldur]

^^Thank you very much.

[Comte Arnau]

Empecinado and the Portuguese here are right. The level of mutual intelligibility is high to very high when written, but not that high when spoken at an ordinary pace. Mainly because of the rich phonology of Portuguese with regard to Spanish, as well as the differences in some common expressions.

Forget about the closeness mentioned with Italian. That's kind of stupid.

If you understand Spanish, you can understand written Portuguese almost with no effort:

Spanish:

Pero, a pesar de esta variedad de posibilidades que la voz posee, sería un muy pobre instrumento de comunicación si no contara más que con ella.
La capacidad de expresión del hombre no dispondría de más medios que la de los animales.
La voz, sola, es para el hombre apenas una materia informe, que para convertirse en un instrumento perfecto de comunicación debe ser sometida a un cierto tratamiento.
Esa manipulación que recibe la voz son las "articulaciones".

Portuguese:

Porém, apesar desta variedade de possibilidades que a voz possui, seria um instrumento de comunicação muito pobre se não se contasse com mais do que ela.
A capacidade de expressão do homem não disporia de mais meios que a dos animais.
A voz, sozinha, é para o homem apenas uma matéria informe, que para se converter num instrumento perfeito de comunicação deve ser submetida a um certo tratamento.
Essa manipulação que a voz recebe são as "articulações".

The closest languages to portuguese are: galician (some people argue it's the same language), leonese, castillian and after those maybe catalan. After catalan i really don't know which one is closest.

The Catalan equivalent to that text would be a bit more distanced, as you may appreciate.

Amb tot, malgrat aquesta varietat de possibilitats que posseeix la veu, seria un instrument de comunicació molt pobre si hom només comptés amb ella. La capacitat d'expressió de l'home no disposaria de més mitjans que la dels animals. La veu, ella sola, amb prou feines és per a l'home una matèria informe, que per tal de convertir-se en un instrument perfecte de comunicació ha de ser sotmesa a un determinat tractament. Aquesta manipulació que rep la veu són les "articulacions".

[Xochi]

Portuguese when written is very similar to Spanish but when spoken it is very different. The biggest difference between the two languages is in the phonetics, Portuguese's phonology is more 'complicated' (nasal vowels, 14 vowels, multiple ways of saying certain letters etc). Spanish on the hand is more simply in phonology with 5 vowels etc.

[kkk77]

Portuguese when written is very similar to Spanish but when spoken it is very different. The biggest difference between the two languages is in the phonetics, Portuguese's phonology is more 'complicated' (nasal vowels, 14 vowels, multiple ways of saying certain letters etc). Spanish on the hand is more simply in phonology with 5 vowels etc.

Yep, the way to pronounce certain vowel letters depends of the stress making words with the same root sound very different. Also, the last syllable of words usually change depending of the following word.

Meter ("put in") conjugation:
metemos = mɨ'temuʃ -> m'temʃ (we put in)
metem = 'mɛtɐ̃j (they put in)

metemos um = mtem zũ (we put in one)
metemos dois = mtemʒ dojʃ (we put in two)
metemos três = mtemʃ tɾeʃ (we put in three)