Understanding the Portuguese Creole Language & Providing Professional Portuguese Creole Interpreters and Translators


Global Interpreting understands the importance of working in the Portuguese Creole language. For over 10 years, Global Interpreting has worked with the Portuguese Creole language as well as hundreds of other from around the word. We are a one stop full language service provider. Offering Over the Phone, Video Remote, Face to Face, Transcription, Document and Website Translation in 150 languages including American Sign Language (ASL) nation and worldwide.

Portuguese, Ceylonese Portuguese Creole or Sri Lankan Portuguese Creole (SLPC) is a language spoken in Sri Lanka. While the predominant languages of the island are Sinhala and Tamil, the interaction of the Portuguese and the Sri Lankans led to the evolution of a new language, Sri Lanka Portuguese Creole (SLPC), which flourished as a lingua franca on the island for over 350 years (16th to mid 19th centuries). SLPC continues to be spoken by an unknown, extremely small population. All speakers of SLPC are members of the Burgher community: descendents of the Portuguese and Dutch who originally founded families in Sri Lanka. Europeans, Eurasians, and Burghers account for 0.2% of the Sri Lankan population.

In 1517, the Portuguese, attracted by the island’s spices and strategic position (midway between their holdings on the west coast of Indiaand Malacca), sent an expedition from Goa to establish a trading post at Colombo. They introduced Christianity to the island, and granted special favors to those who converted. Using the unstable political situation on the island to their advantage, the Portuguese soon gained the position of guardians of the nominal monarch of southern Sri Lanka. In 1557, Dharmapala, who was king at Kotte, near Colombo, and had suzerainty over Kandy and Jaffna (the other two kingdoms) was baptized Dom João Dharmapala breaking a 1,850 year-old tradition as a Christian King sat on the Sinhalese throne. Several Sri Lankan aristocrats and others followed the King and converted. In 1597, Dharmapala, the last king of the Kotte, died childless, and willed his realm to Philip I, king of Portugal.

A long period of conflict ensued, including Dutch takeover of Batticaloa in 1638, and ending with the fall of Mannar and Jaffna in 1658. When Raja Sinha II realized that the Dutch were not about to deliver their new conquests to him, the alliance quickly dissolved into enmity. The Dutch East India Company was primarily interested in commercial profits and resisted engaging in costly military operations against Kandy.

Who are You Going to Trust with Vital Portuguese Creole Language Needs?


The Portuguese Creole language is an important language worldwide. It is vital to understand the general nature and specific idiosyncrasies of Portuguese Creole. For over 10 years Global Interpreting has provided outstanding Portuguese Creole translators, over the phone, face to face and conference interpreters nation and worldwide.