The primary difference between Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese is the pronunciation of the two variations. Put simply, Brazilians speak with more open and longer vowels. They also have a more nasally tone. The European Portuguese speak with a more “closed mouth,” dropping the enunciation on their vowels.  When it comes to consonants, you’ll often hear Brazilians pronouncing their S’s like “ss” while Europeans pronounce them as “sh,” or they drop the ending consonant completely.  You’ll also find that European Portuguese is more widely spoken throughout the world. European Portuguese speaking countries include Portugal, Angola, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea Bissau, Macau, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe, and even Goa, while the Brazilian variant is only spoken in Brazil and tends to mix with Spanish as you move closer to the Spanish-speaking bordering countries. However, Brazilian Portuguese is favored among most as the accent is more phonetically pleasing to the ear.  There are also other contextual, grammatical, and spelling differences between the two variants, which become further divided among the different dialects throughout each Portuguese-speaking country.  Fortunately, regardless of which variant you choose to learn, you’ll be able to understand the other to a certain degree—although it may be a bit difficult for some.