Visiting Rio for the Olympics? Get your Portuguese ready

(Photo: The Associated Press)RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — If English is the language of world commerce, Brazil hasn't gotten the memo — only a small fraction of its 200 million people have a basic proficiency. Fluency is also rare for other languages such as German, French and even Spanish, despite Brazil being bordered by seven Spanish-speaking countries.

Many of the hundreds of thousands of tourists expected to descend on Rio de Janeiro for the Olympics in a few weeks could frequently find themselves in a linguistic muddle.

Vanderclei Silva Santos, who sells caipirinha, Brazil's national cocktail, says he struggles to communicate with foreign tourists who stop at his stand on Copacabana Beach, so…