Portuguese-based creole languages grew out of contact between Portuguese and local languages during the centuries of Portuguese seaborne trade, and several remain very much alive. The largest group is in West Africa: Cape Verdean Creole, known to its speakers as Kriolu, is the everyday language of Cape Verde and its large diaspora, while Guinea-Bissau Creole, or Kriol, serves as the main lingua franca of Guinea-Bissau even though Portuguese is the official language there. Related creoles are spoken on Sao Tome and Principe. In Asia, smaller communities keep Portuguese creoles going, among them Kristang in Malacca, Malaysia. Each combines a largely Portuguese vocabulary with grammar shaped by African or Asian languages, and each is a distinct language in its own right rather than a dialect of Portuguese; a Portuguese speaker cannot simply understand them.
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