At the time of the discovery of Brazil there were approximately 1,300 Indian languages. Nowadays only 170 are still spoken. Over the years either the tribes have been assimilated (that is, the Indians learned how to speak Portuguese and forgot their own language) or they have disappeared. Each tribe has its own language. It is said that there once was a common language among all the Brazilian Indian tribes called Proto-Tupi. All the other languages originated from this one, including Tupi-Guarani, the most widely spoken among the Indian peoples.
