Matt, This is my personnal perception. Both British english and portugues de Portugal, sound more guttural than their american piers. I don't speak German, but it sounds that British english and portugues de Portugal share the same back ground while American english and portugues do Brasil had developed an evolution that made them more chanted. We connect the words in sequence and "eat" the final letters. I have the impression that the same happens with spanish from Spain and spanish from Latin countries. See u around! GrassHopper