Feynman says in Surely You're Joking that he started learning Portuguese because he was attracted to a fellow student, then switched to Spanish because he felt guilty about his motivation, and then had to switch back to Portuguese upon receiving an invitation to teach in Brazil.
In this article he's reported as "saying sometimes he confused Portuguese with Spanish" and the inscription unexpectedly gives an example of that: Feynman has actually written "Portugués", the name of the language in Spanish, rather than the Brazilian norm "português".
In this article he's reported as "saying sometimes he confused Portuguese with Spanish" and the inscription unexpectedly gives an example of that: Feynman has actually written "Portugués", the name of the language in Spanish, rather than the Brazilian norm "português".