Fórum de Inglês - English Experts

[Giovana]

Hello!
Gostaria de saber se há algua difernça entre os usos de abroad e overseas.
Thanks a lot!

[Lucas Carioca]

Oi Giovana,

Elas são sinônimos.

[Thomas]

"Overseas" implies crossing the sea (ocean).

Neither overseas nor abroad are used in reference to nearby countries. If you are in Rio, you would never say "I am going abroad/overseas next week. I will arrive in Paraguay on Tuesday morning." The listener would expect you to say something like " I will arrive in India/France/Japan on Tuesday morning."

For nearby countries, I'd suggest "out of the country". That could mean anywhere on the planet outside of your country: Uruguay, Venezuela, China, or whatever.

[donay mendonça]

Hello Thomas,


Very good tip


Thank you

[Lucas Carioca]

Thank you Thomas, that was a very good tip indeed.

But as languages are not like maths (where 2+2 are always 4), you always have some exceptions to the rules:

And in Britain used to refer to countries outside Europe.

Overseas, meaning literally a place over a sea, is synonymous in some countries with the word international.
For example, someone in New York City might consider Toronto overseas, even though they are on the same continent.