mission Of the Portuguese Language program

From Portugal to the World

Portuguese is not what many people normally consider a "world" language, an intriguing notion, since it boasts about 230 million native speakers worldwide and is the sixth most widely spoken language on the globe. In addition to this fact, it is spoken in all continents (Brazil, Portugal, Cape Verde, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tomé e Príncipe, Goa, East Timor, and Macau), where it arrived via the exploration of Portuguese navigators starting in the 15th century.

In recent years, the importance of Portuguese has been growing in Europe due to the European Union. Its speaker population in Africa is currently on the rise, and numbers of speakers worldwide are expected to grow dramatically in the next two decades.

Surprisingly to many people, who would expect Spanish to hold that distinction, Portuguese is the most spoken language in South America. Brazil is the most populous country in Latin America with over 180 million inhabitants, including the 14 million residents of São Paulo, South America’s largest, most vibrant city. Over the last two decades, Brazil has emerged as the fourth largest democracy and the tenth largest economy in the world, as well as the most powerful economy in the Southern Hemisphere.

Portuguese has become an important language of communication and commerce in the Americas, particularly because of increased cooperation between North America and its southern neighbors and regional economic initiatives such as Mercosul/Mercosur. The degree of involvement between Canada and Brazil is witnessed by the Canada-Brazil Framework Agreement for Cooperation on Science, Technology and Innovation, signed in November 2008. Click here to see the press release on this important agreement. According to official publications of Canada's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Brazil accounts for more than half of South America’s total population and GDP. It is one of Canada’s most important partners in the hemisphere and in the world.”

Closer to home, there has been a long-standing presence of Portuguese immigrants in Edmonton. Many students are of Portuguese heritage, and there is a growing Brazilian community of professionals (engineers, programmers, educators, doctors, etc.) who have moved here in the last few years. The influence and dynamic spread of Brazilian culture can be seen in our communities in the area of literature, martial arts, and popular music. Click here for links to local and regional Brazilian and Portuguese cultural organizations.

Acknowledging the growing importance of Portuguese in our communities, in Canada and worldwide, the University of Alberta is the only institution of higher learning in Alberta, and one of the few ones in Western Canada, to offer university-level instruction in this language. Currently we offer two yearlong courses, Beginners’ and Intermediate Portuguese, which explore both variants of Portuguese--Brazilian and European. Courses in Latin American Studies, which are taught in English, also survey aspects of Brazilian culture. We remain hopeful that with increased interest, we will be able to expand our Portuguese offerings in the future.

______________________________________________________________________