Portuguese

at Columbia
Learn more...

Portuguese

Latin American and Iberian Cultures

Language Contact and Email Address:

José Antonio Castellanos-Pazos
jc846@columbia.edu

 

Portuguese Program

 Palavra puxa palavra, uma ideia traz outra, e assim se faz um livro, um governo, ou uma revolução.  Machado de Assis 

Minha pátria é a língua portuguesa. Fernando Pessoa 

Welcome to the Columbia Portuguese Language Program!

Portuguese is the sixth most spoken language in the world, with about 250 million speakers worldwide. It is spoken in Angola, Brazil, the Cape Verde Islands, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea Equatorial, Mozambique, Portugal, Sao Tomé and Principe, and East Timor. Thus the modern Luso-Brazilian world encompasses an astonishingly diverse array of cultures and has a long, rich, and complex history. Similarly, the cultural and economic rise of Brazil underscores the language’s importance.

Portuguese Elementary and Intermediate courses are offered in both semesters of the academic year. All our language courses integrate four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing, with cultural elements. In 2011 a Comprehensive Intermediate Portuguese course was launched in Rio de Janeiro, in conjunction with Columbia’s Center for Undergraduate Global Engagement.

A Concentration in Portuguese Studies was established in 2007. The concentration sequence comprises four required courses, two of which are taught every semester. One of those courses, PORT UN3300: Advanced Language through Content, has several topics, among them: Favela and Carnival, Queer Sexualities in Brazil, Spaces of Fiction/Fabrications of Space. The curriculum also includes a 3000 and a 4000-level courses in linguistics: PORT UN3335, Brazilian Portuguese Linguistics, and PORT GU4033, Language and Queer Identity in the Lusophone World.

Taking courses in Portuguese will allow you to fulfill the language requirement at Columbia. 

Please check the Columbia Directory of Classes for the latest information on Portuguese language offerings. Search for “Portuguese”