Portuguese Language – Written & Spoken

Introduction:

There are about 260 million Portuguese speakers in the world including 220 million native speakers.  Portuguese is the official language of the eight countries namely Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea- Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé and Principe. Portuguese and Portuguese creole are also spoken in Goa, Daman and Dua.

Being a major language in the Southern Hemisphere, Portuguese is also the official language of the European Union, Mercosul, OAS, ECOWAS and the African Union. Portuguese is spoken in five continents and is considered to be a globalised language with the growing potential as an international language.

 

Importance & Opportunity:

Being a widely spoken language, Portuguese is the working and official language of many important international organizations. Brazil is the economic powerhouse of Latin America and with an expanding economy, there is a large number of job opportunities.  On the other hand, speaking Portuguese is good for business as Brazil international trade is increasing, this is imports and exports. Speaking the same language as your supplier can help in enhancing business opportunities.

Portuguese is also needed in different sectors in Mauritius such as in the Tourism sector which is growing exponentially. Knowing Portuguese is also a gateway to developing a career in the BPO sector such as data processing and accounting.

 

Course Content:

The core curriculum the language will be standardized based on the Common European Framework for Languages.

The competencies mentioned below will give learners all the abilities, skills, aptitude, and expertise needed to be a proficient and fluent speaker. Our goal for our students is to achieve full competency in four different fields of communication. This is what we call the 4SC’s.

Semantic competency: the speaker must know the linguistic systems: pronunciation, vocabulary, language structure and syntax. However, there should be no time limits when learning a language. This knowledge should be a natural result of the linguistic methods used in class and through daily interactive activities.

Speech competency: the selection, sequence and arrangement of ideas expressed must be eloquent and clear. It deals with the language structure, articulation and coherence of words.

Strategic competency: the speaker must have strategies that help fill in blanks in a conversation; that is, the way the person finds ways around gaps in understanding a speaker, or expressing an idea.

Social-cultural competency: related to extra-linguistic elements, social-cultural competency deals with style properties (voice inflexions, tone, etc.) and non-verbal language (hands or eyes movements, and, in general, how the body moves in a determinate conversation).

 

---