Spoken by more than 240 million people, Portuguese is the sixth most widely spoken language in the world.
It is the official language in eight countries on four continents. The United States is also host to important Portuguese, Brazilian and Cape Verdean communities, especially in New England, where Portuguese is the third most widely-spoken language after English and Spanish. An estimated 1.3 million native Portuguese-speakers live in the United States.
The MIT Portuguese Program was created in 2010 to provide a solid foundation in the language and cultures of the Portuguese-speaking world. We offer elementary, intermediate and advanced level classes, as well as an intensive language course for Spanish speakers.
Our courses are designed to enable students to communicate effectively with native speakers as well as to acquaint them with the culture and civilization of the Portuguese-speaking world, and in this way prepare them to function successfully in a Portuguese-speaking environment. In our classes, students are encouraged to actively participate in a variety of small and large-group interactive activities. Through the study of authentic cultural readings, art, music and films, students become proficient in the Portuguese language and engage in critical analysis and discussion of the Portuguese-speaking world.
We offer a wide array of activities throughout the year for students to immerse themselves in Portuguese beyond the classroom, including lectures, cultural events, film screenings, and our monthly Portuguese roundtable Solta a Língua, open to the entire MIT community, which provides an opportunity to share a typical Brazilian meal in a relaxed setting, while speaking in Portuguese.
