Português - por que não?

Portuguese - why not?

BY CASPAR PULLEN-FREILICH

Could Europe’s most underrated language be the key to expanding cultural knowledge and international business?

To set the scene, it would be fitting to allude to some statistics. Linguaphiles would be shocked to discover that, between 2010 and 2018, the number of students sitting an A Level in German dropped by 45%, with similar decreases noted in French. This raises the question of whether we need to branch out in our language teaching, or risk raising a generation of monolinguists, ignorant of other cultures. Perhaps we should be changing the emphasis on which languages we select. The British curriculum has seemingly disregarded Portuguese, a romance language that shares 85% of its lexicon with that of its more celebrated neighbour, Spanish. One of the principal reasons behind the prominence of German and French within the British curriculum is the historical ties between our nations but, in actual fact, the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance is the oldest historical alliance that exists. Moreover, German is only spoken in Germany and a cluster of relatively small Alpine countries, while Portuguese is the 6th most spoken language in the world. Although it is relatively common knowledge that Portugal and Brazil are officially lusophone (Portuguese-speaking), there are in fact 8 officially lusophone countries worldwide, two of which are located on the other side of the world (those being Macau and East Timor). There are also lusophone African countries (Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique), owing to historical colonisation. So, if it is a question of the language’s applicability in the wider world, it makes no sense why Portuguese has been largely forgotten by the British education system. 

“there are in fact 8 officially Lusophone countries worldwide, two of which are on the other side of the world”

Similarly, at an economic level, Brazil, with 205 million Portuguese speakers, is a BRIC country, that being a country with newly advanced economic growth. Thus, it seems appropriate to draw the conclusion that learning Portuguese is a key that could unlock many entrepreneurial opportunities. As students, we are constantly reminded of the value of a second language in the job market, and so one could argue that the lack of Portuguese is a major shortcoming in our curriculum. As such, it may be time to pay homage to and capitalise economically on our long-lasting allegiance with Portugal, and expand and update our curriculum accordingly. The addition of Portuguese could renew students’ passion for languages, create a more culturally attuned generation and bring with it wide-reaching economic advantages.

Digamos olá ao português! (Let’s say hello to Portuguese!)