PortugueseWhy Study Portuguese?Portuguese is spoken all over the world. While the Portuguese language has its roots firmly in Europe, most of the world's 240+ million Portuguese native speakers live elsewhere. It is the official language in Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Macau (China), Mozambique, Portugal and São Tomé e Príncipe. Also, there are large Portuguese-speaking immigrant communities in many countries, such as Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, India, Luxembourg, Namibia, Paraguay, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela, just to name the largest ones. Portuguese is also a working and/or official language in some of the most important international organisations, such as the African Union, the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, the European Union, Mercosul (The Common Market of the South an economic, political and social integration project created by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay), the Organization of American States, the Organization of Ibero-American States and the Union of South American Nations. Portuguese is an obligatory subject taught in most Spanish-speaking countries, which means that, by learning Portuguese, you will not only be able to speak with all the Portuguese native speakers, but also with a vast number of Spanish native speakers who have Portuguese has their second language: almost 600 million people, in over thirty countries. New Zealand’s commercial and economic ties with Portuguese-speaking countries, and especially with Brazil, have grown dramatically in the last few years, with great investments in Brazil by some of the largest New Zealand companies, like Fonterra. These companies need people who are proficient in Portuguese. Career opportunitiesLearning Portuguese will prepare you to work in such diverse fields as planning and consulting, finance and banking, tourism and hospitality, information sciences, journalism, publishing and advertising, just to name a few.
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