Portuguese

Why is it worth learning Portuguese?

Portuguese is spoken not only in Portugal, but also in Brazil and in several African countries such as Mozambique or Angola. Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world and has the most Portuguese speakers in the world!

Portuguese is pronounced differently in Brazil and Portugal. Just as there are differences between American English and British English, there are differences between Brazilian Portuguese and Portuguese Portuguese.

Under the influence of the Roman occupiers, Portuguese evolved directly from Latin. The predecessor of Portuguese was phonetically and etymologically so similar to Latin that it is also called "vulgar Latin" (as opposed to literary Latin). Due to the Romance origin, Portuguese, French, Spanish and Italian grammar are very similar.

With the language you learn a lot about the history and culture of the country. Portugal was a great colonial power and has always been very close to the sea. There are an infinite number of navigators, marine explorers and explorers, above all, of course, Magellan and Vasco de Gama.

And Portuguese invites you to travel: Portugal, Brazil, the old African colonies in Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique; or Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe are popular destinations for language learners.

Portuguese language offers

Portuguese language courses at THI

The THI Language Center offers language and intercultural electives for enrolled students of THI. Depending on your degree program, you can take these subjects as electives with ECTS credit or as free electives with a university certificate. To find out which subjects you can choose for your degree program, please contact the responsible program director directly.

In principle, you can take all subjects of the Language Center, even if a module is not offered as an elective subject for your degree program. If you are interested, you can enroll in a subject after consulting the Language Center, in case that there are still places available.

The course offerings for Portuguese include:

1. Course-related compulsory and elective subjects with ECTS credits

  •         General compulsory/elective subjects
  •        Electives for language and social competence

2. Free electives that can be taken by all THI students (university certificate)

Please refer to the pdf for the course outline.

For information on course objectives and content, please refer to the Module Handbook of the Language Center.

 

THI language certificates

The THI Language Centre offers a number of courses for THI students as certificate courses. When students pass the examination at the end of the THI course, they are issued with a THI higher education certificate.
THI students will find details of the THI certificate courses in the Language Centre Module Guide on Moodle.

Lear Portuguese by yourself

Learning platforms and apps

Hinweis zu Sprachzertifikaten:
Das einzige in Brasilien offiziell anerkannte Portugiesisch-Zertifikat ist das Certificação de Proficiência em Língua Portuguesa para Estrangeiros, kurz CELPE-Bras.
Für europäisches Portugiesisch gibt es je nach Niveau verschiedene Zertifikate, die über das CAPLE (Centro de Avaliação de Português Língua Estrangeira) der Universität Lissabon und zahlreiche Partneruniversitäten absolviert werden können.

Reading comprehension: online journals, news and magazines
  • Terra: Nachrichtenportal und Live-Berichterstattung von Brasilien und der Welt, Sport, Spaß, Leben und Stil.
  • Folha de S.Paulo: Die Zeitung, die seit 1921 erscheint, gehört zur Mediengruppe „Grupo Folha“ - eine der medienstärksten Gruppen in Brasilien.
  • O Globo: Tageszeitung des führenden Anbieters für Print- und Unterhaltungsmedien in Brasilien, „Organizações Globo“ mit Sitz in Rio de Janeiro.
  • Veja: Eine der beliebtesten Zeitungen Brasiliens, die sich mit jeder Auflage mehr als eine Million Mal verkauft.
  • Rede Globo (TV): Gehört ebenfalls zum Konzern „Organizações Globo“ und ist maßgeblich an der Gestaltung des TV-Programms in Brasilien verantwortlich.
  • Rádio Nacional AM de Brasilia (Radio): Kultur- und Informationssender des Landes.
  • Som Sertanejo: Beliebter Radiosender, der sich auf lateinamerikanische Lieder konzentriert.
  • Luz de Luna: Wie Som Sertaneio ein beliebter Radiosender, der sich auch auf lateinamerikanische Songs fokussiert.
Listening comprehension: videos and podcasts, web TV/radio

YouTube

  • portugalmaggie: Wer sich für das Portugiesisch des Mutterlandes Portugal interessierst, findet auf dem Channel der bilingualen Maggie verschiedene Playlists und Videos rund um die Sprache und Kultur.
  • Johannes Bosse: Für brasilianisches Portugiesisch gibt es für Anfänger verschiedene Lernvideos auf dem Channel von Johannes Bosse.

 

Grammar and vocabulary trainer
  • Português: Umfangreicher Grammatiktrainer mit Korrekturfunktion

 

Dictionaries

Neben den sprachenübergreifenden Online-Wörterbüchern wie Pons, Leo oder Linguee finden Sie hier weitere nützliche Links.

  • Dicionário Priberam: Online Wörterbuch mit Grammatik-Trainer.
  • Porto Editora: Die Wörterbuch-Apps für Apple, Android und Windows zum Download.
  • UOL - Michaelis: Multi-linguales online Wörterbuch, sowohl für europäisches und brasilianisches Portugiesisch. Wird als die vollständigste Wörterbuchzeile in Brasilien beworben.

Contact

Lecturer for English and Intercultural Communication
Prof. Dr. James McDonald
Phone: +49 841 9348-1950
Room: F213
E-Mail:

Appointment

THI students who want to get an appointment please visit Moodle.