Portuguese language courses coming back to UWB

UWB´s Rector Miroslav Lávička and Ambassador of Portugal J.E. Luís de Almeida Sampaio signed an Agreement on Cooperation on Monday, June 12. From September, students of UWB can add Portuguese to their schedule. Alternatively, they can start learning Portuguese immediately, at the International Summer Language School.

Europe, South America, Africa and Southeast Asia - you can hear Portuguese in all these places. Over 200 million people speak Portuguese, making this Romance language one of the most widely used languages in the world. Students of the University of West Bohemia can now learn Portuguese and, through it, get to know the culture and way of life of the peoples who use it as their mother tongue.

This is made possible by an agreement between the University of West Bohemia and the Camões Institute (Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua), which, on behalf of the Portuguese government, is dedicated to the worldwide promotion of the Portuguese language and Portuguese culture. Ambassador of Portugal Luís de Almeida Sampaio and UWB Rector Miroslav Lávička signed the agreement on 12 June in a ceremony that was also attended by the Portuguese Consul José Riço, the Attaché for Education and Culture Gilda Machado, the representative of the Embassy of Portugal for the Pilsen region and the South Bohemian region, António Laurel, and the future honorary consul of Portugal in the Pilsen region, Jaroslav Svejkovský. UWB was also represented by the Director of the Institute of Applied Language Studies, Jana Čepičková, and the Coordinator of the International Summer Language School, Daniela Kopřivová.

Thanks to this cooperation, the Institute of Applied Language Studies can offer Portuguese courses again, after thirteen years. From the academic year 2023/24, UWB students can add Portuguese to their schedule and learn yet another global foreign language. Initially, two levels of courses are being offered: Portuguese 1 (UJP/POR1) in the winter semester and Portuguese 2 (UJP/POR2) in the summer semester.

Anybody who does not want to wait until September can start learning Portuguese during the holidays. The International Summer Language School, also organized by the Institute of Applied Language Studies, offers a week-long Portuguese course for beginners. It will be held from 17 to 21 July, and applications can be sent until the capacity of the course is full. Both students and general public participants are welcome.

"An investment in the Portuguese language is an investment in the future," said Ambassador of Portugal Luís de Almeida Sampaio during the signing ceremony of the Agreement on Cooperation. UWB´s Rector Miroslav Lávička supported his words. As the Rector said, "Portugal is one of the countries where our students like to go under student exchange programmes. It is great that they can now take a Portuguese language course directly at UWB before their international stay. In addition to English, they will also be able to communicate in the local language, which will help them get to know the country better and open the way to establishing closer cooperation and friendship."

In addition to the University of West Bohemia, two upper secondary schools in the Pilsen region have also signed a cooperation agreement with the Camões Institute: the Pilsen Secondary Vocational School of Business, Applied Arts and Design in Nerudova Street and the Higher Vocational School, Business Academy, Secondary Healthcare School and Language School in Klatovy. "We will be teaching Portuguese as a third foreign language from September 2023; the lessons will always be two hours a week," says Soňa Rabušicová, Director of the Klatovy school. Both schools will thus join Gymnasium Rokycany, where Portuguese has been taught since September 2021.