The study of Portuguese gives you access to the diverse cultural and literary worlds of Brazil, Portugal, and the Portuguese-speaking countries of Africa and Asia. In fact, Portuguese is the most widely spoken language in South America, as well as the third most spoken language in Europe. Today, there are more than 200 million native Portuguese speakers throughout the world, from Angola to Brazil and from Portugal to the distant island nation of East Timor in the Pacific.

The Portuguese program in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures offers three levels of language training and a growing number of courses on literature, culture, and Brazilian civilization.

Portuguese is offered as a third language option in the Romance Languages major, and the Program in Latin American Studies offers a minor with a focus on Portuguese language and Brazilian culture. Students interested in pursuing Portuguese as a language of concentration should speak with the director of Portuguese undergraduate studies.