Portuguese (Minor)

Department Website

Program Description

With over 250 million speakers, Portuguese is a global language spoken in Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, East Timor, Macau, and São Tomé and Príncipe, and the language is tied to centuries of transoceanic cultural development and exchange. Brazil alone accounts for 220 million speakers, who constitute a rich, culturally diverse community, with hemispheric and global impact in the fields of culture, economics, and politics. This five-course (20-credit) minor allows students to advance and demonstrate their fluency in the Portuguese language and introduces them to key aspects of the Luso-Afro-Brazilian world. With a minimum requirement of one advanced Portuguese course in the study of culture (a “300-level” course), students are free to choose their other four electives according to their interests, drawing on courses in our department or around the university that engage the Portuguese-speaking world.  Students are encouraged to study away with our summer program in Recife, Brazil, as part of the minor.

The Department of Spanish and Portuguese is an interdisciplinary department focused on the languages, cultural formations, and critical thought emerging from Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking worlds. Students interested in the major track in Portuguese should consult the Spanish and Portuguese (BA) page in this Bulletin.

Minor Declaration

To request declaration of a minor, CAS students should visit the host department. To request declaration of a cross-school minor, CAS students should complete the online Minor Application available in their Albert Student Center. Students may also use the Minor Application in Albert to request cancellation of a CAS or cross-school minor.