UM’s Portuguese Language and Culture Summer Course helps train bilingual professionals

The 29th Portuguese Language and Culture Summer Course, organised by the University of Macau (UM), closed today (31 July) with great success in the University Hall. This is the first time the course has been held on UM’s new campus. This year’s course attracted approximately 300 students from around the world. The three-week intensive course not only gave participants a chance to communicate with dozens of Portuguese-speaking instructors on a daily basis, but also allowed them to experience UM’s unique Portuguese culture through the residential colleges. Some participants said that the course greatly enhanced their spoken Portuguese and their understanding of Portuguese culture. 

At the closing ceremony, a student delivered a speech in Portuguese. Other participants presented what they had learned from the course through singing and dancing. One participant from the mainland city of Tianjian said the course greatly improved his spoken Portuguese and gave him an opportunity to meet like-minded friends from different universities, adding that he and his friends all liked the tranquil learning environment of the campus and looked forward to coming back to the campus to attend next year’s summer course. Another participant from the United States said that the course included a variety of interesting activities, such as Portuguese folk dance and visits to local museum, which not only enhanced the participants’ understanding of the Portuguese language and culture, but also acquainted them with the historical and cultural aspects of Macao. 

Over the past two decades, UM has been dedicated to producing graduates with bilingual proficiency in Chinese and Portuguese. Its excellent faculty team works tirelessly in order to provide students with a multifaceted learning experience. This year’s Portuguese Language and Culture Summer Course saw a record high satisfaction rate among the students, which is believed to be mainly attributable to the high quality of the course, UM’s new campus, the excellent learning atmosphere in the residential colleges, and the availability of a variety of interesting cultural and recreational activities in Macao.

The Portuguese Language and Culture Summer Course was launched in 1986. Over the years it has attracted students from around the world, including Macao, Hong Kong, mainland China, Japan, the United States, South Korea, Vietnam, India, Malaysia, Timor, and Ethiopia, and approximately one third of them are from Macao. In addition to Portuguese classes, the course also includes a variety of interesting extracurricular activities, which are designed to give participants an opportunity to experience the unique blend of Chinese and Portuguese cultures in Macao and to increase their understanding of the historical, social, economic, political and cultural aspects of Macao. Over the past decade, the course has graduated nearly 3,000 students from around the world (one third of them are from Macao), making a significant contribution in training Chinese/Portuguese bilingual professionals for Macao. This year’s course covered four levels (Beginners, Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced), and received great support from the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau.