BA German and Portuguese / Course details

The course unit consists of advanced study of translation from and into Portuguese, conversation in Portuguese, and the writing of essays in Portuguese. Building on the students’ experiences in their year abroad, the course will improve their ability to communicate with a high level of fluency, accuracy and confidence in Portuguese, and to recognise and reproduce different registers of language accurately when speaking, listening, reading, writing, and translating to and from Portuguese. Methodologically, the course is organised around contemporary topics, and combines oral and listening exercises, conversation, reading, translation (from Portuguese to English and from English to Portuguese), and essay writing.

SPLA52040 or equivalent (for visiting students only). 

By the end of the course, students should be able to perform at Level C1/C2 of the Common European Framework. Assuming that all classes have been attended, coursework completed and a considerable amount of private study undertaken, students will have demonstrated an ability to:

• Understand with ease virtually everything heard or read
• Communicate very fluently and appropriately in the target language, maintaining a high degree of grammatical accuracy and differentiating finer shades of meaning
• Exploit and contextualize a broad range of demanding materials in the target language and for a variety of purposes, also recognizing implicit meaning
• Apply effectively and appropriately their language skills in a professional context
• Produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects

Students should be able to demonstrate:

• A good working knowledge, both practical and theoretical, of written and spoken Portuguese including different registers of language
• An understanding of the language in its broader cultural context
• A broad knowledge and a critical understanding of the cultures and societies of the Lusophone world
• An ability to translate to and from Portuguese in a variety of different literary, journalistic, and semi-specialist genres
• Intercultural awareness, understanding and competence

This course develops abilities to:

• Use language creatively and precisely for a range of purposes and audiences
• Engage with and interpret layers of meaning within texts, whether they are verbal only or multimodal
• Organise and present ideas within the framework of a structured and reasoned argument
• Engage in critical and analytical thinking
• Develop critical, research and problem-solving skills

These include:

• Use and present material in the target language in written and oral forms in a clear and effective manner
• Ability to manage own learning
•  Use target language source materials appropriately
• Write and think under pressure and meet deadlines
• Access electronic resources and use information and communication technologies (ICT) appropriately

These include:

• Communication and presentation skills: oral, written and IT
• The ability to work creatively and flexibly with others as part of a team
• Mediating skills and qualities of empathy
• Self-reliance and adaptability
• Intercultural skills and cultural awareness

• Amélia Hutchinson and Janet Lloyd, Portuguese. An Essential Grammar (Routledge).
• Mário A. Perini, Modern Portuguese: A Reference Grammar (Yale)
• Evanildo Bechara, Moderna Gramática Portuguesa.
• Celso Cunha and Lindley Cintra, Nova Gramática do Português Contemporâneo.
• It is also advisable to acquire a monolingual Portuguese Dictionary such as Dicionário Aurélio or Dicionário Houaiss.