Studies & Degrees in Portuguese Language and Literature
Portuguese Language and Literature Study Programs
Portuguese Language and Literature is the university study of the Portuguese language and of the writing, history and cultures of the countries where it is spoken. Portuguese is the official language of Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and East Timor, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison puts the number of speakers at 265 million. It is a Romance language, so it shares grammar, sentence structure and vocabulary with Spanish, French and Italian.
Students first build the language itself: grammar, pronunciation, conversation and composition. They then read literature from Portugal, Brazil and Portuguese-speaking Africa and take courses on history, cinema, linguistics and translation. The course list of the Portuguese major in Madison shows the usual mix: an introduction to Luso-Brazilian literatures, surveys of Portuguese and Brazilian literature, Lusophone African literature, Portuguese or Brazilian civilization, and two courses of advanced composition and conversation.
Qualifications and levels
- United States. Portuguese is a major within a bachelor's degree. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison the BA takes 120 credits in total, of which 25 are for the Portuguese major, and students can declare the major without a separate application. At The University of Texas at Austin the Portuguese major requires 27 upper-division hours of coursework. Austin also hosts the Portuguese Flagship Program, a merit-based course of study for undergraduates who want to reach professional working proficiency in Portuguese while taking another major.
- United Kingdom. Portuguese is usually studied with another language or subject. The BA Modern Languages at the University of Bristol, which includes Portuguese among its languages, lasts four years full-time; the third year is spent working or studying abroad.
- Spain. An official bachelor's degree (grado) has 240 ECTS credits and can be followed by a master's degree of 60, 90 or 120 credits. The Universidad de A Coruña teaches the Grado en Gallego y Portugués: Estudios Lingüísticos y Literarios, which according to the university is the only degree in Galicia that gives the two languages equal weight; it offers 40 places for 2026 and has exchange agreements with the universities of Évora, Minho and Lisbon. The Universidad de Extremadura lists a Grado en Lenguas y Literaturas Modernas - Portugués.
- Language courses. Language schools teach Portuguese as a foreign language at every CEFR level. At CIAL Centro de Linguas in Lisbon, for example, group courses run from 1 to 36 weeks with four 50-minute lessons a day and at most eight students in a class.
- Language certificates. There are two official systems. In Portugal, CAPLE, a unit of the Universidade de Lisboa, is the only Portuguese body that assesses and certifies Portuguese as a foreign language. Its exams cover the six CEFR levels from A1 to C2 and run from the ACESSO certificate to the DUPLE university diploma; the certificates do not expire, and exam centres operate in Portugal and 34 other countries. In Brazil, the Celpe-Bras is the official Brazilian proficiency exam. Inep holds it twice a year in Brazil and abroad, and it has a written and an oral part.
Where to study
SpainExchange lists 48 active schools for Portuguese language and literature. The United States has 21, the United Kingdom 7, Spain 6, Portugal 6 and Brazil 5; Argentina, Germany and Zimbabwe have one each. The list combines university departments, such as the University of Wisconsin-Madison, The University of Texas at Austin, the University of Bristol, the Universidad de A Coruña and the Universidad de Extremadura in Badajoz, with language schools in Portuguese-speaking cities, such as CIAL Centro de Linguas in Lisbon and Dialogo Portuguese Language School in Salvador.
The two kinds of school serve different aims. A degree abroad teaches literature and culture in depth, often partly in English or Spanish in the first years. A language school in Portugal or Brazil teaches only in Portuguese and suits students who need the language quickly. The variety matters too: courses in Lisbon follow European Portuguese, and courses in Salvador follow Brazilian Portuguese. Outside the Portuguese-speaking countries, Camões, the Portuguese government's language institute, supports university teaching through chairs, Portuguese language centres and lectureships.
Careers
Graduates work in translation and interpreting, language teaching, publishing, tourism, international trade, diplomacy and organisations that work with Brazil, Portugal or Portuguese-speaking Africa. A language degree is often combined with a second subject, such as business, law or international relations. For the United States, the Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that interpreters and translators typically need a bachelor's degree, with foreign languages among the common fields. It projects employment in that occupation to grow 2 percent from 2025 to 2035, slower than average, with about 6,000 openings a year. Teaching in a state school normally requires a further teaching qualification in the country concerned.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to know Portuguese before starting a degree?
It depends on the university. Many departments outside Portugal and Brazil start with beginners' language courses, and at the University of Wisconsin-Madison the major can be declared without an application. Ask each school which level it expects.
Which certificate proves my level of Portuguese?
The CAPLE exams of the Universidade de Lisboa certify European Portuguese at the six CEFR levels, and the Celpe-Bras is the official Brazilian exam. CAPLE certificates do not expire.
How long does a degree in Portuguese take?
In Spain a grado has 240 ECTS credits. The BA at the University of Wisconsin-Madison takes 120 credits, and the BA Modern Languages at the University of Bristol lasts four years, including a year abroad.