Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese

Penn State makes it easy for you to learn Portuguese by offering a comprehensive language program with lots of fun classroom activities and opportunities for you to practice outside the classroom. Have a look at our course offerings and join our Friends of Brazil Club, our Capoeira Group and our Bate-Papo Club.  

Portuguese Courses Offered

Elementary Portuguese I (4) For beginners. Grammar, with reading and writing of simple Portuguese; oral and aural work stressed.

Elementary Portuguese II (4) Grammar, reading, and conversation continued; special emphasis on the language, literature, and life of Brazil.

Intermediate Portuguese (4) Grammar, reading, composition, and conversation.

Portuguese Freshman Seminar (3) The meaning and advantages of a Liberal Arts education in context of a specific discipline.
Prerequisite: first-semester standing and enrollment in the College of the Liberal Arts.

Special topics (1-9) Formal courses given infrequently to explore, in depth, a comparatively narrowsubject that may be topical or of special interest.

Foreign Studies (1-12) Courses offered in foreign countries by individual or group instruction.

Research Project (1-12) Supervised student activities on research projects identified on an individualor small-group basis.

Foreign Studies (1-12) Courses offered in foreign countries by individual or group instruction.

Contemporary Brazilian Culture and Civilization (3) Review issues related to contemporary Brazilian culture, history, social and political conditions and literary and artistic trends. In English.

Intermediate Portuguese (3) Designed for students who have already taken PORT 001 and 002 (or have equivalent proficiency) and want to improve proficiency.

Internship (1-18) Supervised off-campus, nongroup instruction including field experiences, practica, or internships. Written and oral critique of activity required.
Prerequisite: prior approval of proposed assignment by instructor    

Advanced Composition and Conversation (3) Intended to strengthen the advanced student's ability to speak, read, and write in modern Brazilian Portuguese.
Prerequisite: PORT03

Brazilian Literature in English Translation (3) Selected topics in the history of Brazilian literature, supplemented by readings, discussion, and lectures on cultural or literary questions.

Brazilian Literature, The Colonial Era Through Romanticism (3) A survey of the major texts of Brazilian literature from its origins (1500) through its romantic period.

Prerequisite: PORT03

Brazilian Literature, The Modern Era (1880 to the Present) (3) A survey of the major texts of Brazilian literature from romanticism to the present.

Prerequisite: PORT03

The Brazilian Novel (3) A survey of the Brazilian novel from its origins to the present.

Prerequisite: PORT03, PORT045

Research Project (1-12) Supervised student activities on research projects identified on an individualor small-group basis.

Portuguese Linguistics (3) Familiarize student with Portuguese phonology, phonetics, syntax and semantics as well as linguistic variation throughout the world.

Special Topics (1-9) Formal courses given infrequently to explore, in depth, a comparatively narrow subject which may be topical or of special interest.

Foreign Studies (1-12) Courses offered in foreign countries by individual or group instruction.