Studying Portuguese in Brazil

After making the decision to study Brazilian Portuguese & Brazilian culture in Brazil, the next decisions to make were, where, when & how. Time to start the research project.

Obvious places to consider were,  Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Salvador,Floranopolis and Curitiba.

Rio de Janeiro: A great place to visit for a holiday, but maybe not the best place to study. Expensive courses, expensive living costs, safety worries, difficult public transport, and not the best climate in the world.

Sao Paulo: A huge city, difficult to move about, traffic jams everywhere, expensive courses and living costs and safety concerns.

Salvador: The capital of Bahia state in North Eastern Brazil. A very vibrant city with great beaches, several private schools, cheaper than studying in both Rio and Sao Paulo.  A great place to learn about Afro-Brazilian culture. A definite possibility.

Floranopolis: The capital of Santa Catarina State in Southern Brazil, a very popular destination for tourists from all over the world. More limited availability of course dates and ability levels in the private schools, worth further consideration.

Curitiba: The capital city of the state of Parana in southern Brazil. Considered the greenest city in Latin America and possibly the world. The city sits on a plateau at 932 metres about sea level and has a temperate climate. The best public transport system in Brazil with adequate available living accommodation. Both University and private courses available throughout the year. A definite possibility.

After my research, studying at a state university in Brazil was certainly appealing and I thought it would look good on my CV so I choose the Federal University of Parana in Curitiba (Universidade Federal do Paraná, UFPR). The University operates a specialist language school CELIN Centro de Línguas e Interculturalidade. Portuguese courses are offered at 10 different levels from basic to advanced. Courses start in January, March, June, August and October each year. Courses run for 8 weeks with 100 hours contact time including both language and cultural education. The week prior to the course starting there is a mandatory test to assess competence levels to ensure students are placed in the right class. You can check out the CELIN guide for foreign students at

https://issuu.com/celinufpr/docs/handbook_for_foreign_students_at_ce.

Remember you can contact info@intercambiohelp4u.co.uk, Tel: +44 207 636 8500 for all enquiries regarding the CELIN course.

My next posting will go through the planning I undertook before arriving in Brazil and the documents I had to apply for to ensure my arrival in Brazil went without a hitch J.