Spotlight on Portuguese

In this Spotlight on Portuguese, we talk with Dr. Clélia Donovan, Senior Lecturer and Director of the Portuguese Language Program. Her office is located at 5220 Dwinelle and she can be reached at cleliadonovan@berkeley.edu(link sends e-mail). She offers Portuguese 50, an intensive course for students of other Romance languages, along with courses focused on conversation and writing every semester.

What can students expect who take Portuguese classes at Berkeley?

They can expect to gain a knowledge of Portuguese and Brazilian culture and the greater Lusophone (Portuguese speaking) world, even though most of the emphasis is on Brazil. Classes are fast paced and students write in the evaluations that they are fun and challenging. They are really asked to draw a lot of connections because they start off in Portuguese 50 (for students who have studied Spanish but also French and Italian, or major Romance languages). And so there's that making of connections, linguistically, but then also culturally. Like, what do Brazil and the United States have in common? They have a lot in common—sometimes, too much in common. 

Photo of Portuguese students in conversation club

Students chat all things Portuguese in the Bate Papo conversation club.

I always bring in some sort of a narrative, whether it's a song or a video clip. You can pull out the vocabulary, grammar, and cultural references—especially  with Brazilian music, because it is so rich and just amazing in terms of a pedagogical resource. Listening to music, watching something, being able to start talking about it and then how it relates to your own lives: Regardless of what that narrative is, it can serve as a springboard for more activities. 

I think part of what we do also is demystify that Brazil is more than football and samba and Carnival. Also, we question how it’s depicted as violent—just today, we were looking at a trailer for a film that's coming out, Secret Agent. And we looked at the Brazilian trailer and the American trailer. The American trailer is all about violence; why are we still selling that Brazil? 

What do you think might surprise students about the Portuguese language (in terms of where it is spoken or anything else)?

If you speak Portuguese, it's a lot easier to understand Spanish, actually than the other way. And I think it has a lot to do with how many vowel sounds there are in Portuguese. It also surprises students how broadly it’s spoken worldwide; the Portuguese pride themselves on having really had a broad reach, on so many continents.

What should students know about minoring in Portuguese? 

It can be accomplished quickly or slowly, depending on how much time they have to dedicate to it. We have laid out three different tracks. There is a fast track, where you can get done in four semesters. That is to say, you can come to Portuguese as a junior and still minor in it. 

What is your favorite thing about teaching? 

I get older, but they stay the same age, right? Because of that, it never gets old because they're constantly bringing new ideas, concepts and interests. And that's fascinating for me: I've taught the same two classes for 25 years, and it doesn’t get old because of what the ever changing student body brings. 

Do you have alumni stories to share in terms of where studying Portuguese has taken your students?

This ties back to why one might minor in Portuguese—I get so many students asking me for letters of recommendation as they're applying to medical school. And I think that it speaks to what sets them apart, you know? There's something about having Portuguese, like, everyone looks the same on paper, but, oh, this person studied Portuguese? Why? 

I’ve had an undergraduate student who went on to get a PhD in anthropology focused on patriarchy or matriarchy in Afro-Brazilian religion—that interest started in my introductory Portuguese class. And I’ve actually had a few students who switched from engineering majors to Portuguese: Because of the language, but also the culture, the readings, the songs, being able to talk about the differences between Rio and San Paulo and making those connections between New York and Los Angeles. Then they go on to complete the language sequence, go onto the literature and culture upper division courses. There’s a dynamism there that distinguishes the Portuguese program.