An Initiative to Keep Portuguese Language Teaching in French Universities · Global Voices
Emmanuelle Leroy Cerqueira

[All links lead to pages in French unless otherwise stated.]
The Portuguese language is spoken by about 250 million people, making it the sixth most-widely-spoken language in the world. There are about two million Portuguese speakers in France; they are mostly immigrants and the children of Portuguese immigrants.
Is it essential to have Portuguese in all universities? I love Portuguese, but to have this rare discipline in all of our universities may not be useful.
Il faut savoir que le portugais est la troisième langue européenne de communication, qu’il est parlé par plus d’habitants dans le monde que le français et que c’est la langue de l’un des pays du G20, le Brésil.[…] Défendre l’enseignement du portugais, de l’italien, de l’arabe… en France, c’est donc aussi contribuer à la défense de la francophonie.
It's important to recognize that Portuguese is the third most-common European language of communication. It is spoken by more people than French worldwide, and is the language of one of the G20 nations, Brazil. […] Therefore, to defend the teaching of Portuguese, Arabic and Italian in France also contributes to the defense of the French language.
National flags of Portugal and and of France
(Wikimedia Commons- public domain)
There are two million French people and 60,000 entrepreneurs of Portuguese origin who contribute daily to the economy of our country, and who are completely bilingual in Portuguese and in French. They have always been an asset to France, and a natural bridge for access to Portuguese-speaking markets. But now they feel “ignored”, and have become alienated. Every day, companies in France recruit many graduates in business, engineering, etc., who speak Portuguese. France needs students trained in Portuguese. Did you know that students graduating from French universities who are trained in Portuguese have an employment rate of over 90 percent?
In terms of scientific research and technological innovation, France is the second-largest trading partner of Brazil (after the United States). Many Brazilian universities are engaged in international cooperation projects with France through research projects, usually with the support of bilateral funding such as CNPq [National Council for Scientific and Technological Development] or CNRS [French National Centre for Scientific Research].
Cape Magellan – Portugal Without Clichés emphasizes the importance of these academic exchanges:
Cet enseignement est réellement indispensable car de plus en plus les entreprises, mais aussi les laboratoires de recherche, les formations les plus diverses demandent à avoir des spécialistes capables de travailler avec le Brésil, l'Angola ou autre pays lusophone. La coopération universitaire franco-brésilienne a d'ailleurs le vent en poupe et le Brésil vient de créer  un très vaste programme de formation internationale de ses étudiants: Science sans frontières.
This teaching really is necessary, since more and more companies, research laboratories, and other organizations need specialists capable of working with Brazil, Angola and other Portuguese-speaking countries. Academic cooperation between France and Brazil is also on the rise, and Brazil has created a vast international training program for its students, called Science Without Borders.
In a letter addressed to the minister, the blog Transatlantic Correspondances emphasizes:
[…] la vivacité de l’intérêt des Brésiliens pour la création littéraire, artistique et cinématographique française (le Brésil est aussi le plus grand marché en Amérique du Sud pour la littérature française).
[…] the strong Brazilian interest in French writing, art and cinema (Brazil is also the largest market in South America for French literature).
The letter also recalls the economic and cultural importance of learning Portuguese in France:
Outre le fait que de nombreuses industries des secteurs-clé de l’économie brésilienne sont françaises (exploitation pétrolière notamment), les prochains événements de portée mondiale au Brésil (Jeux Olympiques, Coupe du Monde de Football) devraient renforcer l'attractivité que le Brésil va exercer pour les entreprises françaises. Ces événements devraient ainsi offrir de nouvelles opportunités commerciales dans les domaines du BTP, transports, ingénierie environnementale et énergies renouvelables.
Besides the fact that many industries in key sectors of the Brazilian economy are French (petroleum production in particular), the upcoming global events in Brazil (Olympic Games and World Cup Football) should enhance the attractiveness of Brazil to French companies. These events should thus offer new business opportunities in the fields of construction, transportation, environmental engineering, and renewable energy.
Paulo Pisco, a member of the Portuguese Overseas contingent of the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal, responds in French and in Portuguese to the Minister, in an article posted on Mediapart:
Pourquoi madame la ministre n'a-t-elle pas pensé à l'héritage culturel profond du portugais, qui va du Japon au Canada, du Sri Lanka en Uruguay? Elle aurait dû penser à l’importance croissante de la Communauté des pays de langue portugaise (CPLP), dont 12 candidats de toutes les parties du monde veulent devenir membre-associé, et parmi lesquels on peut trouver des pays comme l’Indonésie, le Venezuela ou le Maroc. À titre d'exemple, le Sénégal et Maurice sont déjà membres-associés.
Why has the minister not thought about the deep cultural heritage of Portuguese, which ranges from Japan to Canada, from Sri Lanka to Uruguay? She should have thought about the growing importance of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), which 12 candidates from all parts of the world want to join as associate members. Among them, we can find countries such as Indonesia, Venezuela, and Morocco. Senegal and Mauritius are already associate members, for example.
Laeticia Trigo, who participated in the appeal, received the following response from the Minister, who authorized the redistribution of her letter:
Je suis bien désolée de ce malentendu […] Mon message, insuffisamment retraduit (peut être n'avais je pas été assez claire avec la journaliste) était le suivant : dans un contexte où les universités connaissent des situations financières de plus en plus préoccupantes depuis le passage à l'autonomie (mal) effectué des universités suite à la loi Pécresse de 2007, il faut organiser une offre de formation en réseau et mutualisée. Il se trouve que je venais de recevoir deux universités qui avaient une offre de formation au portugais pour 4 étudiants dans un cas et 3 dans l'autre. J'assume le fait de dire que nous ne pouvons plus financièrement assurer ce type de formation. (…). Bien entendu, cela suppose une aide à la mobilité des étudiants pour ne pas pénaliser une discipline, en l'occurrence une langue pratiquée de plus par une communauté très présente sur notre territoire.
I am very sorry for this misunderstanding. […] Perhaps I did not make myself clear to the journalist. My message, which was inadequately re-translated, was as follows: in the context where universities are experiencing increasingly worrisome financial situations, since the transition to independence under the poorly-implemented Pécresse law of 2007, we must organize a network to offer this instruction collectively. As it turned out, I had just been contacted by two universities that offer training in Portuguese, for 4 students in one case, and for 3 in the other. Suffice it to say that it is no longer financially possible for us to provide the training in this manner … Of course, this requires us to give the students more mobility, so as not to penalize the study of this discipline, a language used by a community which is very active in our country.