Portuguese Lessons in Cork

Cork is Ireland’s largest city behind Dublin, so it comes as no surprise that many of the immigrant groups that arrive in the country choose to live in this wonderful city. Among these foreign-born communities, some of the fastest-growing groups in recent years come from Lusophone countries like Brazil and Portugal, and as a result, the Portuguese language is becoming more and more common in the city. This means that if you are interested in learning this fascinating language, you’ll find different opportunities to do so in Cork, like social events where Portuguese is spoken, and local institutions that keep the language alive in the city. However, if you truly want to become a fluent speaker, the best thing you can do is start a language course which will allow you to communicate with members of the foreign-born community more fluently and expand your social life. On top of that, you’ll be able to take advantage of the many unique job openings exclusive to bilinguals in the city and immerse yourself in some of the most interesting cultures in the world, so what are you waiting for to get started?

Learn Portuguese for Work and Travel

If you’re interested in becoming more employable in Cork and accessing better well-paid corporate positions, learning a widespread language like Portuguese is one of the smartest things you can do. Not only will you be able to impress local employers interested in hiring bilinguals, but you will also be able to apply for amazing job positions in the area which require you to speak Portuguese, such as Localisation QA Engineer for GlobeTech, HR Functional Specialist at Eli Lilly and Company and Territory Development Representative for Varonis. What’s more, if you are interested in working abroad, speaking Portuguese will allow you to work in wonderful locations on all continents, including countries with growing economies like Brazil and Portugal and other beautiful countries like Mozambique and Angola. On the other hand, if you just want to travel and relax, being able to communicate in Portuguese will make your stay in Lusophone countries much more comfortable, and it can also come in handy when visiting countries where other Romance languages are spoken, as learning Portuguese will help you understand many words and phrases in languages like Spanish, Italian and French.

Learn Portuguese for Social

Do you want to immerse yourself in Brazilian culture in the city? If so, you can’t miss the annual Brazilian Festival, a celebration of Festa Junina in Cork that will make you feel like you’ve been transported to Brazil. It takes place in June at Cyprus Avenue, and it offers a wonderful chance to listen to live Brazilian music, learn fun traditional dances like Samba and enjoy the colourful costumes of the talented performers that take the street and turn it into an authentic Brazilian celebration. In addition, to live bands and singers, there will be DJs that play music all night, so if you want to party like a Brazilian, don’t miss out on this fun event next June.

Learn Portuguese for Culture

No matter how fluent you are, speaking Portuguese is a great way to meet new people from all over the world. Especially if you attend the local language exchange event organised by Language Exchange Cork, where you’ll get the chance to socialise with many people that speak Portuguese as a native language, as well as many others who study it as a foreign language. These meetups take place on Thursdays at An Spailpín Fánach, located at 29 S Main Street, and are open to learners of all levels. Although Portuguese is not the only language you can practise here, you’ll always find language partners as it’s one of the most popular languages in the group. If you want to attend, all you need to do is show up at the pub, pay an admission fee of €5 and introduce yourself to one of the organisers, who will give you a name tag and flag stickers that indicate what languages you can speak. After that, you’ll be placed on a table with other Portuguese speakers to enjoy wonderful conversations that will expand what you know about the language and the Lusophone cultures.

Where to learn Portuguese in and around Cork?

If you’ve finally made up your mind to start learning Portuguese in the city, you should pay a visit to the Cork City Library, located at 61 Grand Parade, which has many interesting materials that can help you work on your language skills. If you’re a complete beginner, you should check out Get by in Portuguese: all the Portuguese you need to get by with confidence by Peter Bull, a really useful book that comes with a CD that will help you understand the basics of the language and get you used to its sounds. On the other hand, if you are an intermediate or advanced learner looking for more challenging resources, the library has some novels in Portuguese such as As Intermitências da Morte written by the Nobel Laureate, José Saramago and O Alquimista by the famous best-selling author Paulo Coelho. However, if you truly want to master the language, using these resources won’t really be enough. The best thing you can do is to start a language course at Listen & Learn, the only place in the city where you’ll find a flexible and completely personalised Portuguese course that fits your every requirement. If you want us to pair you up with a qualified native teacher, all you have to do is send us a quick enquiry and one of our team members will get in contact with you as soon as possible to make it happen.