Portuguese Language Courses

There are approximately 220 million native speakers and an additional 40 million speakers of Portuguese in the world – making it number 5 on the list of most natively spoken languages in the world. It is also the third most-spoken European language in terms of native speakers. It is also the most spoken language in South America and is only second to Spanish in Latin America.

It is a Romance language that is the sole official language in a number of countries. São Paulo is the city with the greatest number of Portuguese speakers in the world and it is a language that has been referred to as “sweet and gracious” by Spanish authors.

Portuguese is also spoken in:

• Angola
• Brazil
• Cape Verde Islands
• East Timor
• Equatorial Guinea
• Guinea-Bassau
• Macau
• Mozambique
• Portugal
• Sao Tome e Principe

Many professionals in companies across the UK, as well as private individuals, have benefited from a Portuguese Language Course with SIMON & SIMON. We have a terrific team of qualified native-speaker Portuguese teachers, and with an average of 15 years’ experience they will ensure you benefit from a course designed specifically around your needs, whether you are a complete beginner or an advanced learner with more specialised requirements.

We consistently receive excellent feedback on our Portuguese tutors from our clients, and we send our students a profile on their Portuguese tutor prior to their Portuguese lessons commencing, with information on the tutor’s background and experience.

If you have only studied languages before at school you will find that teaching approaches to modern language training have changed enormously in recent years – it’s now a lot more fun and a far more rewarding experience!

Your teacher will conduct your Portuguese lesson almost entirely in Portuguese – a method known as the Communicative Approach – and you will find yourself making progress from the very first lesson and soon growing in the confidence to communicate in Portuguese in a variety of social and business situations.

Our Portuguese language courses are available on both a 1:1 and group basis, but the majority of our clients offer 1:1 Portuguese training to their employees. However, with careful planning, group training can offer great value for money, provided there is a real commitment from the participants to get together at the same time every week. We strongly recommend you keep group numbers to 6 or less for these types of courses to be successful.

Those learning Portuguese on a 1:1 basis will naturally make much faster progress, as the course will be designed around their individual needs and focus on their particular strengths and weaknesses.

Course Management

Every SIMON & SIMON language course is overseen by one of our highly experienced Account Managers, all of whom are multi-lingual.

At the start of your Portuguese language course we will send you a profile on your trainer plus all the relevant course materials. After every 40 hours of training they will also send you a Progress Report.

SIMON & SIMON has arranged Portuguese language courses for clients in numerous locations, and with our global network of language trainers we can organise a Portuguese language course for you wherever you are – in almost any major city in the UK such as London, Europe and beyond.

The vast majority of our Portuguese lessons take place at our clients’ offices, removing the need for you to travel, but Portuguese lessons can take place in your home if that is more convenient.

We can also arrange Portuguese language courses at our offices or online for you if that is more convenient.

Portuguese Course Schedules

Our Portuguese language courses run throughout the year. The majority of our students attend at least one 90-minute session per week and many students will try to do more than one session depending on work commitments.

Our Portuguese teachers are available Monday – Friday from 8am – 6pm, and Weekend Courses can also be arranged on request.

Our intensive Portuguese language courses run for 30 hours per week, (6 hours per day Monday – Friday), and take place on our clients’ premises or at our offices here in the UK or abroad.

The content of your Portuguese language course will reflect your level and your particular objectives. We will assess your Portuguese language level before your course, and discuss with you in detail the subject areas you wish to focus on.

You may be a complete beginner looking for day-to-day Portuguese survival language skills, or a more proficient Portuguese speaker needing to improve your fluency when discussing areas such as law, banking, finance, insurance, sales, travel, marketing, and administration.

You may want to focus on improving your Portuguese for meetings, discussions and negotiations, or to concentrate on improving your listening comprehension, pronunciation and telephone skills.

Whatever your needs, working with one of our highly experienced Portuguese language trainers you can be confident that the content of your Portuguese language course will be tailored just for you and that you will soon be meeting your objectives.

Portuguese Language Examination Courses

We can also help prepare you for Portuguese examinations of a business or general nature. We are proud to say our students have a 95% pass rate in language examinations, and their success further underlines the value we place on working with Portuguese teachers with above average experience.

As part of our service, SIMON & SIMON will also organise the registration and administration of Portuguese examinations and the issuing of result certificates.

The table below is based on recognised language levels used by various academic institutions across the European Union. A highly motivated student attending weekly sessions with their Portuguese language trainer can expect to move from one level to another after 50 hours providing they also commit to a similar number of hours of self-study.

Of course, some people find learning languages easier than others, and some students will have more opportunities to practise Portuguese in the course of their work and leisure, so these factors also need to be considered when trying to assess how long it will take to move from one level to another.