AS part of celebrations marking 50 years of bilateral relations between Brazil and Guyana, some 40 students are being taught Portuguese at the Brazilian Embassy in Georgetown.
The persons being taught are from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the wider public service.

The aim of the initiative is to facilitate understanding of the Portuguese language with a view to enhancing political, diplomatic and commercial relations.
As such, the teaching provided focuses not only on language learning but also on narrowing cultural relations through didactic and post-didactic materials that give meaning to the work context of the course.

The students are divided into two groups and meet twice a week at the Brazil-Guyana Cultural Centre located on Church Street, Georgetown.

Speaking to this newspaper on the importance of the classes was Director of the Foreign Service Institute, Ambassador Ronald Austin.

“I have been in the foreign services for a pretty long time and this time around, with this foreign minister, it’s a clear emphasis on the question of languages, especially the languages of the countries which are neighbouring Guyana,” Austin said.

He added: “Brazil is right next door, it’s a very important country to Guyana for a number of reasons in security, in terms of military, in diplomatic terms… so if we get the opportunity to study the language so that we can better understand their society, their government, their culture, then we have to learn it. That is very important.”

Credit is also being given to the Brazilian Embassy for making the courses possible through the provision of the facilities and Professor Terezinha Marques and Hanna Reis who are the facilitators of the programme.

Although the classes, launched in September, are now only being taught up to the beginner level, Austin said that this may not be the end of training for those in attendance.

“What we’re doing now is that after we’ve done this course, we’re going to review the situation with regards to taking it to a higher level but ultimately, in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, what we’re trying to do is to have a cohort of people who can translate and interpret these languages whether it’s Chinese, Dutch, Portuguese of Spanish,” he stated.
Speaking to the Guyana Chronicle, Marques said the classes which run from 09:00hrs -11:00hrs are well attended and students have shown much interest in learning the new language.

At the same time, Austin believes that with the varying nationalities now seeking to make Guyana a viable place to visit and do business, Guyana must begin to teach its children to speak various foreign languages to meet future demands.

The younger the child, the better, he said, adding that “no one is too old to learn.”