“Portugal has not been encouraging the study of the Portuguese language abroad significantly,” stated a Stanford University emeritus professor and former executive director of the California World Language Project (CWLP), noting that this is occurring despite significant interest from the community. “But when it comes to implementing the programs, it has been very difficult.”
Duarte Silva expressed regret that the strategic plan for teaching Portuguese in California, crafted following consultations with Luso-American community representatives, has yet to reach its full potential.
“I think it was never well understood and never supported by Portugal or some of Portugal’s agencies in the United States,” he indicated.
“I’m not sure if it was due to a lack of understanding of the project’s potential impact on developing the Portuguese language and cultures in California,” he added.
The professor suggested that improving the situation requires a concerted effort among various institutions, and that entities like Instituto Camões and FLAD — Fundação Luso-Americana para o Desenvolvimento cannot do it alone.
“A strategic collaboration plan to support Portuguese language and culture is needed,” stated the academic.
He explained that one of the problems is that foreign language teaching, both in California and across the country, generally lacks strength and is not comparable to what happens in other regions.
“We have a culture here in the United States that does not value foreign languages as much as Europe does,” Duarte Silva pointed out.
The situation of teaching Portuguese is not unique; only 14% of students continue language studies after the second year. However, countries like China have heavily invested in training and deploying teachers to promote language study.
This is not the case with Portuguese, which, “compared to Spanish, Chinese, and other languages, is much more delayed and will always be very difficult,” he stated.
What has grown more are immersion programs, where students learn in two languages from the start of their school experience. There are many such programs in languages like Spanish and Japanese, and at least one in Portuguese in Hilmar. However, this is insufficient to advance the language’s teaching in the state.
On the other hand, Duarte Silva expressed doubt that Portuguese would again be considered a critical language and be integrated into the federal Startalk program supports.
“It was one of the best programs to support language study, including both student education and teacher training,” he highlighted.
Portuguese was removed during the first Trump Administration, and the program is now reduced, with no political support to reverse the situation.
“I also think we will not have new programs. The Department of Education is being reduced to zero,” the professor noted, expressing concern over this erosion.
“It is very likely that the Department of Education will disappear under this administration,” he said, considering this a negative step because he believes “education is much more than preparing students for the workforce.”
The programs “As Nossas Vozes,” managed by the Instituto Português Além-Fronteiras and the Portuguese-American Leadership Council (PALCUS), showcase different aspects of the diaspora and are spoken entirely in Portuguese.
