Camões Institute: Launch of "Português à BeNeLux" Project

As part of the celebrations for World Portuguese Language Day, observed on 5 May, the Coordination of Portuguese Language Teaching in Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands is launching the “Português à BeNeLux” project, an educational initiative that highlights the Portuguese language as it is experienced, used and shaped by the Portuguese-speaking communities in these three countries.

The column stems from work carried out in Portuguese Language and Culture courses, involving pupils and teachers from lower secondary and upper secondary education, and aims to highlight the intralinguistic diversity of the Portuguese language, the interaction between languages and the multiple linguistic realities existing within the BeNeLux region.

Published weekly and shared on CEPE BeNeLux’s social media channels, Português à BeNeLux offers short, accessible and dynamic content, focusing on everyday expressions, accents, phenomena of language mixing, explanatory mini-lessons, testimonials and cultural references, reflecting real-life communication practices in Portuguese and the language’s effective presence in the three BeNeLux countries.

In addition to its cultural and identity-related aspects, the project has a strong educational focus, promoting the development of oral skills such as fluency, clarity of expression and the appropriate use of language in different communicative contexts, through the active participation of students as content creators. The initiative is sponsored by the linguist and writer Marco Neves, whose collaboration contributes to the conceptual framework and to a deeper reflection on linguistic variation and contemporary uses of the Portuguese language.

By marking World Portuguese Language Day with this feature, CEPE BeNeLux reinforces its commitment to promoting the Portuguese language, fostering linguistic diversity and recognising the role of Portuguese-speaking communities in shaping a plural, vibrant and ever-evolving form of Portuguese.

The launch video for the ‘Português à BeNeLux’ section, produced as part of the World Portuguese Language Day celebrations, can be viewed on the official Facebook and Instagram pages of the Coordination of Portuguese Language Teaching in the BeNeLux, where the content of this initiative will also be made available over the coming weeks. Following these platforms is a way to get a close-up look at the work carried out by students and teachers and to discover how the Portuguese language is lived and transformed within the BeNeLux region.