Minor in Portuguese

Our students become skilled in Brazilian Portuguese and knowledgeable in the Portuguese-speaking world, its language, literature and arts. They are poised to enjoy careers in education, public administration, health care and medicine, law, the arts, and NGOs.

The minor in Portuguese focuses on Brazilian Portuguese but provides students with knowledge of the Portuguese-speaking world. The courses cover a variety of topics that are relevant to Brazil and other Portuguese-speaking countries, ranging from language and literature to 19th-century Brazilian opera and contemporary performing arts. 

  • Gain a wider comprehension of Portuguese in a multicultural context
  • Understand the relations between different national contexts in which Portuguese is spoken
  • Complement your undergraduate studies with a minor

 

Top Green College

(Princeton Review, 2025)

 

No. 46 among public universities in the country

(U.S. News & World Report, 2026)

 

5 Nobel Laureates

Since 1989

In a global economy and competitive market environment, knowledge of Portuguese adds value to many undergraduate degrees across disciplines

Our innovative teaching approach aims to enhance students’ cultural intelligence more than just language fluency, with professors incorporating their international research into their teaching

Practice your language skills abroad in a faculty-sponsored global seminar in Maranhão, Brazil

Be successful.

The minor in Portuguese provides students with cultural and linguistic competence, broadening their understanding of today's complex world and providing an edge in the global job market.

 

Broaden your employment possibilities with additional knowledge and skills gained from a minor

 

Work in education, public administration, health care and medicine, law, the arts, or for nongovernmental organizations as a Spanish teacher, marketing coordinator, translator or interpreter, community services manager, recruiter, or business development manager

 

Jobs for translators and interpreters are expected to grow 17% between 2016 and 2026, more than double the average for all jobs

(U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Academic Plan & Requirements

To earn the minor, students must complete a minimum of 18 credit hours in Portuguese language and literature courses, including a total of 9 upper-division credit hours. The minor is open to all undergraduate students at CU Boulder, regardless of college or school.

Required courses include:

  • Second-Year Portuguese
  • Portuguese for Romance Language Speakers
  • Advanced Portuguese Language Skills
  • Transatlantic Relations in the Portuguese Speaking World
  • Brazilian Literature
  • Literature of the Portuguese Speaking World

Be inspired.

Many alumni from the Department of Spanish and Portuguese have worked in a variety of fields across the globe.

Some alumni of the program include:

Adam Carroll

(PhD'14)
Director of customer success at New Relic, a software analytics company in San Francisco

Dana Page

(BA'14)
An account executive at SHI International Corp., a technology company in Austin, Texas

Luis Hernán Castañeda

(PhD'12)
Assistant professor of Spanish at Middlebury College in Vermont

Shauna Polson

(MA'10)
An educational technology specialist with the Boulder Valley School District

Leela Greenberg

(BA'11)
A global leadership associate at Alibaba Group, a multinational e-commerce, retail, internet and technology conglomerate in Hangzhou, China