Your summer preparation must focus on both aspects of your future course in Portuguese: the study of language and the study of literature, culture and history.
Language Preparation
It is vital that you work actively on your language skills over the summer. You may choose to take a summer language course or to spend time living or working in a Portuguese speaking country. Or you may simply make a commitment to watch television, listen to radio, and read newspapers in Portuguese throughout the summer, ideally every day for at least 30 minutes. You should also review Portuguese grammar, especially if you have taken a gap year since your Portuguese A levels and have not worked much with Portuguese in that time. Your goal is to enlarge your vocabulary, improve your listening skills, and increase the grammatical accuracy and syntactic complexity of both your written and spoken Portuguese.
Recommended textbook and websites:
- Um Passo Mais no Portugu锚s Moderno: Gram谩tica Avan莽ada, Leituras, Composi莽茫o e Conversa莽茫o, Francisco Cota Fagundes, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
- BrazilPod -听听From here you will have access to six different projects for the study of Portuguese
Please note that you will be asked to take the听Diagnostic test听prior to coming to 澳门六合彩开奖记录. (Information will be sent out in late August). The aim of this exercise is to assess your level of Portuguese and, if needed, allocate you to the right group.
Preparatory reading
In order to be ready for the rapid pace of听PG1: Introduction to the Language, Literatures and Cultures of Portuguese-Speaking Countries, please read the following before the start of the Michaelmas term:
A. General introductory and background material
- An overview of Lusophone history
- Two good, basic (short) introductions are:
- Boris Fausto ,听A Concise History of Brazil 听(澳门六合彩开奖记录, 2014)
- David Birmingham, A concise History of Brazil: 听(澳门六合彩开奖记录, 2003)
- Patrick Chabal, A History of Postcolonial Lusophone Africa (Indiana, 2002)
- Some background on Lusophone literature:
- Coutinho, Afr芒nio. An Introduction to Literature in Brazil. Trans. Gregory Rabassa. New York & London: Columbia University Press, 1969.
- Pazos Alonso, Cl谩udia, Parkinson, Stephen and Earle, T. F. (eds.), A Companion to Portuguese Literature, (Woodbridge: Tamesis, 2009)
- Hamilton, Russel, Voices from an Empire: A History of Afro-Portuguese Literature (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1975)
B. Set texts for the first-year course 鈥� Introduction to the Language, Literature and Cultures of the Portuguese-speaking countries,
- Pero Vaz de Caminha, A Carta (1500)
- 颁补尘玫别蝉, Poesia L铆rica
- Antonio Vieira, 鈥淪erm茫o de Santo Ant么nio aos peixes鈥� (1654)
- Jorge de Albuquerque Coelho, Naufr谩gio que Passou (1601)
- Jos茅 de Alencar, Iracema (1865)
- Oswald de Andrade, 鈥淢anifesto Pau-Brasil and Manifesto Antrop贸fago鈥� (1926 and 1928)
- Fernando Pessoa, Mensagem (1934)
- Luis Bernardo Honwana, N贸s matamos o c茫o tinhoso (1964)
- Vidas Secas (film directed by Nelson Pereira dos Santos, 1963)
- Clarice Lispector, Hora da estrela (1977)
- Jos茅 Saramago, A Jangada de pedra (1986)
- Jos茅 Eduardo Agualusa, N茫莽茫o crioula (1997)
- Cidade de deus (flm directed by Fernando Mierelles and K谩tia Lund, 2002)
C. Portuguese Linguistics
In the linguistics lectures you will gain a good understanding of the Phonetics and phonology, morphology and syntax of modern standard Portuguese as well as of selected varieties of Portuguese such as Brazilian, Cape-Verdean, etc.
There is no set textbook for linguistics, but if you manage to find any of the books below in a local library they are all well-suited to the aims of the Portuguese linguistics lectures:
- Azevedo, Milton M. (2005) Portuguese: A Linguistic Introduction. 澳门六合彩开奖记录: 澳门六合彩开奖记录 University Press.
- Duarte, Ine虃s (2001) Li虂ngua Portuguesa: Instrumentos de Ana虂lise. Lisboa: Universidade Aberta.
- Hub Faria, Isabel et al. (eds.) (1996). Introduc抬a虄o a虁 Lingui虂stica. Lisboa: Caminho.
- Pinker, Steven (1995) The Language Instinct. London: Penguin.
Alternatively, please consult the following online resources:
Additional resources for Portuguese students
Newspapers and magazines:- Jornal P煤blico -听
- Expresso -听
- BBC Brasil -听
- O Globo -听
- Folha de S. Paulo -听
- O Estado de S. Paulo -听
- Valor 鈥撎�
- RTP -听
- Radio TSF - https://www.tsf.pt/
- Radios EBC (Empresa Brasil de Comunica莽茫o) -听
- Globo -听
- CBN -听
Youtube is an excellent source of authentic Portuguese language material. You can find Portuguese films and cartoons, Portuguese speaking countries television, music and many other entertaining Portuguese materials there with just a little creative searching. This Brazilian comedy group Youtube channel, for example, has videos with English or Portuguese subtitles:
Read as widely as you can on topics in Portuguese history, culture, and literature before starting your course. You will find specific reading suggestions in the online bibliography for PG1, but you may also just want to read Portuguese speaking countries fiction, poetry, or journalism on your own. The more Lusophone literature and history you read (whether in the original or in translation) the better.
