Portugal, whose current borders were essentially determined in 1249, shows a relatively high degree of demographic and linguistic stability as a fundamentally monolingual country. Nevertheless, its history has brought it into regular contact with other languages, both in Europe (chiefly Spanish, English and French) and across the world as a consequence of its colonial past (languages of South America, Africa and Asia). As a result, the Portuguese have gained awareness of the advantages of multilingualism and successive governments have enshrined both support for the national language and enablement of the teaching of foreign languages in their policies and legislation, in addition to funding education in the Portuguese language abroad. The regional language Mirandese has been recognised, but the languages of immigrants have received no recognition in law nor in censuses.

Pre-primary education is optional in Portugal, but as of 2009 the provision of nursery schooling for children of five has become an obligation of the state. For the great majority of pupils, Portuguese is the sole language of instruction in pre-school. However, since around 1990 there has been a gradually growing awareness of the difficulties faced by pre-schoolers whose native language is not Portuguese (Litwinoff 1992), namely, speakers of – predominantly – Cape Verdean Creole, Kriol (Guinea-Bissau Creole), one of the Creole languages of São Tomé and Príncipe, Ukrainian or Chinese (see Mateus et al. 2008). Measures have been proposed to raise educators’ consciousness of the bilingual situation of immigrant pre-schoolers. Pre-service training is available for pre-school teachers in the area where Mirandese is spoken.

Portuguese is the language of transmission in all schools, although in certain private schools other languages (such as English, French and German) may be used, and is a subject throughout basic education. There is no obligatory foreign-language instruction in the first cycle (years one to four). However, in recent years the Ministry of Education has strongly recommended (and provided funds for) schools to offer lessons in English from Year Three in the framework of ‘curricular enrichment’. By 2008, over 99% of schools had implemented this recommendation; over 50% had English from Year One. In the second cycle (years five to six), a foreign language becomes part of the obligatory curriculum; the current government is proposing to require that the second-cycle foreign language be English.

Primary school teachers, especially those working in multilingual areas, are aware of and trained to deal with the plurilingualism of the children entrusted to their care. However, immigrant languages are not treated as an object of study, although Ukrainian and Chinese communities have organised extramural classes in their respective languages. In the Mirandese-speaking area, teachers have been permitted since 1985 to devote explicit attention to the Mirandese language and use it as a medium of instruction.

In secondary education (commencing in the third cycle of ‘basic education’), the study of two foreign languages is obligatory; the government has proposed that English must be one of these. In current practice, the great majority of pupils combine English with one of French, German, Spanish, Latin and Classical Greek (all organised in keeping with the Common European Frame of Reference). In years 10 to 12, education in Portuguese language continues, with classes in one foreign language for science pupils and in two for humanities pupils. Immigrant languages are neither studied nor are they a medium of instruction in Portuguese schools; it should be borne in mind that some 50% of immigrants are from countries where Portuguese is an official language. The regional language Mirandese can be studied in the Mirandese-speaking area.

In higher education, Portuguese is almost always the medium of instruction. However, the internationalisation of education flowing from the Bologna Process has led to selected faculties offering courses in English attended by visiting and Portuguese students alike. Portugal’s universities are generally aware of the value of language competence, providing training in Portuguese for non-native speakers wishing to secure admission to their programmes and in a wide range of languages for voluntary take-up by all students. No explicit attention is devoted to regional or immigrant languages.

Establishments offering vocational training ensure that their students receive instruction in Portuguese to develop skills in linguistic accuracy and effective communication. They also generally devote attention to a foreign language; the orientation is towards job-related proficiencies.

Television material and films in cinemas are shown in the original language with Portuguese subtitles – with the exception of some productions aimed at children, which are dubbed. Selected television programmes include an inserted window with an interpreter communicating in Portuguese Sign Language. Newspapers and magazines in foreign languages are available, primarily to serve the needs of tourists; but there are also publications for immigrants, like the Russian-language newspaper Slovo.

City councils have some awareness of multilingualism in their communities and make certain services available in English and Spanish; interpreters can be called up through a national facility for as many as 60 languages. Written material produced by councils is typically only in Portuguese, although immigration and tourism services are multilingual. The city council of Miranda do Douro provides many written services in Mirandese and Spanish as well as Portuguese.

The companies surveyed reflected a general tendency in Portugal to favour the use of Portuguese but also to recognise the importance of Business English for interaction with foreign customers and companies abroad. Other languages tend not to figure prominently, except for businesses with specific interests in particular foreign countries. The promotion of employees’ language competencies in the national language, in English as a lingua franca, or in other languages is general not a priority. Multilingualism is not high on the agenda of the Portuguese enterprises that completed the questionnaire.

Portugal emerges as a country that is profoundly aware of the status of its national tongue as the fifth most spoken language on earth, while also recognising the importance of (Business) English for Portugal’s role in the globalised world. It promotes the regional language Mirandese, spoken by 0.1% of the national population, and has given constitutional protection to Portuguese Sign Language (LGP). Schooling is provided in Portuguese, but also in English from primary school upwards and in a second foreign language. The media have a positive influence on the public’s attitudes to and skills in foreign languages, but this is not reflected in a strong orientation of public services or in business to valorise the language competencies of their personnel.

A prominent contribution to raising awareness of linguistic minorities was the Linguistic Diversity in Portuguese Schools project (2003-2007), funded by the Gulbenkian Foundation and carried out by the Instituto de Linguística Teórica e Computacional (ILTEC) in collaboration with various schools. The output included not only the realisation of (still ongoing) bilingual education in selected schools but also the development of materials, recommendations to the Ministry of Education and various publications (see Mateus et al. 2008).

The British Council is working in partnership with the Ministry of Education on a four-year pilot project (2011-2015) to introduce bilingual education into eight state primary schools across the country from Year One onwards. Some five hours per week are given in English and the British Council provides training and support.

In addition, there have been efforts to promote multilingualism in international business, for example by Three Linguistic Spaces (www.3el.org; referring to the French-, Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking areas of the world), a pressure group stressing the intercomprehensibility of the Romance languages.

The REFLECT Project (2000-2002), the PROTOCOL II project (2002-2004) and the ECLAT project (2006-2008; the website www.eclatproject.eu is still active) established a language and culture auditing scheme for export-oriented SMEs, providing real data about business needs and trends in the area of linguistic and cultural skills and fostering the development of language planning (Salomão 2011).

Litwinoff, Raja (1992). Projecto piloto de educação bilingue e bicultural no ensino pré-primário e primário Documentos do Encontro a Comunidade Africana em Portugal. Lisbon: Colibri, 71-73.

Mateus, Maria Helena Mira et al. (2008). Diversidade Linguística na Escola Portuguesa. Lisbon: Fundação Gulbenkian.

Salomão, Ricardo (2011). Comunicação e exportação. Lisbon: Nova Vega.