By RICHARD JOHNSON

Career & Education writer

johnsonr@jamaicaobserver.com

BRAZIL is set to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 summer Olympic games, two very popular sporting events with Jamaicans.

With Portuguese being the official language in Brazil, the Language Cradle, a St Andrew-based training institution, is seeking to prepare Jamaicans planning to attend these celebrated sporting events.

Managing Director of the company, Nadine Boothe-Gooden noted that as is the case with any other foreign language, learning Portuguese is certainly advantageous considering that Brazil is one of the world’s emerging markets and the major sporting events make it an even more opportune time to study the language.

“Everybody gets excited about football. And with World Cup in Brazil, Jamaicans need to start equipping themselves to function if they plan to attend the games. In addition, the economic outlook for Brazil is promising — among the seven largest economies in the world.”

As a result, Boothe-Gooden and her team of native Portuguese speakers and locally trained instructors have come up with a course of study for Jamaicans planning to attend the World Cup, Olympics, or study and do business in Brazil.

“The course comprises four modules of 10 weeks each, which should take students to a functional level with the language, with an emphasis on conversation,” she explained.

The modules cover basic greetings and introductions, travel jargon including the booking a hotel, renting a car, asking directions, ordering food in a restaurant and asking for assistance.

At the end of each module the institution offers a certificate.

Boothe-Gooden and her team place an emphasis on learning Portuguese expressions and conversation, as close as is possible to the immersion method of acquiring a foreign language. This is opposed to the traditional ways of learning words and grammar.

She admitted that many persons are not immediately drawn to learning Portuguese as they feel it is only spoken in a limited number of countries.

“Portuguese is the official language of eight countries — Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and São Tomé e Príncipe. Learning Portuguese will prepare you to work in such diverse fields as planning and consulting, finance and banking, tourism and hospitality, information sciences, diplomacy, journalism, publishing, advertising, a career in government, social services, media, law, linguistics, health, and the arts, just to name a few,” she said.

She added that the Embassy of Brazil here in Jamaica offers scholarships to study in Brazil. Prior knowledge of Portuguese would be a distinct advantage for an awardee of such scholarships.

CAPTIONS

A Portuguese class in session at The Language Cradle in St Andrew.

BOOTHE-GOODEN… learning Portuguese is certainly advantageous considering that Brazil is one of the world’s emerging markets

(PHOTOS: Karl McLarty)