u/Severe_Woodpecker559

My life goal is to become fluent in Portuguese, and I’m getting pretty close. I’ve studied for about two years. I started with European Portuguese, but after a year I switched to Brazilian Portuguese because of the opportunities it gave me. For example, I got to study in Brazil for free, and now I speak with a fairly strong Carioca accent.

But at the end of the day, I really want to speak European Portuguese.

I’m American of Portuguese descent, so that’s a major motivation. But honestly, I also just really love the sound of PT-PT, especially the Lisbon/Coimbra accent. That’s how I want to sound.

But with all of this, PT-PT feels irrelevant to my life.

I don’t live on the East Coast, so Portuguese communities are scarce where I’m at. Brazilian communities, on the other hand, are everywhere and have been incredibly easy and fun to connect with. When I was in Brazil, everyone wanted to speak Portuguese with me. It’s the same in the U.S. It’s easy to find Brazilians willing to speak with me, which is huge because I really need speaking practice.

Portugal, on the other hand, has been a bit of a turn-off. I’ve been a few times, and conversations almost always end up switching to English. I feel like I don’t even have the opportunity to use Portuguese there because the locals basically make me switch to English. I know this is somewhat stereotypical, but I’ve also found it harder to meet people and have quality conversations there. I might realistically only visit Portugal once every 1–2 years, and although I want to live there, it probably won’t happen.

The other factor is that I study history and international relations, and I hope to eventually work in the Lusophone world and use Portuguese professionally. I love all the Lusophone countries, so it’s not like I only like Portugal. I want to develop a variety of Portuguese that is broadly useful and relevant.

A few things I’d love advice on:

• If I may never live in Portugal but still want to learn PT-PT, what is the argument for choosing to do so?
• Is it counterintuitive to learn PT-PT if I still plan to connect and work with Brazilians a lot? Would it hurt my ability to connect with them?
• Is there a relatively “neutral” variety where I could keep some Brazilian grammar while adopting European pronunciation/features? A hybrid accent between the two, perhaps?
• If you were in my situation, what would you do?
• Most importantly, how would you create opportunities to actually use EP if you don’t live in Portugal?

Hello everyone!

I'm around a low C1 in Brazilian Portuguese. I've been studying Portuguese for about two years. During the first year I learned European Portuguese, so I'm pretty familiar with the differences. But in my second year I switched to Brazilian Portuguese, spent a semester in Rio on exchange, took intensive classes, and naturally acclimated to the Brazilian way of speaking. At this point, Brazilian Portuguese is what I speak.

Here's my dilemma: I absolutely love the Lisbon accent. I'm also of Portuguese heritage, so I feel a stronger personal connection to Portugal, and if I could choose, that's how I'd want to sound. At the same time, I'm very comfortable with Brazilian grammar. There are a lot of PT-PT things I would have to relearn (ex. tu and all its conjugations, which I've mostly forgotten).

I'm learning Portuguese purely as a hobby. I live in Canada and don't plan on moving permanently to either Brazil or Portugal. I just want to become fluent, enjoy the language, and be able to communicate with people.

So what would you do in my position? Would you switch to European Portuguese simply because you prefer the accent? What recommendations do you have for doing so? Or would you stick with Brazilian Portuguese since that's what you've already mastered? Is it possible to keep Brazilian grammar and vocabulary while developing a Lisbon accent, or would that just sound strange?

I am an early student of international relations, and I've been thinking a lot about language specialization and regional focus.

Most IR pathways seem to be organized around traditional geographic regions. My own interests have generally centered on Latin America, but that puts me in a bit of an odd position. I am studying both Spanish and Portuguese and am currently intermediate in both. Obviously, if I want to work on Latin America broadly, Spanish proficiency is extremely important, and everyone in the field is a native or fluent speaker.

The challenge is that I find myself much more drawn to the Portuguese language, history, and culture. It is the language I most enjoy studying, and the one I want to continue investing heavily in.

That has made me wonder whether there is a meaningful professional niche built around Lusophone affairs more broadly, rather than focusing exclusively on Brazil within the larger Latin American context.

For those working in IR, development, political risk, intelligence, finance, consulting, or related fields:

• Is there a recognized Lusophone niche, or are Lusophone countries generally treated separately within larger regional frameworks?
• Beyond Brazil itself, are there organizations, sectors, or career paths where Portuguese expertise is particularly valuable?
• Is Lusophone Africa a meaningful area of specialization in practice?
• Have you seen people build careers around the broader Lusophone world, or is Portuguese usually just a complementary skill within another regional focus?

I just finished a master’s degree, and there are several entry-level federal jobs currently open that I want to apply for and am qualified for. Here’s the catch:

This summer I will be doing the Critical Language Scholarship program (DOS), which ends in early August. From my understanding, this gives Non-Competitive Eligibility (NCE), along with obviously adding more experience to my resume that would be relevant for these roles.

The jobs I’m looking at are open now and close around September 30th. So I’ve been struggling with timing. Should I:

• Apply now, since these are rolling applications, and federal hiring takes forever
• Wait until August, when I officially get NCE (and also will have a stronger resume from completing the program)?

I’m also a little confused on how NCE actually works in practice. I know it does not apply to Foreign Service positions, but what federal jobs does it actually apply to, and how do you tell which postings/agencies use it?

Would also appreciate hearing from anyone who has had NCE before, especially former CLS scholars, and how useful it actually was for getting federal jobs.