[TimorLesteStudies] Portuguese classes in Canberra - calling for expressions of interest

[Anya Dettman]

A knowledge of Portuguese, one of the official languages of Timor-Leste, is a valuable skill for researchers and workers in Timor, even for those with skills in Tetun. It also opens up a treasure trove of historical documents as well as current reports. Unfortunately there are few courses in Portuguese available in Australia. The Australian National University has recently introduced introductory-level courses in Portuguese for their students and has an adult education course; however, both of these are in Brazilian Portuguese and focus heavily on conversation. Many researchers need to read, not speak Portuguese, and preferably the European variant which was historically used in Timor-Leste. Many other interested people are working and are not able to commit to enrolling in a formal university course, or would like to do a course more focused on the language as used in Timor-Leste.

Some years ago there were a few groups who arranged after-hours Tetun courses and conversation groups in Canberra. I am wondering if there would be sufficient interest from Canberra-based researchers, friendship groups, organisations active in Timor, etc., who would be interested in forming a similar group to work towards proficiency in reading Portuguese that is focused on Timor-Leste topics (with perhaps  a little spoken Portuguese). I would propose an after work hours group, meeting once a week, (although weekend or intensive classes could be considered if preferred). Participation from Timorese, whether as students or tutors, would be very, very much encouraged and welcome - indeed, essential.

My suggestion would be to have some definite structure and a program agreed to by participants: perhaps working through a basic grammar book to cover the major grammatical points, but being able to actually hear the language with the participation of a Timorese guiding us, with some exercises to do at home and bring back for correction. Then moving on to readings, simple at first, then moving to more complex ones based on participants' interests - perhaps history, politics, development or gender issues, or anthropology, so we can build up useful vocabulary. Perhaps in later weeks we could do translations of set reading at home and bring them in to check translation, compare, make comments etc. A little bit of spoken Portuguese at the end of class could be included if wanted, and for this we could use Portuguese textbooks produced for the Timor market.

If anyone one is interested, whether as a student or teacher or tutor, please reply to me so that I can gauge the level of interest. If there is sufficient interest we can then have a meeting to plan the course. Do feel free to pass this email on to other people or organisations that may be interested.

Kind regards,
Anya
Anya Dettman -  East Timor Librarian and Southeast Asia Specialist  | Overseas Collection Development  |  National Library of Australia | Canberra ACT 2600
T: 02 6262 1248 | E: adettman at nla.gov.au<mailto:adettman at nla.gov.au>

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