Celebration of the Portuguese Language Day at ANU

It was an evening of fun and celebration as the Embassies of Portugal and Brazil, the Instituto Camões and the Instituto Guimarães Rosa, and the Portuguese Program at the School of Literature, Language and Linguistics, at The Australian National University (ANU) jointly celebrated Day of the Portuguese Language on 16 May at the University.

The event ‘World Portuguese Language Day: A Celebration of Words, Sounds and Flavours’ featured speakers such as H.E. Ambassador Antonio Albuquerque Moniz, Ambassador of Portugal; Cristina Ferraz Alves, Chargé d’Affaires from the Embassy of Brazil; Dra. Susana Teixeira-Pinto, Coordinator for the Portuguese language Program and Education Affairs in Australia, and Dr. Fabricio Tocco, Convenor of Portuguese, as well as other academics from the ANU School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics.

H.E. Ambassador Antonio Albuquerque Moniz, Ambassador of Portugal, expressed gratitude to the ANU for welcoming them on the special day. “It is a celebration of diversity and multiculturalism. This year, we are celebrating the day with food, music and words from our countries, a perfect example of how the Portuguese language can express itself.”

The audience enjoyed a performance by artist Manuel Wiborg of the famous poem Ode Maritime, written by renowned Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa to celebrate the special occasion. Mr Wiborg is a director, producer, actor, singer, translator and poetry reader who has worked with several theatre companies in Portugal.

“As Fernando Pessoa famously said ‘my homeland is the Portuguese language’, he brings the same intensity and emotion in his poem,” said H.E. Ambassador Antonio Albuquerque Moniz.  

A performance by the Forall Band with Brazilian composer Gonzagão’s music added a melodious note to the evening, which even got part of the audience to dance. Cristina Ferraz Alves, Chargé d’Affaires from the Embassy of Brazil, said, ”We want to show the beauty of the Portuguese language with Brazil’s music because music is embedded in Brazil’s culture and way of being. We have a saying in Brazil, ‘Those who sing keep bad things away.’”

The World Portuguese Language Day has been celebrated on 5 May every year since 2019 by the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP). Portuguese is the most widely spoken language in the southern hemisphere and the amount of students at ANU has trebled over the last year.