Portuguese Lessons in Dublin

As Ireland’s most multicultural city and one of Europe’s friendliest capitals, Dublin attracts people from all over the world. Many of the city visitors decide to make this beautiful city their home, so it comes as no surprise that at least 17% of the population is foreign-born. As a result, there are many residents from countries like Poland, Lithuania, Brazil and Portugal, who bring their traditions, customs and of course, their languages.

Over 200 languages are spoken in Dublin, making it a multilingual city. One of the most commonly used, according to the 2016 census, is Portuguese, with more than 20,833 estimated speakers. Portuguese is a Romance language that has spread from Europe to South America and Africa as the official language of nine different countries which are Portugal, Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Timor-Leste, Equatorial Guinea, Cape Verde, and São Tomé and Principe.

As one of the fastest-growing languages in the world, learning Portuguese will bring many advantages to your life. If you want to become more employable in the city and abroad, learning such a widespread language is one of the smartest things you can do and, what’s more, being able to communicate in this beautiful language will allow you to make friends in the local immigrant communities, as well as open the doors to many wonderful destinations around the globe.

Learn Portuguese for Work and Travel

Portuguese is one of the most useful languages you can learn to advance your career and become more employable. As one of the most commonly spoken languages in major cities like Dublin, speaking Portuguese will help you get job positions in the area that are exclusive for bilinguals like Client Services Specialist, HR advisor and Account Executive. Additionally, top companies in Dublin like Microsoft, PwC and Google are constantly looking for applicants who can help them build professional relationships with companies from countries with powerful economies like Brazil, the twelfth-largest in the world. All this means is that speaking Portuguese will make your CV stand out from other monolingual candidates.

Learn Portuguese for Social

If you want to meet other Portuguese language enthusiasts in the area to boost your skills, you should attend one of the meetings organized by the Dublin Portuguese Language Meetup. They meet at Rua Red, located at Blessington Road, for all sorts of different free events like pronunciation workshops, Portuguese and Brazilian book clubs and of course, language exchanges. These meetings offer the perfect opportunity to meet native speakers from Brazil and Portugal and help them with their English in exchange for their knowledge of Portuguese, while also making friends in the local community who are just as passionate about the language and culture of these countries as you are.

Another great option is Language Exchange Ireland. They organise events in Dublin where you can practise and improve your Portuguese and other languages with native speakers and local learners. This language exchange is unique in the area because it’s set up like speed dating, so you chat with a native speaker in your target language for five minutes and then you switch to English for another five minutes. After that, you move to the next table and talk to somebody else. Although Portuguese is not the only language practised here, it’s one of the most common ones, so you’re probably going to find many people to talk with. This event is open to learners of all levels and ages and there’s no registration, you just have to show up on Tuesdays at 6.30 at The Well, located at 130 St Stephen's Green, pay a €5 fee and start chatting.

Learn Portuguese for Culture

As a Portuguese learner, you probably want to taste the food from different lusophone cultures. If so, you should visit Nando’s, located at 12 St Andrew's St, where you’ll get to taste mouth-watering Afro-Portuguese peri-peri chicken with different sauces, bastes and marinades that contain chillies that come directly from the Peri-Farms in Mozambique. It’s also a great place to enjoy some of the best live music in Portuguese, and to see some of the 9000 pieces of amazing art hung on the walls, that come from different countries in South Africa.

If you’re interested in Brazilian culture, you can’t miss the celebration of Festa Junina in June at Wigwam, located at 54 Middle Abbey St. It’s the perfect chance to taste traditional Brazilian food like feijoada, farofa and moqueca de camarao while you listen to the best Brazilian live music. You will also get to play some of the funniest traditional Brazilian games like biting the apple, dancing with the orange and quadrilha, you can’t miss it!

Where to learn Portuguese in and around Dublin?

If you’re trying to improve your Portuguese skills on your own, there are interesting resources you can check at any of the Dublin City Council libraries. Don’t worry if you’re not a great reader,  as there are great audiobooks like “Complete Brazilian Portuguese” a beginner-to-intermediate course that will help you get started learning the language or “The high mountains of Portugal” a recorded novel in Portuguese that tells the story about a young man who discovers an old journal.  

Although these resources can be of great help, if you are serious about becoming a proficient Portuguese speaker, you should book a lesson with one of our teachers at Listen & Learn. Our lessons are unique, flexible and completely tailored to your needs, interests and skill level. Want to find out how good your skills are before starting? Simply take one of our free Portuguese level tests. After that, all you need to do is send us a quick enquiry and one of our team members will get in touch to give you all the information you need!