English in Brazil

Although Brazil is surrounded by countries that have Spanish as their mother tongue, we do not have a second official language, being Portuguese our sole official language. It may be the reason why there’s minimal incentive to learn a foreign language. Prior to 2017, the choice of the foreign language taught in public secondary education was optional for schools, which often resulted in inconsistent English offerings. Unfortunately, taking an English course privately is something that does not fit the budget of most Brazilians.

My turn has come

I only had the chance to study English at a language school1 at the age of 26, at the end of 2016. Before that, all the knowledge of English that I had was acquired in a self-taught manner, with resources that were tangible to me, such as music and readings. I also learned a lot at my first job, in 2005, when I worked at a translation company. Grasping every opportunity on my path took me to the intermediate level, but it wasn’t good enough to give me confidence when speaking.

I completed the course in 18 months, moving from intermediate to advanced level.



1 Wise Up is an English school that focuses on teaching English to adults.