Learning Languages

In Brasil, as is noted on our main page concerning Education in Brasil, public education is free. While this is not necessarily guaranteed to everyone at the university-level (you have to earn a spot through testing, etc.) it is open to all.

In addition to a general free degree-oriented education, however, most all Federal Universities and even some other public institutions offer greatly reduced pricing for learning annexes. One of these areas is in learning other languages. In Belo Horizonte, for example, at UFMG, you can learn a language for only a few hundred reais – for me, while I was in the US, this means that I spent more money to commute to work (not even back from work, just one Uber ride on the way was essentially equal to an entire semester of language classes).

Screenshot from UFMG-CENEX (Federal University of Minas Gerais Learning Annex) 2025-07-01 (YYYY-MM-DD).

Prices vary from course to course, with some of the more popular ones like Portuguese for Foreigners being slightly more expensive, but considering the price is still a fraction of what you would experience elsewhere, this still represents a far more equitable option.

In case you think this means there aren't many options – you would be mistaken:

The list of In-Person language courses for the 1st semester of 2025 – there are a lot of online options as well.

So for anyone concerned about if they would be able to learn Portuguese to move about Brasil with less limitations – do not worry! There are plenty of options open to you! Additionally, if you only wish to learn something on a lark – let's say you want to learn Latin – you sure can! And it won't even cost you very much!