Professor Catherine Travis, Head of the School of Literature, Languages and Linguistics, together with HE the Ambassadors, Abel Guterres (Timor-Leste), Manuel Innocencio de Lacerda Santos Jr. (Brazil), and Paulo Cunha-Alves (Portugal), have the honour of inviting you to the 2016 Celebration of the Day of the Portuguese Language.

This event is free and open to the public. Kindly RSVP to elisabeth.mayer@anu.edu.au.

The International Day of the Portuguese Language and Culture was established in 2009, and is dedicated to celebrating the common linguistic and cultural ties which unite the eight countries that belong to the CPLP.

Offered at ANU, Portuguese is the third most widely spoken European language, after English and Spanish, with some 240 million users worldwide. More people around the world speak Portuguese as their native language than French, German, Italian or Japanese.

Portuguese is recognized as a working language by European Union, the Mercosur, the African Union, the Organization of Ibero-American States, and the Organization of American States, among other world organizations.

Created in 1996, CPLP represents the community of nations where Portuguese if the official language, an estimated 240 million people, including Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and East Timor.

Image: Mr. Filipe Mesquita, Cultural Attaché from the Embassy of Timor-Leste speaking at the 2014 Celebration of the Day of the Portuguese Language.