The Department of Portuguese under the University of Macau (UM) Faculty of Arts and Humanities (FAH) today (November 27) held the 17th Portuguese Speech Contest in the UM Wu Yee Sun Library. The event aimed to promote Portuguese language studies, increase students’ interest in learning Portuguese, and reward the best-performing students.

A total of nine students from UM, Macao Polytechnic Institute (IPM), and the Macau University of Science and Technology participated in the contest. The event attracted hundreds of students in the audience, and provided a good opportunity for them to listen to inspiring speeches in Portuguese and improve their ability to understand and speak the Portuguese language.

The finalists were selected by their teachers. They were also interviewed by a panel of experts and public figures.

The Portuguese Speech Contest is an annual event organised by the Department of Portuguese. This year’s topic was ‘Não há bela sem senão’ (There is always a ‘but’). Ma Xiang Jun from the Macao Polytechnic Institute won the championship. Gao Meng from the University of Macao won the second prize, and Ge Yichang from Macao Polytechnic Institute won the third prize.

The prizes were sponsored by local donors, namely the Macao Foundation (first prize), the newspaper Tribuna de Macau (second prize), and Fundação Oriente (third prize). The Banco Nacional Ultramarino and the Macao Post also sponsored gifts for the contestants.