"More and more Chinese students are going to do their master's and doctorate degrees. This is a good sign, it is a sign that their degree is already of high quality", said Luís Manuel dos Anjos Ferreira, who is in Macau to participate in the 3rd Forum of rectors of higher education institutions in China and Portuguese-speaking countries.

In other words, these students are no longer in Portugal to learn the language, noted the director, highlighting that they are at a more advanced level, developing studies in areas such as Literature or Translation.

In 2022, 51 higher education institutions offered Portuguese language programs in the interior of China, according to a compilation released by Macau Polytechnic University academic Manuel Duarte João Pires that same year. In the case of Macau, there are five universities with Portuguese programs.

In addition to students from China who opt for more advanced academic degrees at the University of Lisbon, there are also, according to the rector, "a huge number" of Chinese students enrolled in Portuguese language summer courses at the Faculty of Arts.

"We had 200 and 300 students at that time. They started to appear at the end of May, June, July, and August, which shows the demand for the Portuguese language and learning Portuguese", he said.

Regarding the development of new technologies in the area of ​​translation, the person responsible admitted that in this "transition phase," we are experiencing, with "new automatic and simultaneous translation systems", people continue to be needed.

"To communicate, we need to look into each other's eyes, move our hands, make a series of mannerisms that we know how to read in others and that the machine can never do, as well as mistakes that we will continue to make, despite the fact that, with this modern technology, we are improving with each passing day. But this is easier to do in texts and relatively restricted areas, such as a research project, than in interpersonal relationships", he said.