BBC launches Portuguese for Africa service
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Among other languages. I'm happy with this news because it could help to balance out the silly (in my opinion) power struggle that seems to go on between Brazil and Portugal over which side is real Portuguese, or whose standard deserves to be given more weight. African Portuguese countries on the other hand don't really seem to be a part of this, and I don't expect they feel as attached to certain expressions or standards that Brazil and Portugal might.
(People that know more about the subject can correct me if I'm wrong)
The article states:
You can see the site here. One article here is about the visit by the Angolan president to Portugal, where it says:In recent years the eight Portuguese speaking countries have signed a document urging everyone to unify the way in which the language is written.
Filipe Correia De Sa is the language expert for Para Africa, Portuguese for Africa and he felt that their department needed a place were they could gather their linguistic knowledge and have the opportunity to develop it further.
He has produced the pages on style, impartial writing, independence, pronunciation and much more. He feels that the Portuguese for Africa site will contribute in the integration of the written form of the Portuguese language.
Em entrevista à BBC para África, Fernando Jorge Cardoso, Coordenador do Programa África do Instituto de Estudos Estratégicos Internacionais em Lisboa, salientou que "Angola ocupou o quarto lugar das exportações portuguesas após a Espanha, a Alemanha e a França.In an interview with BBC para Africa, Fernando Jorge Cardoso, Coordinator of Programa Africa of the Institute of International Strategic Studies in Lisbon, stressed that "Angola occupies the fourth place in Portuguese exports after Spain, Germany and France."
3 comments:
Lusophone African countries, which have achieved independence from Portugal only some decades ago, follow European portuguese as the written standard (although the pronunciation of native speakers in Africa is closer to the Brazilian accents due to major changes that happened in European Portuguese accents in the last three centuries.)
The situation of Portuguese language "standards" is much like the English language situation: American English is the standard in USA, and British English is the standard in other English-speaking countries. The situation of Brazilian Portuguese is like the situation of American English in this regard.
Sounds a bit like Canadian English (mostly the same as British spelling, pronunciation little different from American). Would that be a valid comparison?
Lusophone African countries, which have achieved independence from Portugal only some decades ago, follow European portuguese as the written standard (although the pronunciation of native speakers in Africa is closer to the Brazilian accents due to major changes that happened in European Portuguese accents in the last three centuries.)
The situation of Portuguese language "standards" is much like the English language situation: American English is the standard in USA, and British English is the standard in other English-speaking countries. The situation of Brazilian Portuguese is like the situation of American English in this regard.
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