Cape Verde kind of supports Equatorial Guinea's entry into the CPLP

Found this news in Portuguese here and French here (can't seem to find it anywhere in English using a keyword search).

Apparently the Prime Minister of Cape Verde (José Maria Neves) said on the radio (RCV) that Cape Verde has no problem with Equatorial Entering the CPLP (Community of Portuguese Language Countries), after it has conformed to the statutory premises of the organization.

There's little other detail in the article, which fits well with today where there is little time to translate an article.


View Larger Map

Read more...

Cape Verde wants a Portuguese-language (CPLP) peacekeeping force

From here today in Portuguese:

Cape Verde wants to see a military peacekeeping force created by the eight member states of the CPLP, an issue that will be addressed during the 13th reunion of ministers of defence of the "Eight".

The meeting, to be held Monday and Tuesday (28 and 29 November 2011) will bring together the ministers of defence of Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and Sao Tome and Principe, while East Timor will be represented by the Secretary of State. It will take place on the island of Sal.

Defence minister Jorge Tolentino of Cape Verde said today to Agência Lusa that Cape Verde will continue to defend this idea of a CPLP joint force, although he admits that there would be institutional and constitutional difficulties in implementing it.

View Larger Map

Read more...

French podcast on the status of the Portuguese language in Africa

Here's an interesting podcast in French of about 26 minutes in length on the status of the Portuguese language in Africa, specifically in Guinea-Bissau, Cabo Verde, Angola and Mozambique. Actually, I think I can embed it here...

There we go. It's all spoken so I was only able to jot down a few notes while listening. They are:

Guinea-Bissau is the place where Portuguese is weakest, as very few speak it fluently, even in government. They have a Portuguese creole there, used a lot but without a written standard so it's spoken only. Apparently the negative is often formed with ka.

Cabo Verde has a Portuguese creole too, which apparently is closer to standard Portuguese than that in Guinea-Bissau.

Portuguese in Angola is quite strong, and there are four regional languages that receive support/approval from the government too. Some 75% of the population speaks Portuguese.

Mozambique is where Portuguese is the strongest, and schools etc. are all in Portuguese. I have a post here from last month with a lot more information on how much Portuguese is used there - apparently it's used for 90% of urban communication there.

Read more...

Portuguese spoken by 20% of the population in East Timor, and "is here to stay"

From an article here in Portuguese. 20% of the population translates into a total of about 225,000 speakers. Here's part of the article:

Cite of Praia, 19 November - The Portuguese language, "as a matter of identity, is here to stay" in East Timor, where around 20% of the population speaks the language, said the new East Timorese Ambassador to Cape Verde (Natália Carrascalão) on Thursday.

...

At present, she said, children learn Portuguese in schools and adults over 40 years of age generally speak the language. "Very rudimentarily, but they speak it."

View Larger Map

Read more...