Portuguese and Its Preservation

I really enjoyed this article by Larry Rohter (showing once again that when writes about travel or cultural issues in Brazil he's much better than writing about politics) about the Museum of the Portuguese Language and efforts to preserve and proitect the language. he starts with a fact that probably few knew:

More people speak Portuguese as their native language than French, German, Italian or Japanese. So it can rankle the 230 million Portuguese speakers that the rest of the world often views their mother tongue as a minor language and that their novelists, poets and songwriters tend to be overlooked.

I cannot tell you how many times people have asked me if I speak Spanish when I tell them I visit Brazil regularly. I do speak Spanish (my Portuguese is much better), but it doesn't do me any good in Brazil. Rohter also points out some of the differences between Continental Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese:

The issue is not just the contrast between the mellifluous, musical accent of Brazil — “Portuguese with sugar,” in the words of the 19th-century realist Eça de Queiroz — and the clipped, almost guttural sound in Portugal. There are also marked differences in usage that have traditionally led to misunderstandings and provided fodder for jokes.

In Portugal, for example, a word for a line (the waiting kind) is to Brazilians a derogatory slang term for a homosexual. A Portuguese word for a man’s suit of clothes means a fact or piece of information in Brazil. [ed. note: for the curious among you the words are bicha and fato, respectively]

I have to agree with Rohter's first paragraph above. I find the Continental Portuguese accent very difficult to understand, but not the Brazilian one. I'm sure that's simply a matter of exposure. Nevertheless, it's a lovely language with a strong literary tradition on both sides of the Atlantic. It's encouraging to see it getting the attention it deserves.

Comments

[xavier]

Randy:
Intresting:
I find European Portuguese easier to understand and speak than Brazilian. I suspect because it's closer to Catalan.
In any case, it's interesting to know :)
xavier

[Akaky]

And speaking of languages and their preservation, Randy, it's its preservation, not it's preservation. You're using the possessive, not a contraction. I don't know this for certain, but I would guess that this egregious error is due to your losing your fear of nuns. You wouldn't have put that apostrophe in if you knew Sister Mary Sledgehammer was standing behind you watching you like a hawk and just waiting for the chance to whack you upside your head.

[Randy Paul]

Fixed and thanks.