I must say I am very sad with all the doubts that suddenly sprinkled around the latest Portuguese Ortographic Agreement (AOP). This agreement was designed to keep Portuguese as one language, widely spoken throughout the world, for the next 2 centuries. It was designed to strengthen cultural and economical ties between Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, East-Timor, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Principe,... If we don't do nothing about it, it is known that languages will slip to differentiation, according to the place where they are spoken. If we want Portuguese to still be one language, that our grand-children can be understood after flying half a world away, we need to act - and that was the objective of AOP.
But then, there is also the economical link. Portuguese is nowadays one of the world's most important languages - mainly thanks to Brazil (the world's 8th economy) strength. The fact that we speak one common language, enables economical, business and personal mobility ties, making the Portuguese countries community stronger globally. AOP stands for that. And, always travelling around the world, and understanding the benefits of one Portuguese language, I stand for AOP as well.
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2 comments:
"If we want Portuguese to still be one language, that our grand-children can be understood after flying half a world away, we need to act - and that was the objective of AOP."
NO, it wasn't. Portuguese and "Brazilian" is one language as much as British and American English. Actually, the differences between Portuguese and "Brazilian" is far far wider than between British and American English. It's more than orthography. It's phonetics and semantic construction. The construction of sentences is Portuguese IS DIFFERENT from what is done in Brazil. Even same words words have different meanings. The language they speak in Brazil is based on Portuguese BUT has evolved towards a completely different direction due to the influences of immigrants and natives that went to Brazil since their independence. THE REST of the Portuguese speaking world uses Portuguese as spoken and written in the country that gave birth to the language: Portugal.
Another misconception is that the AO unifies the language. That is FALSE. The Agreement has TONS of multiple exceptions to the rules because it follows the logic "you write as you speak". Actually, it not only DOESN'T unify anything as it creates new orthographic differences that didn't existed before (example: Reception in Portugal and Brasil was written "recepção". With the AO, in Brasil it remains "recepção" while in Portugal is supposed to be now written "receção".
In the end, the AO does NOT fortify anything. It violates the cultural identity of all countries that signed it (Angola and Mozambique did NOT signed it) and destroys the evolution of the language in both sides of the pond. Furthermore it consists on an insult to anyone with 2 braincells. The orthographic differences between Portugal and Brazil exist because we DON'T speak the same way. Neither the accents are the same, nor the way of speaking is. You can't unify what isn't unifiable.
We have always understood each other. The strength of the language must come not from artificial pseudo-unifications but from the cooperation between the states in terms of elimination of extra-taxes aplied to books and cultural goods between the CPLP countries. (Brazil applies high taxes on imported products, even books in Portuguese.)
This (as well as MANY other reasons) is why NO ONE wants it. Neither in Portugal NOR in Brazil itself.
(Btw, just so you know, the most influential writers in the Portuguese language across the world are ALL Portuguese, not Brazilian.)
First of all, thanks for the comment. It is very well built, clarifying in many ways and written by someone who actually read the agreement. It is an intelligent comment, something that many times is rather uncommon in this whole issue.
But then, I don't agree with some of the parts of the comment.
It is true that South American and European Portuguese are more different than American and European English (though, English usually say that American only speak half a language). And it is true that it stops the independent evolution of the language on "both sides of the pond". But that is, in a way its objective - to try to unify its evolution. To try to make sure that, in the future, the countries still share a common language.
Portuguese and Spanish were also a common language (probably with a few regional differences). This agreement tries to prevent "Brazilian" and Portuguese to become two independent languages in the future. It intends to halt the natural evolution of the languages (one might argue that it is rather difficult to actually evolve a language by governmental decree - and I agree with that, but I think it is a needed effort. It is the "you can't unify what isn't unifiable" argument that you present. You might actually be right - but, again, I believe we need to try to do it).
The fact that there is such a strong opposition to the agreement should be seen as a diplomatic failure. England was able to actually make its language evolve solidly throughout the US, India and Commonwealth countries. Portugal should do the same together with Brazil and the PALOPs (a remark on this, as only an elite actually speaks Portuguese, and the remainder of the population speaks a local "creoulo" mix). It is needed for cultural, economic and development reasons.
And I completely agree with you when you say it is needed to go beyond this agreement. That we need to have stronger steps in terms of cultural sharing between the countries. You refer the taxes on books, I could also point out that we miss dedicated film festivals for Portuguese speaking movies, sports cooperation, stronger ties at university levels...
Than, just on your last point. When you say the most influential writers of the Portuguese language are Portuguese, I tend to agree. But then... not so much. Jorge Amado is incredibly influent, Agualusa is also very interesting and language as evolved beyond book writing - soap operas, music, internet production are all good examples. And, when I had the opportunity to visit the Portuguese Language Museum in São Paulo, I understood that Brazil is actually doing a lot more to cherish and protect our Portuguese language than Portugal.
Note: I still write "recepção", I write "facto", capitalize the months ("Janeiro" will always be "Janeiro") and make all sorts of mistakes according to the AOP... But I still defend it. Go figure...
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