A language
is a very important part on every country's culture. It is through it
that people can communicate and teach their values and costumes. Without
a language we wouldn't be able to achieve all we have achieved
throughout the centuries ...
When
people started migrating or colonising other parts of the world, the
languages they used spread to those other countries. This happened to
Latin, with the Roman Empire, with English, French, Spanish and
Portuguese in the colonial era. But just because there is more than one
country speaking the same language it doesn't mean that that language is
going to be always the same for both countries.
Languages
evolve. They evolve according to their usage and to the culture
of the people who use them. So if you have two different countries
using the same language, but they live half world apart from each other it is quite
normal that their usage and interpretation of that language will be
different. That's why we have "variants", so we can identify and respect those differences and the culture of the countries behind those differences. We see it with the English language, we see it with the Spanish Language and we used to see it with the Portuguese Language too ...
But the Portuguese Government decided to sign with other Portuguese speaking countries an Orthographic Agreement that, in their view, would "unify and simplify" the Portuguese Language. Well in our Team's opinion as well as of many linguists around the world this couldn't be further from the truth. The fact is, this document violates the right of each country to have their own identity and their own language. The changes proposed force the Portuguese to use words that belong to Brazil and therefore are a result of the Brazilian culture, not the Portuguese. We believe both countries have the right to their individuality, but this document violates that.
That's why our Team supports the National Petition against this Document to be delivered in the Portuguese Parliament. To sign it, you need to be a Portuguese Citizen. All you have to do is click on the link, download and print the form, sign it according to your identity card (Cartão do Cidadão/B.I.) and send it to the address published on the page. It is a very small gesture that may mean a lot to our secular language.
If you need further information on this matter, please fell free to contact us.
Updated Words Team
