[Goanet-News] As spelling changes, Portugal feels the empire striking back
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hzaNVZFXuPcnLm-mMOA251aYDO_gD909LCRG0 As spelling changes, Portugal feels the empire striking back By BARRY HATTON – 16 hours ago LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal's former empire is striking back — through language. As Brazil rises on the international stage and its one-time colonial master wanes, a proposed standardization of the Portuguese language would require hundreds of words to be spelled the Brazilian way. The Portuguese government approves, but some here are mortified. There is no need for us to take a back seat to Brazil, protested Vasco Graca Moura, a respected poet who is among those leading the charge against the changes. For a once-mighty power whose language is an official one for some 230 million people worldwide, it's a blow to pride comparable to making the British adopt American spelling -- honor, for instance, instead of honour. But advocates say the benefits include easier Internet searches in Portuguese and uniform legalese for international contracts. Portuguese officials hope it can advance an old ambition of getting Portuguese adopted as an official language at the United Nations, which currently has six. The government has asked Parliament to ratify an agreement with the world's seven other Portuguese-speaking countries — Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, East Timor, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, and Sao Tome and Principe. The changes would match spelling more closely to the way words are pronounced by removing silent consonants, as Brazilians do. Thus optimo (great) would become otimo, and accao (action) would become acao. The alphabet would expand to 26 letters by adding k, w and y, to accommodate words like kilometro and kwanza, the Angolan currency. New rules on hyphens and accents would change auto-estrada (highway) to autoestrada. Only about 2,000 words out of the 110,000-word Portuguese vocabulary are affected and modifications are to be adopted by all seven countries, but three-quarters of the changes fall on Portugal. In Brazil, independent of Portugal since 1822, some sympathize with the mother country's wounded pride. It's natural there is resistance, said Ottaviano de Fiore, an academic adviser at the Museum of the Portuguese Language in Sao Paulo. We used to be the colony, and all of a sudden we are the ones colonizing them. That's going to be strange. But there's no escaping reality; Brazil is bigger and more populous. It has 190 million Portuguese speakers and an economy big enough for the European Union to be offering it a political and economic alliance, granting it the same status as China, India and Russia. Portugal, on the other hand, is one of the least influential of the EU's 27 member states. Its population of 10.6 million accounts for only around 1 percent of the bloc's GDP. Brazilian culture abounds here. Portuguese have embraced Brazilian restaurants and caipirinha, a distilled sugarcane drink. Brazilian TV soap operas are prime-time staples. This month, Parliament invited proponents and dissenters to a debate about spelling, and it ran a passionate nine hours. Graca Moura saw a capitulation to Brazilian economic and diplomatic influence, while literature professor Carlos Reis chided the holdouts for clinging to unnecessary orthodoxies. Should Portugal remain bound to a conservative view of spelling, as if it were the last bulwark of Portuguese identity? Reis asked. Parliament is to vote on the changes on May 15. On blogs, tempers have flared over what the Portuguese call brasileirizacao, or Brazilization. One anonymous writer calls it a dictatorial imposition. Another counters that with such resistance to change, we'd still be speaking Latin! Yet Spain and France have had little trouble settling similar linguistic differences with their former colonies, and Jose Saramago, Portugal's only Nobel literature laureate, says the resisters' attitude smacks of linguistic chauvinism. We have to get over this idea that we own the language, said Saramago, 85. The language is owned by those who speak it, for better or for worse. Associated Press writers Tales Azzoni in Sao Paulo, Brazil; Elaine Ganley in Paris; and Ciaran Giles in Madrid, Spain, contributed to this report.
[Goanet-News] Seeking submissions: Goanet Reader
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[Goanet-News] Goa news for April 28, 2008
Goa News from Google News and Goanet.org Visit http://www.goanet.org/newslinks.php for the full stories. *** Fiona MacKeown returns to Goa - Navhind Times [3 hours ago] ... earlier this year, has returned to Goa from England and is expected to meet senior police officials on April 28, to follow up the case. ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/0-0fd=Rurl=http://www.navhindtimes.com/articles.php?Story_ID=042874cid=1153641208ei=fQwVSMbMH6DurQOGidGRBQusg=AFrqEzcROuRxkEEyOxjD4Yt1O1RqkX25iQ *** Best Suited To Goa - Navhind Times [6 hours ago] A Goa Agenda can only be meaningful if the government, people and investors agree to promote service industries in Goa. Such industries could include... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/3-0fd=Rurl=http://www.navhindtimes.com/articles.php?Story_ID=04285cid=1154282849ei=fQwVSMbMH6DurQOGidGRBQusg=AFrqEzcOeaegmz82fqj3u080mOgu3pRxwQ *** Goa\'s complete online news edition - Sunday, April 27, 2008 - Herald Publications [19 hours ago] Paceman Sreesanth crying bitterly on the ground after being allegedly slapped by Harbhajan for something he said, which the off-spinner found offensive, ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/6-0fd=Rurl=http://oheraldo.in/pagedetails.asp?nid=3170cid=1cid=0ei=fQwVSMbMH6DurQOGidGRBQusg=AFrqEzfScgoY8I5gKmK9x9SYVE6p5U3VyA *** BJP sells coconuts, Goa traders upset - Times of India [Apr 24, 2008] PANAJI: Out of power in Goa since 2005, the BJP has hit upon a novel idea to corner the Congress-led government. For a fortnight now, the party has been ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-0fd=Rurl=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/BJP_sells_coconuts_Goa_traders_upset/articleshow/2980920.cmscid=0ei=fQwVSMbMH6DurQOGidGRBQusg=AFrqEzcU2wLKJh8oTfCP7rgVvFR0ndQbyQ *** Amonkars Quest For Inter-Religious Harmony - Navhind Times [6 hours ago] The Sikhs are the great benefactors of Goa. It was the brave Sikh battalion, which played a historic role in liberating Goa. The Sikhs sacrificed their ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-0fd=Rurl=http://www.navhindtimes.com/articles.php?Story_ID=04283cid=0ei=fQwVSMbMH6DurQOGidGRBQusg=AFrqEzdjgPQAy2YTb0nge93brPKWCSy6qg *** Sesa Goa plans stock split, bonus issue - domain-B , India - [Apr 26, 2008] Mumbai: Iron ore exporter Sesa Goa Ltd is going for a stock split and a bonus issue of shares. The board of directors of the company which met to consider ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/7-0fd=Rurl=http://www.domain-b.com/companies/companies_s/Sesa_Goa/20080426_sesa_goa.htmlcid=0ei=fQwVSMbMH6DurQOGidGRBQusg=AFrqEzd5L3sK3Hi3gJ0EiS8YPiD9aZOcKA *** 500 eco clubs in Goa? - Herald Publications [19 hours ago] NEW DELHI, APRIL 26 #148; Does Goa have as many as 500 eco clubs? That is what the Central government says. In an answer to Goa Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik, ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/5-0fd=Rurl=http://oheraldo.in/pagedetails.asp?nid=3162cid=2cid=0ei=fQwVSMbMH6DurQOGidGRBQusg=AFrqEzfZTPxsaxDIt080bQTcqTczF129Fg *** India\'s Sesa Goa to consider stock split, bonus issue - Reuters [Apr 26, 2008] MUMBAI, April 26 (Reuters) - Indian iron ore exporter Sesa Goa Ltd (SESA.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Saturday its board would consider a stock ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/4-0fd=Rurl=http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSBOM15212920080426cid=1154156982ei=fQwVSMbMH6DurQOGidGRBQusg=AFrqEzcNE9BV1d1Kzhh-5SoTLDjnGNw-ZQ *** Goa meet Uttarakhand, Meghalaya in Santosh cluster - Navhind Times [2 hours ago] Former champions Goa have been grouped alongside Meghalaya and Uttarakhand in Cluster VIII of 62nd National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy, ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/2-0fd=Rurl=http://www.navhindtimes.com/articles.php?Story_ID=042879cid=0ei=fQwVSMbMH6DurQOGidGRBQusg=AFrqEzeOpS5OqmWpb8rjJxXVVhKEmygJhQ *** Go Goa: West coast wonderland is about water sports - Economic Times [18 hours ago] Goa is much more than beaches and sea. I realised this when I visited the scenic city. EnthrallingGoan dances, life full of adventure, water sports and ... http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-0fd=Rurl=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Features/The_Sunday_ET/Go_Goa_West_coast_wonderland_is_about_water_sports/articleshow/2986621.cmscid=1154154619ei=fQwVSMbMH6DurQOGidGRBQusg=AFrqEzeEa-E-ivkjziMNddDiBgL8o6oPXQ Compiled by Goanet News Service http://www.goanet.org/newslinks.php
