caparica007 Posted December 27, 2013 Report Share Posted December 27, 2013 Portugal and Brazil have signed an orthographic agreement that makes both written Portuguese similar. This has created some resistance here in my Portugal because people don't like changes and some of our words now look weird.Has this happened with English or other languages that you know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peninha Posted December 27, 2013 Report Share Posted December 27, 2013 I am Portuguese and I know what you mean, this might have happened a year ago right, it was approved before we even noticed and all of a sudden our silent consonants have disappeared and other changes in quite a few words. Some people still use the "old" way of writing and I am slowly adjusting to the new one.It's not a big deal for me, but at the same time I don't understand what was the goal of this change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andre-nunes Posted December 27, 2013 Report Share Posted December 27, 2013 I'm Portuguese but I can tell that there's also resistance on Brazil's side, so far as I can tell there's been protests against the agreement from both sides of the Atlantic.I'm one of the few Portuguese who's not against it :grin: I think that a unified language is the way to go and the agreement improves some parts of the language that were difficult to teach and learn, like the silent consonants, if they are silent why should we write them? I know it is related to accentuation on the pronunciation of those words but it adds to the difficulty of the language. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katara Posted December 28, 2013 Report Share Posted December 28, 2013 I never heard anything similar to this one. I don't know much about it only what I've read or the true intentions behind such a bold move, but it looks like it is heading towards a positive direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justusforus Posted December 28, 2013 Report Share Posted December 28, 2013 I have never heard of this type of agreement. It seems from the comments though maybe there was not enough public input or comment prior to it being instituted. I assume if it is done to standardize for trade or maybe something like signage, it may be a good idea. However, I do believe the people affected should have been fully apprised and public hearings had on it before doing anything that affects so many. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trellum Posted December 28, 2013 Report Share Posted December 28, 2013 That sounds awful, capa I'd be really upset if they did the same to the spanish language! I bet it was really confusing when it just started. It's crazy they do something like that. I mean... isn't the beauty of many things in the differences between one and another? I'm apalled by this decision. I'm sure some words have changed a lot, right? Specially the way they are pronounced, right? What a pity! Do you know why they have done this? There must be a really good reason to do such a thing! I don't think they just did it so ''both languages are written in a similar way''. I hope there is a good reason for that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
True2marie Posted December 28, 2013 Report Share Posted December 28, 2013 I don't know of any other cultures that made an orthographic agreement. Maybe only in Brazil and Portugal has this type of pact become necessary. Most other places have a formal means of speaking and writing the native language. The only variation is with slang or through dialect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andre-nunes Posted January 1, 2014 Report Share Posted January 1, 2014 I don't know of any other cultures that made an orthographic agreement. Maybe only in Brazil and Portugal has this type of pact become necessary. Most other places have a formal means of speaking and writing the native language. The only variation is with slang or through dialect.It's not only between Brazil and Portugal, it was agreed by every PALOP(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese-speaking_African_countries) as well. It's sad that the people, those who use the language the most were not consulted about this and that this standard was entirely done by Academics.Here's more info about the Agreement: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_Language_Orthographic_Agreement_of_1990 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peninha Posted January 3, 2014 Report Share Posted January 3, 2014 Yes, it was agreed between all Portuguese speaking countries, but I don't recall the population being consulted about this. Above all I don't get the point in this, to uniformize the language between all the countries that speak Portuguese? Is it that important? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andre-nunes Posted January 3, 2014 Report Share Posted January 3, 2014 Yes, it was agreed between all Portuguese speaking countries, but I don't recall the population being consulted about this. Above all I don't get the point in this, to uniformize the language between all the countries that speak Portuguese? Is it that important?Well I think they want to make the language easier to teach and learn. To make it more modern, that's why it's writing is moving away from the roots and is becoming more related to how the words sound, phonetically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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