Portugal's former colonies are striking back--through language. As Brazil rises on the international stage and its one-time colonial master wanes, a standardization of the Portuguese language would require hundreds of words to be spelt the Brazilian way. In April 2008, the world's seven Portuguese speaking nations agreed to standardize spellings. And on January 1, the largest of them, Brazil, began acting on the accord. Brazillians usually spell Portuguese words the way they are pronounced, but many in the country prefer using spellings of colonial masters. The changes would match spelling more closely to the way words are pronounced. Silent consonants would be removed. 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.
Portugal has not set a deadline for adopting the changes and many in the country are mortified. "For a once mighty power whose language is official for some 230 million people, it's a blow to pride comparable to making the British adopt American spelling," protested Vasco Graca Moura, a poet who is among those leading the charge against the changes.
But advocates say the benefits include easier Internet searches in Portuguese. Portuguese officials hope it can advance an old ambition of getting Portuguese adopted as an official language at the un.
Angolan writer Jose Eduardo Agualusa believes that the reforms will be of most benefit to African countries. "Right now in Angola, there are two ways of spelling--the Brazilian way and the Portuguese way--that in a country whose great challenge is to ensure literacy," he said.
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