Portuguese in Macau vs Spanish in Gibraltar

Gibraltar Language
The official Gibraltar Language is English. But there are many more Gibraltar Language that many of the people speak in the region. Many of the people of Gibraltar are bi- lingual and so they can speak both English and Spanish with the same fluency.

English language in Gibraltar is used in many places such as schools, government, and media. Other languages in Gibraltar that are spoken are Spanish, Arabic and also the major vernacular language of Llanito.

The vernacular language of Gibraltar Llanito is a creole language based on Andalusina and Spanish. It makes use of recurrent modification between the two languages in a single conversation or simply code-switching between Spanish and English.

Before the Britishers took over Gibraltar the language of Spanish was widely spoken at Gibraltar. But later on there were less number of people who used to speak Spanish. According to the estimates taken in the year 2001, the number of people belonging to the Spanish nationality at Gibraltar was 326.

There are some people at Gibraltar who speak the Arabic language. At Gibraltar Arabic is spoken by the minority of people belonging to North Africa and Morocco. There were 961 Moroccans at Gibraltar as per the estimation done in the year 2001.

http://www.mapsofworld.com/gibraltar/society-and-culture/language.html


Portuguese language important for Macanese youth
by Fernando Ferreira

The youth of Macau had the opportunity yesterday to learn more about Macau’s role in the strategic partnership between China and the Portuguese speaking world, in an event organised by the Supporting Office to the Permanent Secretariat for the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries, presented by director Rita Santos.
The Macau government’s triple trade and services platform concept includes a trade services platform for the Western region and Guangdong province, trade and economic services platform between China and Portuguese speaking countries and a trade services platform for Chinese people world wide.
Reducing Macau’s dependency on gaming would encourage strategic Portuguese partnerships which was the corner stone of the presentation aimed at the young Macanese audience.
“Since 2003, the People's Republic of China has given an important role to Macau, to stimulate and strengthen economic and trade relations between China and Portuguese speaking countries and the only means of communication recognised by the People's Republic of China is the Portuguese language,” Rita Santos told MDTimes.
Over the years, Macau has been maintaining close ties with Portuguese speaking countries and is today considered the “only Chinese city to enjoy privileged relations with those countries.” This represents more than 200 million people and the common link is the Portuguese language.
“The major objective of Macau's government is to facilitate, encourage and promote cooperative activities to inspire not only young Macanese people to learn Portuguese and Cantonese but also young Chinese to learn Portuguese,” Santos said.
“In this particular case, being sons and daughters of Portuguese, I think they have an important responsibility to maintain this link with Macau and an intimate and strong connection with their ancestors, so that Macau can continue retaining an important position at an international level,” she added.
In addition, the Macanese youth present at the gathering enjoy a solid background in terms of education, mainly based on English language, however in order to facilitate cooperation and economical, trade and cultural relations, learning Portuguese is a “goal we would like to see happen one day.”
“The young Macanese present here should use this opportunity to see the business opportunities in Macau and how Macau can help the Chinese businessmen to import or export, or form partnerships in China, because investment in China is developing,” Santos said.
“The Sichuan earthquake has managed to create many areas of interest regarding investment, not only regarding construction, but also supermarkets, shops, small and medium enterprises and others,” she added.

http://www.macaudailytimesnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=30362&Itemid=48

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TAKE YOU PICK WHICH LANGUAGE IS IN BETTER SHAPE IN THE COUNTRIES WHERE THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO BE SPOKEN.

<<The vernacular language of Gibraltar Llanito is a creole language based on Andalusina and Spanish.
>>

Andalusian is not a language, so llanito, whatever it is, can't be a creole of Andalusian and Spanish. Andalusian is a Spanish dialect. Maybe it is a creole of English and Andalusian Spanish, that makes more sense.

This Frog (Language Critic or Visitor) doesn't understand one simple thing: Portuguese and Spanish are so similar that we don't say that.

We say that Portuguese is spoken in Macau AND Spanish in Gibraltar. If Portuguese and Spanish are spoken in a lot of countries is good for BOTH.


French is more similar to Latin in the role. It is no spoken or almost no spoken but at least it has prestige.

This Fly, French and Latin fan Mon Jan 11, 2010 11:08 am GMT or Guest doesn't understand one simple thing: French and Portuguese are so strong that we don't say that.

He couldn't accept the fact that Portuguese in Macau is in better situation than Spanish in Gibraltar which is connected to Spain. It will do good just for Portuguese and not for Spanish.


Spanish is dead because it has fragmented into several languages just like its mom, Latin.

Strange, Portuguese is alive and kicking so well in Macau when it is several thousand miles form both Portugal and Brazil while Spanish in Gibraltar even though it is bordered by Spain has the same status as it is in Belize which is bordered by Spanish speaking countries of Mexico and Guatemala.

In addition, Italian and Portuguese are now de facto official languages in Gibraltar. Russian too is becoming common in Gibraltar.

Portuguese is dead in Olivenza and Ceuta on the other hand. Do you prefer Olivenza or Timor?.

To Visitor or Language Critic,

It is very funny that French language is the THIRD Latin language.

You try to speak about Seychelles, Macau, Vanuatu, Mauritius or Timor but the most important thing is the next:

Speakers as mother tongue:

1. Spanish: 420 million. World language

2. Portuguese: 200 million. World language

3. French: 75 million. European regional language

4. Italian: 65 million. European regional language.


PD. You are very lucky that Italian is not very spoken in Africa because your language would be FOURTH.

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archivo:Bandera_de_Olivenza_DOE_123_2000.svg ---> for us.

To Guest or French and Latin Fan,

Speakers as mother tongue:

1. French: 500 million. World language

2. Portuguese: 200 million. World language

3. Spanish: 380 million. European regional language

4. Italian: 65 million. European regional language.


PS. The issue here is not number of speakers and the figure you gave is inaccurate just like the 500+ million Spanish speakers in Wikipedia, but how extensive French, Portuguese, and Spanish used in the countries they used to be ruled by these powers and then ruled by another power.

It's obvious that Spanish is "desaparecido" in the Philippines, Guam, Belize, and Gibraltar even though they were either ruled by Spain for more 300+ years or border Spanish speaking countries.

French is very much alive in Vietnam, Mauritius, and Seychelles. Portuguese too in East Timor, and Macau.

DON'T CHANGE THE TOPIC. THE TOPIC IS THE SITUATION OF THOSE 3 LANGUAGE IN THOSE COUNTRIES NOT NUMBER OF ITS NATIVE SPEAKERS.

WHY CAN'T YOU DEFEND THE SPANISH LANGUAGE BECAUSE YOU KNOW YOU'D LOOSE THIS ARGUMENT.

To Visitor or Language Critic,

What a shame! only THIRD IN THE LATIN FAMILY!

It is very funny that French language is the THIRD Latin language.

You try to speak about Seychelles, Macau, Vanuatu, Mauritius or Timor but the most important thing is the next:

Speakers as mother tongue:

1. Spanish: 420 million. World language

2. Portuguese: 200 million. World language

3. French: 75 million. European regional language

4. Italian: 65 million. European regional language.


PD. You are very lucky that Italian is not very spoken in Africa because your language would be FOURTH.

Strange, Portuguese is alive and kicking so well in Macau when it is several thousand miles form both Portugal and Brazil while Spanish in Gibraltar even though it is bordered by Spain has the same status as it is in Belize which is bordered by Spanish speaking countries of Mexico and Guatemala.

In addition, Italian and Portuguese are now de facto official languages in Gibraltar. Russian too is becoming common in Gibraltar.

It's so laughable that Spanish spoken by 330 million speakers in Spain and Hispanic America could do nothing to assure its survival in small country like Gibraltar that borders Spain.

Finally, the native language there is not even Andalusian Spanish but Gibraltar.

Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

To Guest or French and Latin Fan,

Speakers as mother tongue:

1. French: 500 million. World language

2. Portuguese: 200 million. World language

3. Spanish: 380 million. European regional language

4. Italian: 65 million. European regional language.


PS. The issue here is not number of speakers and the figure you gave is inaccurate just like the 500+ million Spanish speakers in Wikipedia, but how extensive French, Portuguese, and Spanish used in the countries they used to be ruled by these powers and then ruled by another power.

It's obvious that Spanish is "desaparecido" in the Philippines, Guam, Belize, and Gibraltar even though they were either ruled by Spain for more 300+ years or border Spanish speaking countries.

French is very much alive in Vietnam, Mauritius, and Seychelles. Portuguese too in East Timor, and Macau.

DON'T CHANGE THE TOPIC. THE TOPIC IS THE SITUATION OF THOSE 3 LANGUAGE IN THOSE COUNTRIES NOT NUMBER OF ITS NATIVE SPEAKERS.

WHY CAN'T YOU DEFEND THE SPANISH LANGUAGE BECAUSE YOU KNOW YOU'D LOOSE THIS ARGUMENT.

I am not going to participate in any useless competition between languages, unless I aim to correct false statements done before or to add something which I consider worth.

Comparing the Spanish language in Gibraltar with the Portuguese in Macao is like comparing onions with garlic.

Both Gibraltar and Macao are micro-territories.
Gibraltar has a border with Spain. Both Gibraltar and Spain are EU members. Gibraltar has a unique status as a EU territory outside the costums union. So, there's a border with no free movement of goods, but with free movement of people and workers. Both inhabitants can cross freely between Gibraltar and Spain. Many people live in Spain and go to work everyday in Gibraltar. Many tourists, including the British, go on vacation to Spain and make a day trip to Gibraltar... from Spain.
Because of this, many Gibraltarians do speak Spanish, despite the fact that Spanish is no official language in the territory.

Macao has no border with Portugal. It's thousands of kms far. It belongs to China since 1999. Under the Chinese policy of One Country, Two Systems, there's no free movement of people between Macao and the rest of China (the same with Hong Kong). The Chinese from the mainland must apply for a visa if they want to visit Macao, which is located in the same country.
Due to the Portuguese heritage, the Portuguese language is co-official in Macao. But its use was never widespread.
Years before the Portuguese gave Macao back to China, the most spoken language there was Cantonese, the second was English, and only the third was Portuguese. Only a fraction of the Chinese spoke PT. Most of the PT speakers were Portuguese civil servants and teachers.
Nowadays it's still like that (minus the Portuguese civil servants who are no longer there) and the tourist boom in Macao makes both Chinese languages even more important. Most of Macao's tourists come from the Chinese mainland.
However there's a different trend. Ties between China and Portuguese speaking countries are increasing. China is importing a great deal of commodities from Angola and Brazil. Portuguese businessmen invest in China. The Chinese also invest in Brazil, Angola and Portugal.
For these practical reasons Macao is being used as a plattform for business, and many of its inhabbitants are thinking about learning Portuguese because it might be useful for businesss. Portuguese is official in Macao and it's again becoming important there.



However, there's a different trend

<< To Visitor or Language Critic, >>

To Guest, don't you associate me with other people in this forum. My style in posting messages is totally different from others.

It's you who has the habit of using different names and you even have the habit of using others' user name Visitor and Shin-ruo.

So Guest alias Adolfo/Invitado/Franco/Sam, don't be paranoid.

You forget Colette and JLK. Where are they?