In a message alluding to the World Day of the Portuguese Language, which is celebrated today, the Cape Verdean Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Regional Integration, Rui Figueiredo Soares, said the occasion is an opportunity to make the international community aware of the history, culture, and use of the language in each member state of the Portuguese-speaking community.
For Soares, Portuguese has yet to assert itself as a business or scientific language, and it is always necessary to resort to translated literature in the academic world.
“The challenge could not be greater: to transform the common language into a facilitating factor for business, wealth creation, investment in research and innovation, knowledge sharing, and to apply all this potential in joint public policies that promote the improvement of living conditions for citizens of the Portuguese-speaking Community, who always aspire to a higher level of development,” reads the message.
According to Rui Figueiredo Soares, if the language has cultural, strategic, economic, and geopolitical value, “greater investment” is needed in public policies for teaching and learning it.
“Whether as a first or second language, so that the citizens of the CPLP [Community of Portuguese Language Countries] do not encounter barriers that may hinder their integration in any territory of the Portuguese Language Community and, in a much broader field, which is that of information and communication technologies, determinants in a world that lives increasingly online,” he continued.
The minister said that the contribution of the International Institute of the Portuguese Language (IILP, part of the CPLP), based in Cidade da Praia, “can and should be decisive” in the implementation of programs and projects that contribute to the massification of the use of language in the CPLP and its internationalization, as a factor promoting peace, inclusion, and development.
“Portuguese will be a stronger and more dynamic language if it is increasingly spoken and valued, always taking into account the diversity and richness that characterize it, as well as the possible dialogues that can establish with other languages and cultures,” he said.
May 5 was officially established in 2009 by the CPLP to celebrate the Portuguese language and Lusophone cultures.
In 2019, the 40th Session of the UNESCO General Conference proclaimed May 5 of each year as “World Portuguese Language Day.”
This year, the celebration takes place under the theme “Realities, Challenges and Opportunities in the Portuguese Language Space: Literacy, Science, Culture and Economy”.
With information from Lusa