RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – According to the Camões Institute, today (5), World Portuguese Language Day, 260 million people (3.7% of the world’s population) speak the language, which is the most widely used after Mandarin, English and Spanish.
Portuguese is the official language of nine member countries of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) and Macau.
This year, the official commemorations will take place in Brazil, where the President of the Assembly of the Portuguese Republic, Augusto Santos Silva, will be present.
For him, the future of the Portuguese language depends on every citizen who speaks and writes it.
Before traveling to Brazil, Silva recorded a video in which he pays tribute to the date and talks about its importance.
CELEBRATIONS
The third edition of the International Day of the Portuguese Language will be celebrated with 139 actions in 52 countries, with Angola and Brazil taking the lead.
A large part of the initiatives will be organized in collaboration with CPLP countries.
The date, set by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) for November 2019, will be celebrated in a more organized way this year, as previous editions were limited by restrictions due to the Covid 19 pandemic.
In addition to Angola, which holds the rotating presidency of the CPLP and is organizing a festival named after the Lusophone community in Luanda, among other events, Mozambique and Cabo Verde stand out in Africa as countries with the most activities planned.