If you look at any calendar, you can easily see that there are days to celebrate your parents, your siblings, children and our planet. There are specific days when you celebrate love, important moments in your country's history and even a certain day in April dedicated to the lies you can deceive someone with! There really are days to celebrate everything and more.
Therefore, it is not surprising that there are days to celebrate the languages spoken in different countries, which also deserve a mention. So, in today's article, we are going to tell you about one of the most important days for the Portuguese language: the 5th of May. On this date, the World Portuguese Language Day is celebrated.
Hi! I'm Lisandro, I live in Portugal and work at Glorick as a creator of educational content, translator, proofreader and Portuguese teacher. That's why I'm writing this article, to tell you about the Portuguese language.
Who decided that on this day the Portuguese language should be celebrated? When was this date established? Why should a language be celebrated?
Don't worry: there are answers to all these questions. Starting precisely at the beginning. This date was chosen by the CPLP, the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries, which is an international organization formed by nine Portuguese-speaking countries, spread over several continents and which share strong social, cultural and economic ties: Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau. Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, without forgetting, of course, Timor-Leste.
In 2009, CLPL chose the date of May 5th to celebrate the value and history of the Portuguese language, which is one of the elements that connect these countries and, of course, their inhabitants, their communities and respective cultures. Later, UNESCO itself, during a General Conference, also decided to highlight this date as World Portuguese Language Day.
Does the Portuguese language really deserve to have a day just for itself?
Of course yes! Like the Spanish language, celebrated on April 23, or the French language, celebrated annually on March 20, all other languages deserve equal place in their own festival. And the Portuguese language has many reasons to be applauded.
The Portuguese language continues, in fact, to be one of the most spoken languages in the world, with millions of native speakers and many others who learn and use it daily as a foreign language. A language with several centuries of existence and in constant evolution, which results from the continuous contact with so many peoples and cultures, from whom it received small and large influences - still noticed today.
A party is a party — and the language belongs to everyone!
On May 5th, therefore, we will celebrate a language that remains extremely relevant in the world's socio-economic scenario. A language full of beauty, with its own rhythm, a captivating pronunciation and a vocabulary full of mysteries. A very diverse language, with its own characteristics depending on the country where we are: a Portuguese has pequeno-almoço (breakfast), but a Brazilian has café da manhã (breakfast)!
And what is the future of the Portuguese language?
The projection and global weight of the Portuguese language only reveals that the interest in learning and using it is here to stay. There are more and more people looking for Portuguese courses, either because they want to go on vacation to Brazil, attend Carnival, or for professional reasons, with business in Portuguese-speaking countries, or because of curiosity or even the emotion of listening to fado — the beautiful and mysterious music that the Portuguese are so fond of offering to those who visit them.
Glorick could not fail to celebrate this day, reinforcing its commitment to teaching the Portuguese language. A teaching of quality and excellence, adapted to the needs of each client, with native and committed teachers. Do you want to know more about our offer? We are here to answer any questions you may have!
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