The inaugural World Portuguese Language Day is held in honour of one of the most widely spoken languages in the world and the most widely spoken in the southern hemisphere. It was established by UNESCO in November last year in recognition of the importance of Portuguese as a global language and as a vehicle of international communication.
The writer Vergílio Ferreira once stated that "one cannot think outside the possibilities of the language in which one thinks", drawing attention to language as a space of thought and identity: "to change language is to change one's way of thinking and the tone of that thinking".
In an era of globalisation, we must defend linguistic diversity. Without this diversity in our modes of thinking, manifested in each language, the world would become more monotonous, more monochrome.
Portuguese is a language with great vigour. In terms of culture and creation. In terms of knowledge and science. In terms of communication and cooperation. It is one of those languages which will facilitate our writing the "history of the future".
In Letter to Mozambique, Rui Knop i speaks of the Portuguese language as a common denominator, "tempered by the creative frenzy of new cultures, that evolve and expand a concurrent homeland in their own non-transferable paths". Today, as in the past, our common language nds sources of permanent enrichment in Africa, Asia, Brazil and in all places where Portuguese is spoken.
As expressed in the UNESCO resolution, for its history, geography and lexical heritage, the Portuguese language is both a vessel that shelters cultural diversity and dialogue between civilisations, and a bridge that allows closer ties and new forms of expression and interaction to be forged between societies.
Let us therefore celebrate this inaugural World Portuguese Language Day with the sentiments António Ferreira expressed in a letter to Pêro de Andrade Caminha:
"Blossom, speak, sing, listen and live! Portuguese language, wherever you are, Go forth with pride and dignity!"
The proclamation of this World Day reinforces the importance of the CPLP and our common responsibility towards our language and its projection in the world.
