Unbelievable the quantity of mistakes I read in this topic! Most of you guys or you don't live in Macau, or you are far very far to know what is the reality of the territory.
First and foremost, Portuguese is part of the identity of Macau, and no matter it hurts you, if you don't understand that, you don't understand this place identity (remove the signs in Portuguese, translate it to English and this city will look in the pictures as Hong Kong).
Blackraven, the Portuguese is the official language of Macau. If the Chinese can speak it or not, the ones working in public services have to. Of course the proliferation is not great, never been (the colonial government never obligate the Chinese to speak the language), but you've more people speaking Portuguese in Macau today compared to ten years ago. Be reminded that Macau was chosen by Central Government to be the platform between China and Portuguese speaking countries. This year you had 5,000 new Chinese students learning Portuguese. The interest is not going down.
Of course with the Casino booming the English quickly became the automatic second language in the local casino world and soon there were calls for it to gain an even more important footing in Macau. Outside legal firms eying the increasingly lucrative local market as well as expatriate businessmen (the yanks, the aussies and a few brits) continue to lobby the Government to translate local legislation into English.
Others go as far as claiming that the territory should have just gone with English as its second official-language, right from the start – conveniently ignoring the fact that most local residents still don’t speak a word of it.
We all know too that we have many cowboys in town!
mrfusion, your signature says a lot about your comments. No offense mate. There is just one Portuguese school in Macau, you're right (!), but you have 5 others teaching you in Portuguese. You have 8 others teaching you in English... not too bad!
Anyway your comments remind many I heard before. But we all know that Beijing people can see the importance of the Portuguese language more clearly than the Macau people...
Let me remind you at the Macau Legislative Assembly, Portuguese language was repeatedly used as scapegoat by lawmakers for all the juridical problems MSAR faced. It all changed with Chinese premier Wen Jiabao’s visit, last November, in what was a clear signal of Beijing’s support for the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries, known as Macau Forum. Two weeks later, several lawmakers rushed to jump on the bandwagon, urging that the Government promote Portuguese language and cooperation with Portuguese-speaking countries. This U-turn shows a frightening narrow-mindedness and cue-taking.
Let's never forget that the law in Macau is based in the Portuguese law. Let's not be invaded by the common law, Macau has an identity and although it might not be visible Portuguese is still important for Macau and Chinese foreign policy.
jlvillalba, if you try your Portuguese skills with the bus driver or in a casino, yes you won't be successful (probably if you try in English, or even in Mother language Mandarin you wont be successful too!). Try a public service for example! And yes, a policeman has to speak Portuguese, or else, how can he read your rights?
The Portuguese will stay in Macau until the day Beijing says is enough. And knowing the Central Government respect for the agreements they done in the past, the Portuguese will stay till 2049 and beyond (as a cultural object). Anyway the Cantonese and the Traditional Chinese are in no different situation (better shape I agree). Sooner or later they will also disappear to give room to Mandarin and simplified Chinese...
E agora, em português, me despeço de todos, esperando que agora estejam mais esclarecidos.
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