Portugal Speaks Brazilian in a Globalized World

The government of Portugal has voted to adopt Brazilian Portuguese as the official language of Portugal. The South American language does not have the silent consonants that the European one does and has three extra letters. The reform is part of an agreement designed to standardize the language. Democracy rules the day as the reforms impose the language spoken/written by the most people.

Some countries have official language governing bodies like Brazil’s Academia Brasileira de Letras or France’s Académie française (English, and especially the mixed dialect used in the United States, does not). There are even international linguistic organizations such as the Community of Portuguese Language Countries and the Francophonie. While these groups help with some standardization, problems arise when two users of the same language cannot effectively communicate. The rise of globalization has made streamlining languages an important deal. While no one should expect the return of Esperanto, expect to see other countries, including the English speaking states, agree on official spellings (if only for scientific purposes).