The writer and journalist Monica Villela Grayley believes that social networks are “allies” in the promotion of the Portuguese language and that their potential should be taken into account in the strategy to promote this language, which was established in 2008.
“I think there should be a review of the promotion strategy approved in 2008, because the world is very different,” said Monica Villela Grayley, author of the book “The Portuguese Language as a Political Property: A World of Opportunity for Portuguese Speaking Countries , launching Thursday, at the CPLP headquarters.
According to the author, lawmakers and state policy makers to promote language should “use the potential of social networks.”
“Today we live in a different world, we have the internet that needs language everywhere in real time. The internet, and social networks in particular, is very important,” he said.
About the book, the Brazilian journalist says he is the first to speak Portuguese as “an international language”.
The work has twenty proposals, with which the author makes “an open invitation to those who have the power to promote the language, but also the diasporas, scientists, every citizen who has a social network today, to continue to promote the Portuguese”.
“The book, as I said, is a virtual homeland that we must save; but this book is a navigation map,” he said, pointing out that there are 285 million people around the world who speak Portuguese, a number that “will to grow “.
Looking at the past, he remembered that the Portuguese left Portugal, Africa, Brazil, East Timor, Macau…
“Today, countries that do not speak Portuguese, such as the United Kingdom, France, Australia or Japan, are interested in the Portuguese language,” he said.
The work includes an “analysis of cases of Francophone and Hispanophones that have transformed their respective languages into successful platforms for political affirmation”.
For the preparation of this book, the author analyzed statements by heads of state and government of Portuguese-speaking countries, interviewed professors, social scientists and writers, such as the Mozambican Mia Couto, and the former president of Portugal, Jorge Sampaio, in addition to professors and diplomats at the CPLP. .
The book launch, which will be presented at the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) auditorium in Lisbon, will include an introduction by the organization’s executive secretary, Zacarias da Costa.
Source: DN
