CHRONICLES

Orthographic (Dis) Agreement

Some may think that the orthographic agreement is a recent problem, but I say that it isn’t recent at all. As a matter of fact, just for about almost twenty years ago, in 1990, a treaty was signed, that involved the Lisbon Academy of Science, the Brazilian Academy of Letters and the delegations of the African Countries of Portuguese official language. But should a language like Portuguese be changed?

Some support the opinion that if the Portuguese speaking countries stay united by the same language, the Portuguese language hegemony will remain. Others support that we, Portugal, have a lack of patriotism. Why don’t we keep our way of speaking, and they change theirs. As far as I know, we are the original Portuguese speaking country.

Both opinions are right anyway, but the truth is that the English language, for example, doesn’t need any orthographic agreement to maintain its place as the “world official language”. The truth is that the English language is spoken in more than twenty countries, with twenty different “englishes”, such as: the Australian English; the Belize English; the Canadian English; the Caribbean English; the Hong Kong English; the Indian English; the Indonesian English; the Jamaican English; the Ireland English; the Malaysian English; the New Zeeland English; the Philippines English, the English of Singapore, the South African English; the Trinidad and Tobago English; the Zimbabwe English, and the main ones, the British and American English.

The supremacy of the English language turns out obvious even with so many different “englishes” among the English speaking countries.

How can we explain the situation then?

I think that those indictments of lack of patriotism are well reasoned. We can see it everywhere. Nobody likes to see the Portuguese National Football Team full of non-Portuguese players. How much would we like to change what is ours? Like our grammar rules, our language or even our flag? I don´t think that I would like to change our flag to a new one so that instead of the armillary sphere it had a blue sphere  with some white stars and a white ribbon with the words “Order and Progress”  crusted on it.

We should distinguish the difference between patriotism and nationalism. Although patriotism is used in certain vernaculars as a synonym for nationalism, nationalism is not necessarily considered an inherent part of patriotism. Among the ancient Greeks, patriotism consisted of notions concerning language, religious traditions, ethics, law, and devotion to the common good, rather than pure identification with a nation-state. Scholar J. Peter Euben writes that for the Greek philosopher Socrates: "Patriotism does not require one to agree with everything that his country does and would actually promote analytical questioning in a quest to make the country the best it possibly can be. Nationalism, in the most exaggerated state, is nothing less than a euphemism to xenophobia, racism and discrimination.”

“Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country…”

John F. Kennedy

by 238 - Eugénio

Young Portuguese

In this section, we will discuss issues of our society that need and should be a concern to all of us. This is our world and as such we must ensure their welfare and the welfare of its inhabitants - US!

Being this my first text, I would like to talk about the mentality of the young Portuguese nowadays. Why? Well, simply because we, the youth, are the future. Life is a cycle in which we are born, live and die!

It is true that today's youth has a different way of living from in the past. The way to have fun is not the same; it seems that the youth of today can only have fun with the help of alcohol, tobacco and rebellion. It is true that on Friday night, in the streets most sought after by young people we can find everything among those who want to “live the night up”: from young people under 15 in an alcoholic coma even before midnight, to groups of 10 in which 100% are teenagers between 14 and 17 and 85% smoke. Not to mention clubs for people over 18 in which we can find 14-year-olds.

Although that is not the rule, it is what is really happening gradually, and no one does anything to change the situation, including parents, who often do not care about it. We may try to justify this with the family environment, but only to a certain extent, because at that age we are efficient enough to quickly realize that it can be a shield to cover our nuisance and our blunders...

Besides, many young people are different and do not fall in such “groups”, while many couples that are separated still manage to keep the education of their children. We can thus conclude that to achieve the right path only takes the will.

I am not saying that we should stop having fun and going out at night; quite on the contrary, we ought to have the greatest fun, but at appropriate times and not at the expense of shirking our responsibilities. After all, youth will not return and we can only live once!  

Cheers!

By 302 - Pires

LEARNING ENGLISH

A CONTRIBUTION TO OUR PERSONAL FORMATION AND ETHICS

            It is common sense that learning English is essential. Most people will say that English is a very important tool not only for our academic life, but for communication in general. Actually, English is the most spoken second language all over the world. Still, we wonder if people are aware of the deep impact that learning English has on our personal formation.

            The experience that we had in the English classes until the end of our basic education (3º Ciclo) was clearly a reinforcement of our four basic skills as communicators: listening, speaking, reading and writing. It was obviously a very important contribution not only to our performance in English, but to all the other subjects as well. We could gradually improve our speech by adding logic and a deeper meaning to our utterances, and that helped us to grow up and feel more mature. We could learn the difference between being formal and informal and also about the importance of reading. Actually, it was through literature that we developed special interests in other artistic fields, such as cinema, painting or music. Some of us enjoyed working on the individual portfolio, which is a very good way to develop some important virtues, like organisation and perseverance.

             Learning English at a higher level, such as the Secondary (10º, 11º and 12º) has been a very rewarding experience since we realise that it is no longer simply learning the language, but shaping our character as persons. Along with the contents and aims of the syllabus, we can also develop a few more virtues, such as objectivity, responsibility, optimism and sense of humour (particularly when facing the results of a written test…). It is obviously a clear contribution to our personal formation as individuals, and it even helps us to think critically about issues that require an ethical approach.

            The social and cultural dimension of the English syllabus takes us to the discussion of topics such as The Technological World (Man versus machine, Virtual Worlds), Social Changes (Family, Education and Human Relationships), Work, Mass Media and Global Communication (Internet, Communication and Ethics – Info Manipulation), Young People in the Global Era (Values, Attitudes and Behaviours - Consumerism), and Bioethics (Gene manipulation and Cloning). Throughout the 12º, we will deal with topics such as Citizenship, Multiculturalism, Cultures, Arts and Society (Literature, Cinema and Music in the 21^st century) and Native Cultures (Native Americans, The Maoris, etc.).

            Moreover, the English subject is taught with methodologies and resources whose cultural dimension adds to our motivation so much to the extent of saying: “Learning English is for life!”

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68 Branco, 238 Eugénio, 302 Pires, 407 Miguel, 451 Fernandes