Brazzil

Some have dismissed his initiative as just "the paranoia of the Brazilian left-wingers", but Rebelo comes across as a judicious and dignified congressman who remains open to dialogue.
By Marta Alvim

For the sake of clarity, the Portuguese translations of English words will be italicized throughout this article, while original English words and expressions, as encountered in present-day writing and speech of Brazilians, will appear in bold and italic.

American linguist John Crawford once said that "Language is the ultimate consensual institution. Displacing a community's vernacular is equivalent to displacing its deepest systems of belief." It is with apprehension, therefore, that some sectors of the Brazilian society are witnessing an unprecedented invasion of English words into the Portuguese vernacular.

In an attempt to reverse this trend, Brazilian legislators—both at federal and state levels—have already proposed bills which, if approved, would regulate the use of the Portuguese language in Brazil. As is often the case with linguistic conflicts, the matter is controversial and has generated heated debates and discussion between supporters and opponents of those bills, with a great deal of attention going to the bill introduced in Congress by Representative Aldo Rebelo. (Please read the accompanying interview with congressman Rebelo.)

It would be exaggerating to say the Portuguese language is facing an impending doom or demise. An estimated 200 million people throughout the world speak Portuguese. It is the official language of seven countries and ranks third among the western languages, surpassed only by English and Spanish—it ranks eighth among the most spoken languages worldwide. In Brazil alone, there are 169 million Portuguese speakers, and as a result of the Mercosul alliance, of which Brazil is a member, Portuguese is now being taught as a foreign language in the other member countries—Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Moreover, the Portuguese vernacular has consistently received linguistic contributions from a variety of ethnic groups, and the language has thrived under these conditions. The list of foreign words incorporated into Portuguese is extensive: arroz (rice), alface (lettuce), granizo (hail), and chá (tea) are just a few of the words borrowed from the Arabic, the Spanish and the Chinese. In Brazil, the indigenous population, African slaves and European immigrants all contributed to new words to the Portuguese language: mandioca (manioc), caju (cashew), and moleque (street child) are among those contributions.

So Brazil's current linguistic strife should be of no concern, except for the fact that languages have been extinct throughout world history, and the ones that still flourish and survive have done so due to the implementation of effective cultural policies. Furthermore, linguistic dominance is intrinsically associated with political, economic and cultural power. A case in point is that the very indigenous languages that contributed to the make-up of Portuguese have all but disappeared, banned as they were by the European colonizers.

Today, English is the lingua franca and the United States of America is the world's wealthiest and most powerful nation. The swiftness with which the English language has spread throughout the world caught many non-English speaking countries unprepared, as an avalanche of new technical words followed the unparalleled technological advances that occurred in the twentieth century. To deny the contribution of English to the Portuguese vernacular would be foolish; the opposition to the English incursion is closely associated with the objections to U.S. supremacy.

Linguistic Abuse

However, the overuse of English by Brazilians can sometimes border on abuse. As congressman Rebelo complains, more often than not Brazilians are merely substituting English words for Portuguese, even though there are perfectly suitable Portuguese translations for those words. A few examples: teen, diet, light, delivery, day off, game, help, hot, in, out, top, down, sale, country, boom, freezer, and so forth. Not to mention the pseudo-English that Brazilians invent by calling a tuxedo, "smoking" and a billboard, "outdoor", among other gibberish.

On a corporate level, linguistic abuses can be even more serious, as they may deliberately mislead customers or other interested parties. Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (CVM), the regulatory body of Brazil's stock market, has chastised Brazilian companies for their contempt for the institution's rules. CVM requires that any information released abroad by corporations operating in Brazil's stock market must also be released in Brazil, in Portuguese. However, several companies have attempted to break those rules, including mining giant Companhia Vale do Rio Doce and Gerdau Steel Group. During the approval process preceding the launch of stocks at the New York Stock Exchange, both companies sent CVM the information submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) without even bothering to translate it into Portuguese. Clearly, it is not the task of CVM to analyze or judge the rules established by SEC or by any other international regulatory body. However, it is their responsibility to protect the rights of Brazilian shareholders—especially minority shareholders who don't have access to what is happening in other countries.

When it comes to linguistic abuse, the academic world is not without fault, either. Last year, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), a federal-funded university, sponsored an event from which the use of Portuguese had been excluded initially. Call for papers for the I Electronic Conference established that proposals might be submitted only in English, French, German or Spanish. Confronted by the National Movement in Defense of the Portuguese Language (MNDLP), the school rationalized the exclusion of Portuguese by alleging, among other reasons, that "in international debates, speakers of Portuguese can communicate in Spanish perfectly well while the reverse is not necessarily true." After motions submitted by the MNDLP to the Ministry of Education, to the governor of Minas Gerais State and to the school's dean, UFMG eventually relented and allowed the use of Portuguese during the event.

MNDLP

(http://www.novomilenio.inf.br/idioma/idioma.htm)

The National Movement in Defense of the Portuguese Language is not only a pioneer in the organized movement for the preservation of the Portuguese vernacular, but it is by far the most active organization in Brazil's linguistic battlefield. Headquartered in the town of Santos (in São Paulo State), the MNDLP hopes to become an important tool in the promotion of linguistic awareness among Brazil's populace and hopefully it will continue to keep its focus on linguistic equilibrium rather than on xenophobia.

For a couple of months, this reporter subscribed to the mailing list sponsored by the MNDLP, before being crucified for criticizing the inappropriate publication (not the content) of a manifesto against the privatization of oil giant Petrobrás in a language-related forum. The group's coordinators insist that the movement is about the preservation of the Portuguese language. However, the animosity of some of the MNDLP members towards everything American is a fact, and only exacerbates the opposition to the linguistic legislation proposed by Aldo Rebelo, which is also endorsed by the MNDLP. This is a very politicized group of people and it couldn't be otherwise, as linguistic conflicts themselves are always very political by nature. Likewise, to pretend that the political, economic and culture might of the United States isn't a major issue in the language debate would be unrealistic and preposterous. Other nations also have taken steps to protect their languages against the invasion of foreign words, mostly against English, as spoken in the U.S.A.

In just over a year since its inception, the MNDLP has sponsored a number of debates with Portuguese teachers and linguists, while keeping a close eye on the linguistic atrocities committed either by individuals, the government and private-owned companies. Whenever the need arises, the movement's coordinators don't hesitate to confront the offender, which they do invariably in appropriately diplomatic and deferential ways.

What is seldom mentioned, though, is that the English vernacular—especially its American variant—is also riddled with words borrowed from other languages such as Latin, French and Spanish, just to mention a few. It is also true that on occasion the United States has taken action to protect its own language against invasions of the many foreign languages that inevitably follow the periodic flooding of new immigrant groups into the country. Nevertheless, American language policies are still some of the world's most democratic. Just last year, President Bill Clinton signed an executive order that will make key information on health and education available not only in Spanish and Chinese, but also in most of the several foreign languages spoken by millions of people in the U.S.A.

PC do B (Communist Party of Brazil) representative Aldo Rebelo has been derided at for his position in favor of Albania's communist regime. More recently, in Congress, when he protested against the installation of self-service gas pumps in Brazil's gas stations and of automated ticket-vending turnstiles on board Brazilian buses, he was again criticized for his unrealistic attempts at stopping inevitable technological advances. It just happens that deputado (representative) Rebelo believes that the implementation of both measures would lead inevitably to the lay-off of thousands of Brazil's unskilled workers. In September 1999, when he presented a bill to the Chamber of Deputies (Brazil's Lower House) proposing the regulation of the Portuguese language usage, he was again thrust into the nation's limelight.

The fear of the communist evil, instilled in Brazil's populace by the military dictators who ruled the country for over two decades, has greatly subsided, but the stigma still remains. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that Rebelo's detractors have responded to his movement in defense of the Portuguese language in a sardonic way. They have dismissed his initiative as just "the paranoia of the Brazilian left-wingers" due to the expansion of the United States' political and economic power throughout the world.

However, in his interview with Brazzil, Aldo Rebelo comes across as a judicious and dignified congressman who sticks by his political agenda and ideology while remaining open to dialogue as well. He is conspicuous in his approach to the language issue and expresses his beliefs and thoughts in a collected manner. As a seasoned politician, he is respectful of his opponents' views, and takes their criticisms in stride.

Deputado Rebelo (now a São Paulo State representative) had been active in the fight against Brazil's military dictatorship since the early '70s, when he was a member of the National Student Union (UNE). He was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1990, and has since been re-elected twice—in 1994 and 1998.

(Website: http://www.camara.gov.br/aldorebelo/principal.htm)

Brazzil—Deputado Rebelo, how did you arrive at the idea for your bill?

Aldo Rebelo—It came about in stages. I had been following the debate in France surrounding the linguistic legislation that was enacted there in 1994. Some time later, the Chamber of Deputies created a committee to discuss the commercial, economic and cultural impact that the ALCA (Free Trade Area of the Americas - FTAA) treaty would have in Brazil. When the language issue was mentioned, I realized that the time was ripe to do something to try to shield the Portuguese language from the indiscriminate invasion of foreign terms that had been taking place in our country for the past few years. That's when I came up with the idea for this bill. Yes, the French legislation was the starting point, my source of inspiration, but the legislation I propose is much more flexible than what they now have in France. Besides, our problems are different from France's.

Brazzil—Would you say that the incursion of foreign words used by Brazilians is a trend that started with the advent of the Internet?

Aldo Rebelo—No, I'd say it started prior to the Internet. It is a result not only of technological innovations, but also of an increasingly globalized ideological, political, commercial, cultural and economic environment. The evolution of a language is a delicate balance between its inherent susceptibility to change, renewal and incorporation of foreign words, and the tendency toward continuity and stability. Lately, the balance between this type of conflict has been lost; the changes have been occurring in such a fast and intense way that the very continuity of our language is threatened. Once that balance ceases to exist, people tend to accept the changes as if they were absolute and final. As a result, we Brazilians might just be babbling meaningless words, because we no longer understand this new type of bilinguism.

Brazzil—Realistically, Deputado, do you believe it is possible to prevent the invasion of foreign words through legislation?

Aldo Rebello—First of all, let me emphasize that what I'm proposing is a national movement in defense of the Portuguese language. Legislation is not the movement's main element; our main goal is to raise Brazilians' self-esteem with regards not only to their language but also to their own country, their history and their culture. Although not the largest segment of the Brazilian society, the middle class is indeed the most influential. Unfortunately, while part of this middle class retains its national identity and allegiance to its country, there is another part that is extremely individualistic and anti-nationalistic. These are the people who lament the fact that they were not born into a first world country; who want to have their children educated abroad; and who don't care about much of anything, including the Portuguese language.

Brazzil—In the past, the Portuguese language survived the invasion of Gallicisms without any kind of legal protection. Why do you think that legislation is necessary to protect our language from the current invasion of Anglicisms?

Aldo Rebelo—There is a big difference between what happened in the past and what is happening today. For instance, as a result of our lengthy relationship with the Arabs between the eighth and twelfth centuries, we have borrowed and incorporated many Arab words into our vocabulary. In the nineteenth century, when France was in the forefront of technological, scientific and humanistic innovations, we didn't have words to define garage and chauffeur, among others; consequently, we have borrowed many French words by giving them a Portuguese spelling—as in garagem and chofer. However, what we are seeing nowadays is a forceful rather than a spontaneous incorporation of Anglicisms, with the mere substitution of English words for Portuguese.

Brazzil—Wouldn't you be infringing upon freedom of speech by trying to legislate language usage?

Aldo Rebelo—The Brazilian Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, and my bill cannot and does not violate this principle. If someone should decide to publish a newspaper in Brazil—whether in English, French or Italian—that person is entitled to do so. My bill doesn't mean to suppress people's right to speak another language; it only tries to introduce discipline in the use of the Portuguese language. Keep in mind that the same Constitution that guarantees freedom of speech also establishes Portuguese as the official language of the Federative Republic of Brazil. Therefore, doesn't the government have an obligation to use Portuguese as well?

Does Brazil's president have the right to announce an economic plan to the nation in English, as he did recently? Does the government have the right to use English in its institutions, as it is the case with IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) which has an IBGE Teen section on its website? Business contracts drawn in Brazil are supposed to be in Portuguese; so why are they being drawn in English?

On another front, why does the media, when talking about soccer, Brazil's most popular sport, insist upon using American basketball-related expressions, such as play-off (eliminatória, in Portuguese), knowing that most Brazilians don't follow the latter? So, should we respect the Constitution with regards to freedom of speech, but not the use of our language?

Brazzil—Your detractors criticize your campaign for its focus on the invasion of Anglicisms while ignoring past linguistic influences of other foreign idioms—such as Arab and French—from which so many Portuguese words derive. They claim that your bill is mostly about your political ideology; that it's the paranoia of the Brazilian leftists with the evils of American imperialism. How do you respond to that?

Aldo Rebelo—I won't deny that there is a trace of ideology in everything I do in life; I couldn't live in this world without any ideology, without political orientation and without a cause—and every legislation is motivated by a cause. But this bill is more than that, since it deals with a concrete cultural problem. We have an awkward situation in which most of Brazil's working class do not speak English, yet more and more corporations are using English to advertise their merchandises and services.

Some time ago, a journalist from Porto Alegre (capital of Rio Grande do Sul State) wrote to me, describing an incident she had witnessed in her town. According to her, a lady and her two children were standing in front of a pastry shop trying to pronounce the name of the establishment—Sweet Way, which the woman, in her ignorance, pronounced "sweat vie". I mean, these are situations that can be humiliating for those who only speak Portuguese. If there's paranoia, it's the one that springs up in certain sectors of the Brazilian society, where people look up to and idolize the North, with envy, and won't accept that someone else might possibly love his own country and try to preserve its interests, its culture, its history and identity.

Brazzil—Deputado, if linguistic subservience is an indication of a nation's economic submission to foreign interests, wouldn't it be pointless to try to fight the effect without fighting the cause first?

Aldo Rebelo—Not at all. You can't separate cause and effect, because they are intrinsically interconnected—the latter feeds, reinforces and motivates the former. You may not have the mechanisms to suppress the cause first, but you can start to confront its effects. Besides, I believe it is easier to reclaim a nation's economy than its cultural identity. An industrial plant that has been destroyed can be rebuilt in six months, but how does one rebuild a nation's consciousness and culture once it's gone?

Brazzil—Brazilian linguists are some of the most vociferous opponents of your bill. They claim that the attempt to regulate a language is a form of cultural centralism, that it's an underhanded way to constrain the language of prestige and power. What are your comments on that?

Aldo Rebelo—That is an antidemocratic and elitist opinion. Most linguists believe that there should be a hub of enlightened people—them—who are out to decipher the linguistic science from the encirclement of their labs; who know everything about the language and think that the "rest" of us should speak it in any way we want to. That is, the "rest" are the plebeians, who supposedly should have any type of norm in speaking their own language. I feel that the position of those Brazilian linguists reflects a total disregard for the common people and the right they have to speak their own language correctly.

Brazzil—Your bill would establish monetary sanctions to individuals, companies and institutions for failure to comply with its provisions, isn't that so?

Aldo Rebelo—I have dropped the monetary sanctions from the bill and left to the Executive to decide what type of penalties should be applied. Some people believe that there should be an alternative penalty, such as sending the transgressors back to school to learn Portuguese. Keep in mind that the main focus of my bill is educational—it is meant to alert people that we have our own language and that this language needs to be preserved. Social harmony must combine freedom and limits. Just because the Constitution guarantees freedom of speech it doesn't mean you can go out on the street and start swearing at people. Freedom of speech doesn't entitle you to slander and verbally abuse others. The same applies to the use of the language: there is freedom, but the language must be preserved as well. Just as you pay a fine for a traffic violation, you'd also be subject to sanctions for committing a linguistic infraction.

Brazzil—It's a well-known fact that President Fernando Henrique Cardoso is given to using foreign words in his statements and speeches. Would he also be subject to sanctions?

Aldo Rebelo—Absolutely.

Brazzil—Who would supervise and enforce such a law?

Aldo Rebelo—This has yet to be decided. I think the Ministry of Education, together with state and municipal councils, should be in charge of overseeing and applying the sanctions. Maybe the government could create something like a Council for the Preservation of the Portuguese Language. Presently, the Brazilian Academy of Letters is in charge of registering new words into the VOLP (Portuguese Language Vocabulary). Unfortunately, they have not been very selective, and they have even incorporated several foreign words without due concern for their translation or the creation of a Portuguese spelling.

Brazzil—According to your bill, sanctions would be imposed in cases of abusive and deceptive use of the Portuguese language, as well as of use that may be damaging to the cultural patrimony. Could you please explain to us what those expressions mean?

Aldo Rebelo—Abusive use is when foreign words are substituted for existing and established Portuguese words, thus exposing people to humiliating and vexatious situations. The use of foreign words may be justifiable if there isn't the Portuguese equivalent, but use is one thing, abuse is another. Deceptive use is when people—individuals or businesses—are deliberately deceived by misuse of the language. Damaging use is when the use of foreign words or expressions jeopardizes, corrupts, or somehow perverts any element of the Brazilian culture.

Marta Alvim is a Brazilian journalist, freelance translator and interpreter. You can reach her at mltdalvim@yahoo.com  

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