Augusto Santos Silva has been in Brazil since Wednesday, where he is making his first official visit as President of the Assembly of the Republic and where he will represent Portugal in the celebrations of World Portuguese Language Day.

In a video recorded at the Library of the Assembly of the Republic, before leaving for Brazil, the former Minister of State and Foreign Affairs says that the World Portuguese Language Day is “a consecration approved by UNESCO that has three essential meanings”.

Recognition

The first meaning, according to the president of parliament, “is the recognition of Portuguese as one of the most spoken languages ​​in the world”

“Another is the importance it gives to the community of countries that speak Portuguese, that is, the group of nine States that consider Portuguese to be their official language or one of their official languages; and the third – and most important – is to show that the Portuguese language belongs to all of us. Of all of us who speak it as a mother tongue, or a language that we learn in school or outside it. A language we use to express ourselves, to write, to speak to read,” he said.

The future

In this message, Augusto Santos Silva supported the idea that “the future of the Portuguese language depends on all” those who speak it and, for that reason, “it is very important that parliament is associated with that future”.

“The main message I want to convey is this individual responsibility of each one of us: Speak Portuguese, write Portuguese, communicate in Portuguese. Get used to listening to all those who speak, write and create in Portuguese, because this is truly the future of our common language,” he added.