Easy language one, or?

Mais um artigo excelente do blog Living Timorously:

19 November 2006

One of the arguments against the use of Portuguese in East Timor is that it is difficult to learn, particularly in its grammar. Leaving aside that this is an insult to the intelligence of the East Timorese people, this completely overlooks the fact that English is also a difficult for those learning it as a foreign language.

One of the reasons for this misconception is that many people who speak English in Southeast Asia speak a simplified version, usually influenced by native languages - Singlish in Singapore and Manglish in Malaysia are the best known examples. Consequently, people who say that they speak English fluently, speak a form that to native English speakers sounds broken, if not unintelligible.

The verb conjugations in Portuguese can certainly appear a problem to those learning it, but what about English verbs, not least irregular ones? At least in Portuguese, once you learn an irregular verb form, you can use it in the negative and interrogative, unlike in English. For example, you can say "you went", but you cannot say "I didn't went" or "did I went?" but in Portuguese, "eu fui", "eu não fui" and "eu fui?" all use the same verb tense throughout.

Another challenge for learners of English is the fact that there is more than one interrogative 'tag' that can be used at the end of a sentence, hence the tendency to use "isn't it?" with all verbs and tenses. I managed to get an East Timorese friend, now an aspiring politician, to master the different forms, by giving him examples: "you fancy that girl, don't you?", "she's very pretty, isn't she?" and "lots of guys would like to date her her, wouldn't they?" Perhaps since his return to East Timor, his English grammar has got a bit rusty. Isn't it?

Over the years I have helped East Timorese studying at universities in the UK with their essays, or more specifically with their written English, and it is here that their lack of fluency in the language shows up. They are Indonesian-educated, and most do not speak Portuguese, but it is interesting to see the extent of Portuguese influence on their vocabulary, which has come in via Tetum: "recourses" (from recursos) instead of resources; "representante" (from representante) instead of representative; "explorators" from exploradores instead of exploiters; "canalize" (from canalizar) instead of to channel; and "comparation" from comparação instead of comparison.

The grammar, however, is influenced by Indonesian, hence the frequent omission of the verb 'to be', particuarly in passive constructions. For example "women still seen", "will not left out" - in Indonesian, these verbs would use the passive form of the verb, with the prefix "di-" used in the same way as the suffix "-ed" is in English. (Tetum, by contrast, has no passive tense.)

Spoken English is more influenced by Tetum, a reflection of its status as the vernacular language. Its speakers use "or not?" in English (from ka lae?) as it is used regularly in tetum as the interrogative. (The phrase di'ak ka lae? or "how are you? literally translates as "good or not?") This is encountered in other Asian languages, in which it is considered polite, but can sound blunt or rude in English: you want this or not? is used in Singapore. Many also use "or?" as a tag, hence "you go home, or?" (from ita bá uma, ka?) The indefinite article in Tetum, ida, is put after the noun, so Tetum speakers say "go to the house one". (There is no definte article in Tetum, so uma can mean either "house" or "the house".)

Yet Portuguese is not averse to creolisation or deviation from the 'standard' form prescribed by the metropolis any more than English is. Brazilian Portuguese has diverged from European Portuguese, not only in terms of spelling and vocabulary but also grammar, while it is hard to believe that the Portuguese of Lusophone Africa has not been influenced by African languages - in Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, and São Tomé e Príncipe, Portuguese creoles have developed alongside Portuguese.

Indeed, Portuguese creoles developed in Asia, but these are almost extinct. Only a small minority of "Portuguese Eurasians" in Malaysia and Singapore know the Papia Kristiang creole, and they, in turn, are tiny minorities in those countries. As well as having been isolated from Portuguese for centuries, it is also an oral language.

The problem in East Timor is that Portuguese is considered as the language of government and administration, and therefore there is an assumption that anyone who wishes to work in the public service needs to speak and write it fluently. Not surprisingly, this causes those who cannot do so to feel disadvantaged (or as irresponsible Australian commentators like to say "disenfranchised" as if only Portuguese speakers in East Timor had the vote).

Yet, decades after making English the language of instruction in schools, Singapore's Ministry of Education still needed to have a special centre for teachers whose English was not up to standard, and the government launched (unsuccessfully) a 'Speak Good English Campaign', to discourage the use of Singlish. In fact, even in Portugal, the state broadcaster RTP runs a short programme on television called O Bom Português or "Good Portuguese", just as TVRI in Indonesia implores its viewers to gunakan Bahasa Indonesia yang baik dan benar - "speak an Indonesian that is good and correct", which suggests that many Indonesians still do not.

This does not mean that the East Timorese should simply speak Portuguese any old way, with no regard for grammar, but the preconception that it is "difficult" is one that needs to be challenged. Of course, those learning it will make mistakes, but they should not feel any more discouraged than they did when they learnt Indonesian, and English. No language is truly "easy", and in fact, the notion that some are, gives the impression that they are primitive. Or?

.