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| EXCERPT FROM SARA’S JOURNAL August
4, 1999
Praia de Gale, Portugal
About the Place
From the 14th century until 1750 Portugal was one of the wealthiest nations
in the world and only 30 years ago it still rivaled other nations in its reach of
colonies. The Romans colonized Portugal in the late 3rd century BC and since
then the Portuguese have colonized countries in South America, Africa and Indonesia. The
Portuguese language developed from Latin as one of the purest Romance languages – a
softer sister to Spanish – with Italian, French, Spanish, Arabic and Slavic sounds.
Its pronunciation is certainly nothing like Andalusian Spanish – the people sound as
if they’re speaking Russian at times – and with Portugal’s global conquests
the language binds more than 200 million people – the 5th-most-spoken
language in the world – including in Brazil, Mozambique and Angola.
Unlike in Seville and other places in Spain (besides the coastal resorts), many
Portuguese speak English and French, and avoid Spanish out of defiance of their larger
Iberian neighbour. Most television and films are American and often not dubbed, instead
using Portuguese subtitles. In this way, and with tourism contributing a healthy does to
the Portuguese economy, the country maintains a sensitive balance of open-minded ongoing
modernization, a stronger economy than Spain, hard-earned character, steadfastness in
traditions, sovereignty and international cultural celebration as in the 1998 World
Exposition held in Lisbon. |
 
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