WEBVTT

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Meet Aida de Jesus.

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She's 103 years old.

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Aida: I don't like to feel so old.

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I like to feel only 80.

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(Laughing)

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Aida is from Macau,

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a Chinese city that was formerly
colonized by Portugal for 400 years.

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She and her daughter Sonia
are among the few people

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who still speak Patuà,

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a critically endangered language
that is unique to Macau.

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[Preserving a fading identity]

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Here's a local music video
with subtitles in four languages:

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Patuà, Cantonese, Portuguese and English.

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You can see how Patuà mixes
the languages of places

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along the Portuguese trade route
in the 16th century.

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(Patua)(Singing)

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(Marathi)

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(Malay&Portuguese)

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(Cantonese)

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Sonia: So, in school in our days,

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they kind of didn't 
like us to speak Patuà,

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because they used to say
that it is not the real Portuguese.

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Aida and Sonia are Macau locals
of mixed Portuguese-Chinese ancestry.

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They are the Macanese,

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and they make up less than 1% of the city

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that is over 90% Chinese.

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Sonia: You can say it's a dying race.

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To understand Aida's community,

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we first have to understand
her city, Macau,

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which is an hour's ferry ride
away from Hong Kong.

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It has rapidly developed
over the last few decades,

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and is now known as the world's
largest casino town,

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raking in five times
as much money as Las Vegas.

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This is thanks, in part,

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to the Portuguese legalizing
gambling in the 1800s.

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So when Portugal returned
Macau to China 20 years ago,

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it became the only place in the country
where gambling was legal.

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Many Portuguese left after World War II

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and an anti-Portuguese riot in the '60s,

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but you can still spot signs
of portuguese influence all over the city.

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Chinese and Portuguese
are the official languages,

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and colonial buildings are
protected Unesco heritage sites.

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And just outside the city center

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is Aida and Sonia's
traditional Macanese restaurant.

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Sonia: When the Portuguese
married the Chinese wives

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they tried to cook as close
as possible to the Portuguese food.

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But in those days, they didn't have
so much Portuguese ingredients,

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so they tried to put some
Chinese ingredients into it,

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and that's how the Macanese food started.

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In our restaurant, 
our signature dish is minchi.

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It's a very simple dish.

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It's made of minced pork.

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Another signature dish is pato cabidela,

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of course, in Portugal
they also have cabidela.

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It's made of duck blood
mixed with vinegar.

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Unesco calls Macau
"the home of the first fusion food",

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and also recognizes the Macanese
language, Patuà, as a dying language,

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with only 50 speakers left.

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Aida: Patuà, before, my
grandmother spoke more.

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Young people don't speak much Patuà.

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Although there are only
4,000 Macanese left in Macau,

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one study suggests there could be
over 1.5 million of them around the world.

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Roy: It's a hidden population
because it's scattered.

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With the rise of social media,

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many have maintained their ties.

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The diaspora is even invited
to visit Macau every three years.

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But those who remain in Macau feel

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they have to fight to preserve
their culture and identity.

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They have been in Macau for generations,

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but they are often mistaken
for foreigners in their own land.

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Sergio: For me, every single day, 
almost I get people "Wow,

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(Cantonese) you speak 
Cantonese really well!"

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That's Sergio Perez,
a 39-year-old Macanese filmmaker

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who made the music video you saw earlier.

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That music video features
an amateur theatre troupe

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that's trying to preserve the language

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by staging a Patuà play every year.

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Sergio: Old Macau people, they
definitely know about Macanese.

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Sometimes, they might
think I'm a foreigner,

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but the moment I start speaking,

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they really know "Okay, 
this guy is Macanese."

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I do feel the younger generation,
they don't know much about the Macanese.

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Sonia, who co-funded the theatre troupe
in the '90s, says she'll keep it going.

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Sonia: I think we are
doing something good.

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Although it's a dying language,
we kind of preserve it for 25 years,

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and we hope to continue.

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Aida: You're going to do your nails?

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Sonia: She's going to do her nails.

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Thanks for watching.

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If you like this video,

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We have more stories
about culture and identity.

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Check them out and subscribe.

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Subtitles by barb_emm 
Review by Carol Wang