WEBVTT

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[MUSIC]

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Meet Aida de Jesus. She's 103 years old.

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I don't like to feel so old.
I like to feel only 80.

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Aida is from Macau, a Chinese city 
that was formerly

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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,
a critically endangered language

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that is unique to Macau.

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[MUSIC]

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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

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of places along the Portuguese
trade route

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in the 16th century.

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[MUSIC]

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When I was in school,
in our days

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they didn't like us to speak
Patuà,

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

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Aida and Sonia are Macau locals

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of mixed Portuguese-Chinese ancestry.

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They are the Macanese,
and they make up

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less than 1% of a city that is
over 90% Chinese.

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You can say it's a dying race.

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To understand Aida's community, we
first have to understand her city, Macau,

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which is an hour 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,
to the Portuguese

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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
sfter 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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When the Portuguese married Chinese wives

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they tried to cook as close as possible to
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 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.
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 Macabese
language, Patuà, as a dying language,

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with only 50 speakers left.

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Patuà, before, my grandmother
spoke it 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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It's a hidden population
because they're scattered.

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With the rise of social media,
many of them 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 they have to fight

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to preserve their culture and identity.

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They have been in Macau for generations,
but they are often mistaken

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for foreigners in their own land.

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For me, every single day, I get people
saying "Wow,

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you speak Cantonese really well!"

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

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who made the music video you saw earlier.

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The 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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Old Macau people definitely know
about the Macanese.

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Sometimes, you know, they might
think I'm a foreigner,

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but the moment I start speaking,
they're like "No, 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, sais she'll keep it going.

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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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You're going to do your nails?
She's going to do her nails.

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Grazie per aver guardato!
Se il video vi è piaciuto,

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abbiamo altre storie su cultura
e identità diverse!

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Andate a vederle,
e iscrivetevi a Goldthread