Saving Macau’s dying language

[MUSIC]

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

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

Aida is from Macau, a Chinese city
that was formerly

colonized by Portugal for 400 years.

She and her daughter Sonia
are among the few people

who still speak Patuà,
a critically endangered language

that is unique to Macau.

[MUSIC]

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

Patuà, Cantonese,
Portuguese and English.

You can see how Patuà mixes
the languages

of places along the Portuguese
trade route

in the 16th century.

[MUSIC]

When I was in school,
in our days

they didn't like us to speak
Patuà,

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

Aida and Sonia are Macau locals

of mixed Portuguese-Chinese ancestry.

They are the Macanese,
and they make up

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

You can say it's a dying race.

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

which is an hour ferry ride away
from Hong Kong.

It has rapidly developed
over the last few decades,

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

raking in five times
as much money as Las Vegas.

This is thanks, in part,
to the Portuguese

legalizing gambling in the 1800s.

So when Portugal returned Macau to China
20 years ago,

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

Many Portuguese left
sfter World War II

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

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

Chinese and Portuguese are the
official languages,

and colonial buildings are protected
Unesco heritage sites.