Saving Macau’s dying language

Macau is best known today for its casinos, but 20 years ago, it was a colony governed by the Portuguese, who had been there for over 400 years. Many of the Portuguese traders married Chinese women, and their children developed their own distinct food, culture, and language.

But now this mixed-race group, known as the Macanese, makes up less than 1 percent of Macau’s population, and their language, Patuá, is dying.

For more stories about identity, check these out:

Finding the Bob Marley of China
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Written, Produced, and Voiced by: Venus Wu
Shot by: Mario Chui
Edited by: Mario Chui and Nicholas Ko
Animated by: Ray Ngan
Mastered by: Victor Peña

Music: Audio Network

#macanese #macau #dyinglanguage

Meet Aida de Jesus.

She's 103 years old.

I don't like to feel so old.

I like to feel only 80.

(Laughter)

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.

[Preserving a fading identity]

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.

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
after 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.

And just outside the city center

is Aida and Sonia's
traditional Macanese restaurant.

When the Portuguese married Chinese wives

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

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

so they tried to put some Chinese
ingredients into it,

and that's how Macanese food started.

In our restaurant, our signature dish
is minchi.

It's a very simple dish.
It's made of minced pork.

Another signature dish is pato cabidela.

Of course, in Portugal
they also have cabidela.

It's made of duck blood
mixed with vinegar.

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

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

with only 50 speakers left.

Patuà, before, my grandmother
spoke it more.

Young people don't speak much Patuà.

Although there are only 4.000 Macanese
left in Macau,

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

It's a hidden population
because they're scattered.

With the rise of social media,
many of them have maintained their ties.

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

But those who remain in Macau
feel they have to fight

to preserve their culture and identity.

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

for foreigners in their own land.

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

you speak Cantonese really well!"

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

who made the music video you saw earlier.

The music video features
an amateur theatre troupe

that's trying to preserve the language

by staging a Patuà play every year.

Old Macau people definitely know
about the Macanese.

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

but the moment I start speaking,
they're like "No, this guy is Macanese".

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

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

I think we are doing something good.

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

and we hope to continue.

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

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