Interview by Rui Pastorin
This Saturday will see the launch of Elisabela Larrea’s book “Unchinho di Língu Maquista: Patuá Bit by Bit: Flashcard Book”, with the author telling the Post in a phone interview yesterday that she hopes to raise interest for and awareness of the Portuguese-Asian Creole, as well as offer an approachable way to learn it.
“Unchinho di Língua Maquista” is Patuá for “A Bit of Macanese Language”.
Larrea, who holds a PhD in Communication and is a researcher of Macanese culture, first published her Patuá* flashcards on social media in 2016, with the idea coming about while doing research on Patuá theatre.
She had wanted to create a book out of the flashcards, and when the International Institute of Macau (IIM) suggested publishing them as a book, she said she was thrilled. “I did the compilation hoping to raise more awareness and help spread our language to different people and communities from different cultural backgrounds”, according to Larrea, who is a member of the Macanese** community and has dedicated herself to preserving and promoting Macanese culture since 2004.
The book, which is easy to read and is more of a leisure book than a conventional textbook, provides brief explanations in Chinese, Portuguese and English, along with illustrations, the author said. She noted that it could also be a way to have a first encounter with the language, seeing it as a hook to start a deeper interest in Patuá and the Macanese culture.
Having a vast target group, Larrea said the book was especially for those interested in learning the language and knowing more about Macanese culture. Moreover, grandparents who might know Patuá can use it to teach their grandchildren, while the Macanese who know the language can use the book “in a fun way”. Even the non-Macanese can use the book, as Larrea said she knows many local Chinese and mainlanders, as well as people from Malaysia, Singapore and English-speaking countries, among others, who are “really interested in learning our language”.
A part of Macau
The Portuguese-Asian Creole, which is considered a “critically endangered” language by UNESCO, is estimated by linguists to still have several dozen speakers in Macau and several hundred in Hong Kong and among the diaspora. On preserving it, Larrea pointed out: “Even though people are not using it daily, it helps people understand the essence of Macanese history and community”, adding the language came from “a long history of intercultural communication among people of different cultures that co-live and live together”.
Larrea added: “This language is the home language used among husbands, wives, children and parents. So, I think it’s important that we keep this language so that people understand the history of Macau. I think it’s part of the personality of Macau”.
Moreover, the author said she was optimistic that more and more people would like to learn Patuá, even outside of the Macanese community, adding that among the local Chinese community, she knows of some who are not familiar with the language but are trying to learn and promote it.
The book launch will start at the Tap Seac Multi-Sports Pavilion at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday and is part of the Spring Book Fair 2024. Larrea said she hoped that people can enjoy the book and pass it around, noting that by generating more interest among the public, preserving Patuá would become easier.
*Spoken by the Macanese community, Patua’s vocabulary includes Portuguese, Cantonese, Malay, Indian, Japanese, English and other languages’ words.
*Customarily, the term “Macanese” denotes Macau residents of mixed Portuguese and Asian extraction, as well as Macanese living in Hong Kong and overseas. Major Macanese diaspora communities live in North America, Brazil, Australia, and Portugal.
N.B. For those interested in knowing more about Patuá, Wikipedia has a quite comprehensive English-language article about Macau’s “sweet language” - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macanese_Patois
This poster recently provided by the International Institute of Macau (IIM) shows Elisabela Larrea, promoting her “Unchinho di Língu Maquista: Patuá Bit by Bit: Flashcard Book”
