The II International Conference on the Future of the Portuguese Language is taking place, from October 29 to November 1, in the University of Lisbon.

Gathering more than 300 participants, the conference includes policy-makers, institutional, academic researchers, mostly from the eight Member States of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) namely Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and Timor-Leste.

The conference will endorse the Plano de Ação de Lisboa [Lisbon Action Plan], a document offering recommendations on the future of the Portuguese language as a global language for scientific development, innovation, entrepreneurship, business and international organizations and as a language of communication and cooperation among the CPLP Member States.

 Spoken by an estimated 250 million people worldwide, Portuguese is the sixth language most spoken globally and the fifth language most used in Facebook and Twitter.

The Portuguese Language is also one of the official languages of the Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China of Macau (alongside Chinese) and of several international organizations, including the Mercosur, the Organization of Ibero-American States, the Union of South American Nations, the Organization of American States, the African Union and the European Union.

According to estimates by UNESCO, Portuguese and Spanish are the fastest-growing European languages after English and the language has the highest potential for growth as international languages in Southern Africa and South America.

paj.staff