1. Cantonese (called "Cantonese" like Hong Kong) is the lingua franca and the official language of Macao: According to the statistics of Macao Statistics Bureau, Cantonese is the largest language in Macao, and 83.3% of the population uses it daily, while 90% of the population can use Cantonese;
Cantonese is widely used in the daily life, work, government office, school education, news media, culture and entertainment of residents, and it is also the same language among people of different origins living in Macao.
2. Modern standard Chinese (also known as Mandarin, Mandarin or Mandarin): Mandarin is the second largest language in Macao; Most of the people who use Putonghua in their daily life are new immigrants from Chinese mainland, accounting for 5% of Macau's population. Due to the government's education policy, about 465,438+0% of Macao's total population can use Putonghua to varying degrees. In order to facilitate the explanation to foreign tourists, considering the communication problem, the tourist attractions will also use Mandarin.
3. Minnan language: quite a few residents of northern Macao whose ancestral home is in southern Fujian can speak Minnan language, so Minnan language can be regarded as a passport for northern Macao; Minnan is the third largest language in Macao, with 3.7% of the population using it in daily life, while 6.9% of the population in Macao can speak Minnan. The popularity of Minnan language in Macau also facilitates the communication with tourists from Taiwan Province Province (the number is third only to Chinese mainland and Hongkong).
4. English: English is the fourth largest language in Macao. People who use English in daily life account for 2.3% of Macao's population, mostly immigrants, among whom Filipinos are the majority; At the same time, English, as an international language, is also quite popular in Macao, with 2 1. 1% of the total population speaking English.
English is the most important business language in Macao. English is a compulsory course in primary and secondary schools in Macao, and it is also listed as the first teaching language in college English. In addition, English is also the language for Chinese in Macao to communicate with different ethnic groups, and even Chinese in Macao use English when communicating with Portuguese.
5. Portuguese: Portuguese is the official language of Macao, but less than 65,438+0% of the residents use Portuguese as their daily life language, and only 2.4% of the population can speak Portuguese, making it the fifth largest language in Macao; Ordinary Chinese in Macao seldom use Portuguese as their first language. In the past, knowing Portuguese was an advantage if you wanted to apply for a government job.
However, Portuguese is popular in Macao at present. Except for the government, legal departments, businesses, bookstores and communities related to Portugal, Portuguese is basically not popular in Macao. In recent years, with the rise of emerging Portuguese-speaking countries such as Brazil and Angola, the trend of Macao residents learning Portuguese again shows signs of revival.
6. Macau is a Macao language, which is a mixture of Portuguese, Malay, Cantonese, English, Old Portuguese and a little Dutch, Spanish and Italian. Portuguese, known as "Ba Du", was once the common language used by Portuguese in Macau, but it has almost disappeared.
The last Portuguese writer born and raised in Macau was Joseph Santos Ferreira. On June 5438+ 10, 2006, the Macao Local Education Association signed a cooperation agreement with six Portuguese communities, intending to apply for Macao's local language as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage.
7. Other languages: Some immigrants from Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar and other countries will use their own national languages and Cantonese in their daily lives, but such dialects have not yet formed a systematic language like Macao dialect.
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1, Traditional Chinese: Traditional Chinese is used daily in Macao, and it is also the official language of Macao, which is the most important teaching language in Macao education. Like Hong Kong, Cantonese has an absolute advantage in society, so the Hong Kong Supplementary Character Set has also been adopted by Macao.
2. Cantonese vernacular: As Cantonese accent is widely used in Macao, folk writing often adopts a writing method close to Cantonese vernacular. For example, "getting off" is written as "getting off" and "loading and unloading goods" is written as "loading and unloading goods".
3. Simplified Chinese: Since the opening of individual tours to Hong Kong and Macao, a large number of mainland tourists from China have traveled to Australia, so some hotels and casinos, advertisements, reminders and slogans have signs in simplified Chinese. In some informal occasions of Macao people, such as taking quick notes and ordering food in restaurants, simplified Chinese is used. In addition, many schools in Macau use simplified Chinese textbooks from Chinese mainland, and some schools allow students to answer in simplified Chinese characters in exams.
4. Portuguese: It is the official language of Macao and is mainly used by Portuguese in Macao. Therefore, in the official documents of the government, Portuguese is still the main word, but the role of Portuguese in China society is not great.
The younger generation in Macao usually choose to learn English, followed by Portuguese. However, in recent years, the number of China residents attending Portuguese-speaking courses organized by Portugal's official cultural institution in Australia, Oriental Portuguese College, is on the rise, which is related to the fact that the Administration and Civil Service Bureau stopped cooperating with Macau Polytechnic in 2003 and started to cooperate with it to organize Portuguese-speaking training courses for civil servants.
5. English: English is an indispensable language in the international community, so many new generations of young people attach great importance to learning English; Although English is not the official language of Macao, many tourist facilities will choose Chinese and English as the main languages. There are also examples of Macao government officials using English, especially in the field of transportation.
For example, the asphalt floor next to the bus stop is painted with the words "bus stop". The traffic sign "stop first" is also a red octagonal sign with a big "stop" in the middle.
References:
Baidu Encyclopedia-Macau