Portuguese-speaking countries around the world will soon be further united by language.

Next year, the unification of the Portuguese language will occur in all countries where it is spoken. Portuguese is the third most spoken language in the West and fifth in the world; around 210 million people speak this language. The conflicting varieties of regional Portuguese and the difficulties they created in releasing ideas to native speakers around the world prompted the unification effort.

The book A New Spelling of Portuguese Language describes 40 alterations that will occur in Brazilian Portuguese and Continental Portuguese. The changes will have more impact in Portugal than Brazil.

One of the changes proposed is the addition of the letters K, W, and Y to the alphabet. The accents in the written language will also have some alteration. The largest differences are the phonetics used in writing and in the use of consonants.

In Brazil, Portuguese was established as an official language in 1758. There were more varying dialectics in Brazil than in other countries due to the blending of Portuguese with the native languages of slaves and indigenous peoples. In Portugal's other colonies, the cultural mix was less evident and the colonial period was shorter, yielding fewer changes to the language from its original form.

Article written by Vanessa Souza.

Rivers and waterfalls are everywhere in Chapada Diamantina in Bahia's countryside.

Chapada Diamantina is famous for its caves and waterfalls, and for the 19th-century diamond boom that gave the region its name (literally translated as "diamond plateau"). Lençóis (pronounced “Len-soiz”), the principal town of Chapada, is located about 250 miles west of the city of Salvador in Bahia state and serves as the departure point for a variety of treks and tours.

Chapada Diamantina National Park was established in the 1980s in response to growing ecotourism. One of the region's most famous sites is Cachoeira da Fumaça, among the highest of Brazil's waterfalls at over 1,000 feet. Between May and September, when water levels are lower, the wind transforms the falling water into a smoky mist. Many other beautiful waterfalls can be seen in Chapada, including Cachoeira do Sossego and Cachoeira do Buracão.

Chapada Diamantina is just as fascinating below ground as it is above. Lapão Cave, the largest quartz cave in the Americas, is an excellent place for experienced rappellers. Snorkels are available to visitors wishing to swim in the cool waters of the cave-lake, Poço Encantado. In June and July each year, the sun is at the right angle to shine onto the cave-lake, Poço Azul. Minerals in the water refract the light a shimmering cobalt blue.

Chapada Diamantina is mountainous with peaks reaching over 5,500 feet. Varieties of orchids and bromeliads can be seen among the native flora. Animal-life includes jaguatiricas (felines resembling jaguars), deer, mocós (rock cavies, large rodents) and teiús lizards.

Garimpeiros (prospectors) scrambled to Chapada Diamantina following the discovery of a rich diamond vein in the mid-1800s. The population of Lençóis swelled to 30,000, many times its current size. While few garimpeiros remain, the culture of the diamond boom lives on in the town's architecture and folklore.

Chapada Diamantina is accessible from Salvador via comfortable, air-conditioned buses. For more information on this destination, visit http://www.braziltour.com/site/en/cidades/materia.php?id_cidade=7587.

Article written by Brazil Station student Mark Horn. 

A saci stirs up trouble!

Brazilian folklore has a wide variety of stories and traditions that have been passed through many generations. These have had a great impact on Brazilian popular beliefs, music, dances, festivals, art, and literature.

We will start a series with some of the most popular stories of the Brazilian folklore, and the first one is the saci.

The saci or saci-pererê is a fantastic creature from south-central Brazil. He is a one-legged Afro-Brazilian boy who smokes a pipe and wears a magical red cap that enables him to disappear and reappear wherever he wishes (usually in the middle of a dust devil, as shown here). According to the legend, he is always up to some mischief and is considered an annoying prankster in most parts of Brazil. Although he is a potentially dangerous and malicious creature, he will nevertheless grant wishes to anyone who manages to trap him or steal his magic cap.

Let's celebrate Machado de Assis' “Centennial Celebration” by watching a movie based in one of his books, The Alienist. This movie is also part of the Latinbeat 2008 film festival.

The Alienist (Azyllo Muito Louco) will be shown on Thursday, September 18 at 7:15pm, along with the movie A Missa do Galo. Both movies are directed by Nelson Pereira dos Santos, who will join in an onstage conversation with Film Society program director Richard Peña.

Adapted from a novella by Machado de Assis, the film The Alienist (Azyllo Muito Louco) follows a priest and shrink (a “worker of souls”) who continually changes the criteria for determining who is crazy. This psychological ploy echoes the endlessly expandable political blacklist of a repressive government, such as Brazil's in the 1880s when Machado wrote the piece.

Director Nelson Pereira dos Santos satirically casts his whole country as a madhouse, as his psychiatrist jails increasing numbers of townspeople until the concept of sanity becomes moot and nobody's left outside the asylum! Backed by disorienting electronic music, dos Santos spins a witty tale of a very real corner of the world gone totally wacky to demonstrate that any dogma, political or otherwise, becomes a complexity-killing machine.

A Missa do Galo finds 17-year-old Nogueira visiting his cousin Menezes, who lives in Rio with his 30-year-old wife Concepcion, on Christmas Eve. Menezes announces that he's off to the theater, refusing his cousin's company. As Nogueira waits for Missa do Galo—Midnight Mass—his seemingly superficial conversation with Concepcion reveals an ambiguous game of seduction. The film is based on a short story by Machado de Assis.

Admission is $11.00 each, with a $1.25 surcharge for online tickets. We will meet outside the Walter Reade Theater (Lincoln Center) at 6:45pm and enter the theater at 6:50pm. We will head to a Brazilian caipirinha after the screening.

For more information about this or other movie that is part of Latinbeat 2008, check http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/latinbeat08/program.html.

Lincoln Center, Walter Reade Theater
70 Lincoln Center Plaza (at 65th Street)
New York, NY 10023
To get to the Walter Reade Theater, walk towards the FILM banner on 65th Street close to Amsterdam Avenue and use the escalator, elevator, or stairs

Children travel by boat to school in the documentary Quilombo Country, Sept. 19-25

MACHADO 21: A CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION - September 15-19

Machado 21: A Centennial Celebration is a festival composed of academic panels, a book exhibition, a symposium, a concert, and film screenings. For one week, these academic and cultural offerings will be spread throughout Manhattan and New Haven to honor the 100-year anniversary of the death of Brazilian writer Machado de Assis, whose novels are considered amongst the greatest masterpieces of the Portuguese language. They include Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas (1881); Quincas Borba (1891); and Dom Casmurro (1899).

Since his death, Machado's fame has steadily increased and today there are literary critics worldwide dedicated to studying his works. They emphasize the unique character of his writings, which went beyond the literary models of his day and truly crossed borders and explored universal themes. His novels are constantly being translated and are presently included in the canon of world literature.

For more information and for calendar of events visit: http://web.gc.cuny.edu/hispanic/machado21 

QUILOMBO COUNTRY - September 19-25

Quilombo Country, the award-winning documentary about Brazilian villages founded by escaped and rebel slaves, will have its premiere theatrical run from September 19 through 25. The film is narrated by Chuck D, the legendary poet, media commentator, and leader of the iconic hip hop band Public Enemy.

Brazil, once the world's largest slave colony, was brutal and deadly for millions of Africans. But many thousands escaped and rebelled, creating settlements they called quilombos in Brazil's untamed hinterland. Largely unknown to the outside world, these communities struggle today to preserve a rich heritage born of resistance to oppression.

For more information, check http://www.quilombocountry.com.
For more information regarding show times, call (212) 591-0434.

Two Boots Pioneer Theatre NYC
155 East 3rd Street, at Avenue A
New York, NY

A group class meets at Brazil Station.

We will have several new Group Classes starting in the coming weeks. Other groups may also be formed based on demand.

1. N1B - Beginner Level 1 group class will start on Thursday, September 11 at 8pm. It is for people with little or no knowledge of Portuguese.

2. N1B - Beginner Level 1 group class will start on Saturday, September 20 at 11am.

3. N1BS - Beginner Level 1 group class for Spanish Speakers will start on Thursday, September 11 at 6:15pm. It is for people fluent in Spanish and/or Italian with little or no knowledge of Portuguese.

4. N1BS - Beginner Level 1 group class for Spanish Speakers will start on Saturday, September 20 at 1pm.

5. N2B - Beginner Level 2 group class will start on Wednesday, September 24 at 6:15pm. It is for people who have some knowledge of Portuguese.

6. N2BS - Beginner Level 2 group class for Spanish Speakers will start on Tuesday, September 16 at 8pm. It is for people fluent in Spanish and/or Italian with some knowledge of Portuguese.

7. N3B - Beginner Level 3 group class will start on Thursday, September 11 at 6:15pm. It is for people with a decent knowledge of Portuguese.

8. N3BS - Beginner Level 3 group class will start on Tuesday, September 9 at 6:15pm. It is for people fluent in Spanish and/or Italian with a decent knowledge of Portuguese.

Música Brasil - Samba, Bossa Nova and MPB
This is a group class for people who like Brazilian music and want to learn more about this fascinating part of Brazilian history. The course will examine and distinguish Brazilian popular music from the 1960s, 70s and 80s in the context of musical, political, and cultural movements. Due to many requests, the course will be taught in English as well as Portuguese. See schedule below.

9. Música Brasil - Samba, Bossa Nova e MPB group class in Portuguese will start on Monday, September 15 at 8pm.

10. Música Brasil - Samba, Bossa Nova e MPB group class in English will start on Thursday, September 18 at 8pm.

Contact us to assess your current level and to discuss your goals for learning at (646) 287-6645 or Newsletter@BrazilStation.com.

We offer Private and Semi-private classes from Monday to Saturday. You can start taking classes with us at any day, any time. In addition to our traditional Portuguese classes, Brazil Station also offers Portuguese for Spanish and Italian Speakers, Business Portuguese, and Travel Classes. We teach off-site classes and Corporate Language Education as well.

We wrote in a past newsletter about some words that differ in Portuguese from Brazil (Brazilian Portuguese - indicated below as “BP”) and Portuguese from Portugal (Continental Portuguese - indicated below as "CP"). Some people asked us to write some more, so here we have a new list of vocabulary differences: