Introductory note: there are free hyperlinks at the end of the text.
Because there are Brazilian students who have been fined in classifying Portuguese writing exams according to the variant they have learned, the Association of Professors in Portugal (APP) defends creation of a working group to discuss the acceptance of Portuguese varieties in examinations.
I don’t see anything wrong with thinking about this issue, because we have to protect the weakest link, which in this case is the immigrant student. There will be a few issues to consider, but the concerns are legitimate, although I don’t think the problem is that easy to fix. However, something else brought me here today.
It is worth remembering that the APT has always been on the side of defending the so-called spelling convention (AO90), that eighth wonder of the world, which, according to its various apostles, would contribute to the much-desired “spelling unification”. it will solve problems that never happened. Solving problems that don’t exist is actually a typical Portuguese characteristic.
With AO90, writing becomes unique. Evanildo Bechara even stated in the company of many that “in any area where it is used, be it in Brazil, Portugal or Africa, the Portuguese language will only be written in one way. This means that a book edited in Portuguese can travel to all these countries because the spelling is the same.”
Thus, we are forced to conclude that the problem raised by APP should not exist, it will be solved by AO90. There may be those who want to disguise themselves by diverting the topic into syntactic and lexical issues, but the truth is that there are still many orthographic differences (to repeat the synthesis: AO90 extinguished some differences, preserved differences and – a miracle of unification! – created differences that are not It was).
In recent years, many Brazilian students have entered Portuguese schools who, even using AO90, write with Brazilian spelling, Brazilian vocabulary, Brazilian syntax. In the national examinations to which they are subjected, classifiers (or, as they say, proofreaders) are not instructed to identify these differences (because these differences, as it were, do not exist, since we have allegedly identical spelling for everyone).
So the APP initiative is welcome. This association simply lacks the honesty to admit that this issue is further proof that the AO90 is a disgraceful failure. All you need is honesty.
The Portuguese Teachers’ Association acknowledges that there are problems with AO90.
Spelling Convention: Explained by the Association of Teachers of the Portuguese Language
Teachers Support Spelling Convention Claims
Spelling convention: teachers’ indifference
Spelling convention: delusions of Evanildo Bechara
Double spelling and spelling standardization
