What is the official language of Macau?

The official languages ??of Macau are Chinese and Portuguese. The number of residents in Macao who use Chinese Cantonese dialect (Cantonese) as their daily language accounts for 85.7, Fujian dialect accounts for 4, Mandarin accounts for 3.2, other Chinese dialects account for 2.7, while the population using Portuguese is 0.6, and the remaining population uses English (1.5), Tagalog (Philippines, 1.3) and other languages ??(2001).

1. Cantonese (called "Cantonese" like Hong Kong) is the lingua franca of Macau society and the official language of Macau: According to statistics from the Macau Bureau of Statistics, Cantonese and Cantonese are the largest language in Macau. , the daily language used by a population of 83.3, and the number of people who can speak Cantonese reaches 90;

Cantonese is widely used in residents’ daily life, work, government offices, school education, news media, culture and entertainment, and is also the main language of Macao. The same language among people living in different places of origin.

2. Modern Standard Chinese (also known as Mandarin, Mandarin or Chinese): Mandarin is the second largest language in Macau; most people who use Mandarin in daily life are new immigrants from mainland China, accounting for 5% of the population of Macau; and Due to the education policy implemented by the government, about 41% of the total population of Macau can speak Mandarin to varying degrees; tourist attractions also use Mandarin to facilitate explanations to foreign tourists and take into account communication problems.

3. Hokkien: There are many residents in the Northern District of Macao whose ancestral home is in the Southern Fujian area and can speak Hokkien, so Hokkien is widely spoken in the Northern District of Macao; Hokkien is the third most spoken language in Macao and is used daily People who speak Hokkien in daily life account for 3.7% of the Macao population, and 6.9% of the Macao population can speak Hokkien. The popularity of Hokkien in Macau also facilitates communication with tourists from Taiwan (the third largest number after mainland China and Hong Kong).

4. English: English is the fourth most spoken language in Macau. People who use English in daily life account for 2.3% of Macau’s population. Most of them are foreign immigrants, among whom Filipinos are the majority. At the same time, English is an international language. , is also quite popular in Macau, with 21.1% of the total population able to speak English;

English is the most important business language in Macau. All primary and secondary schools in Macau list English as a compulsory course, and universities also list English as a compulsory course. A teaching language; in addition, English is also the language of communication between Macao Chinese and different ethnic groups, and even Macao Chinese also use English when communicating with Portuguese.

5. Portuguese: Portuguese is the official language of Macau, but less than 1% of residents use Portuguese as the language of daily life, and only 2.4% of the population can speak Portuguese, making it the fifth largest in Macau. Language; Ordinary Chinese in Macau rarely speak Portuguese as their first language. In the past, if you wanted to apply for a government job, it was more advantageous to know Portuguese.

However, Portuguese is basically not very popular in Macao except for the government, legal departments, merchants or bookstores related to Portugal, and the community. In recent years, with the rise of emerging Portuguese-speaking countries such as Brazil and Angola, the trend of Macao residents re-learning Portuguese has shown signs of revival.

6. Macanese is a Macanese language that is a mixture of Portuguese, Malay, Cantonese, English, ancient Portuguese and a little Dutch, Spanish and Italian. Portuguese is called " Patuá was once a commonly used language among Macanese people in Macau, but it is now almost extinct.

The last Macanese writer in Macau who wrote in the Macanese dialect was Joseph Santos Ferrera. The Macau Indigenous Education Association signed a cooperation agreement with six Portuguese associations in October 2006 and plans to apply for the Macau dialect to be recognized as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO.

7. Other languages: Some immigrants from Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar and other countries use a dialect that is a mixture of their home country language and Cantonese in their daily lives, but this type of dialect has not yet formed like the Macau dialect. Systematic language.

Extended information:

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1. Traditional Chinese: Traditional Chinese is used daily in Macao and is also the official language of Macao. It is the most important language taught in Macao education. Word.

Like Hong Kong, Cantonese (Cantonese) has an absolute dominance in society, so the Hong Kong Supplementary Character Set is also adopted by Macau.

2. Cantonese vernacular: Since the Guangzhou accent of Cantonese is widely used in Macau, writing styles close to Cantonese and vernacular are often used in folk writing. For example, "getting off the car" is written as "getting off the car", "loading and unloading goods" is written as "loading and unloading goods", etc.

3. Simplified Chinese: Since the opening of individual travel to Hong Kong and Macao, a large number of tourists from mainland China have visited Macao, so some hotels and casinos, advertisements, reminder slogans, etc. have signs in Simplified Chinese. Simplified Chinese is used in some informal situations among Macau people, such as taking quick notes and placing orders in restaurants. In addition, many schools in Macau use simplified Chinese textbooks from mainland China, and some schools also allow students to answer in simplified Chinese in exams.

4. Portuguese: Mostly spoken by the Portuguese population in Macau, it is the official language of Macau. Therefore, Portuguese is still used as the main word in official government documents, but Portuguese is not used in Chinese society. Very useful.

The younger generation in Macau usually choose to learn English, followed by Portuguese. However, in recent years, there has been an increase in the number of Chinese residents enrolling in Portuguese courses organized by the Oriental Portuguese Institute, the official cultural organization of Portugal in Macao. Among them, the Administration and Civil Service Bureau stopped cooperating with the Macao Polytechnic Institute in 2003 and switched to cooperating with the Macao Polytechnic Institute. It is related to the association’s cooperation in organizing Portuguese language training courses for civil servants.

5. English: English is an indispensable language in the international community, so many new generation young people attach great importance to learning English; although English is not the official language of Macau, it is used in many tourist facilities Chinese and English texts are mainly used. There are also examples of Macau government officials using English, especially in the transportation field.

For example, the words "BUS STOP" are painted on the asphalt ground next to the bus stop. The "Stop and Give First" traffic sign is also a red octagonal sign with a large "STOP" in the middle.

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia-Macau