HOW ABOUT SPANISH AS A THIRD LANGUAGE?

Brazil's pivotal adoption of Spanish: MOVE COULD BE HISTORIC FOR LATIN AMERICAN COMMUNITY (Andres Oppenheimer, 8/18/03, San Jose Mercury News)

When historians in the future are asked what was the most important development of the early 21st century in Latin America, they may cite something that is not making headlines anywhere nowadays: the gradual steps by Portuguese-speaking Brazil to adopt Spanish as a second language.

It sounds trivial, but Brazil -- which accounts for more than 50 percent of South America's economy, territory and population -- has always lived in relative isolation from its Spanish-speaking neighbors.

In part because of language, Brazilians have always read different books, watched different movies and seen different TV shows than most of their fellow Latin Americans. Even today, after more than a decade of unprecedented South American integration, Brazil remains an inward-looking giant.

But things are beginning to change. Last week, while the region's attention focused on the Brazilian Congress' preliminary approval of a crucial pension reform bill, Brazilian legislators were debating another measure that could prove even more important in the long term: the adoption of Spanish as a required language for Brazil's 43.5 million students in elementary and high schools.

Which is likely to be more helpful, speaking the language of Argentina or of America? Posted by Orrin Judd at August 19, 2003 12:28 AM