Portuguese Language among East Timor Languages: A Case Study in a Timorese Secondary School

ABSTRACT

The Timorese linguistic setting is complex: a multilingual society with oral tradition, two official languages, a large number of autochthonous native unwritten languages, a poor educational system, weak teacher training, indecisions and contradictions in educational policy over time. At school, the Portuguese language, which is one of the official teaching languages, is not dominated by all, often competing with Tetum, Indonesian and local languages. Outside the classrooms, it almost disappears. The present case study presents the results of a survey on the language proficiency, on their perceptions and on cultural habits of students in a Timorese public school in Dili. It analyses the results mainly from a qualitative perspective and discusses them, considering the effects of cultural practices in formal education. It confirms the Timorese multilingual scenario, but allows us to question a linear correlation between geographical area and local language, at least for the context of the capital.

KEYWORDS:
Portuguese language; second language; East-Timor; linguistic diversity