FREEDOM AND DEMOCRACY IN A NAME

A simple distinction between English and Portuguese can help highlight both the difference on the way those languages developed in the 20th Century onward. It may also be an example for why this actually matters — and it matters a lot. In English, the name of my country is spelled with a ‘Z’. For those that aren’t aware from where I come, I was born and raised in Brazil. In Portuguese, however, the country’s name is spelled with a “S”: Brasil. It wasn’t always like this. We the Brazilians changed the way we write Brazil’s name, from with a “Z” to with a “S,” after an orthographic reform in the 1930’s. English speakers [correctly, I might say] decided they wouldn’t bother, and preserved Brazil’s old name as it was. <a href="https://medium.com/@frombeyondsouth/freedom-and-democracy-in-a-name-62cf724cada8">Visit Now</a>