Sarau de Lingua Portuguesa

Title: 'Sarau da Língua Portuguesa': a Journey through the Music and Atmosphere of the Portuguese Language

Body: Hosted on the Sofía Esther Broquen de Spangenberg, a school of Modern Languages in the heart of Buenos Aires city, this celebration commemorated World Portuguese Language Day, which takes place on May 5th. Many Portuguese teachers and students shared poetry, songs, and typical expressions from the Portuguese language with the whole school community. 

As English-to-Spanish translation students, we suddenly found ourselves amused by the pleasant musicality of Portuguese and the joy of those who speak it. 

We especially enjoyed one of the last activities, which was led by the drama teacher and involved all the assistants of the event. We got together forming a round and were encouraged to imitate the different sounds of a train using Portuguese words from Manuel Bandeira's poem 'Trem de Ferro' (cafe com pão and muita força), while the drama teacher read some beautiful descriptions of Brazilian and Portuguese sceneries (from what we could gather :p). We felt as if we were traveling there with our minds and ears!

We had a great time and, after this exciting event, we will definitely dig into Portuguese-written pieces and songs. Also, we're looking forward to the Festas Juninas event in June!

Review of the Portuguese Poetry Festival

The Anglo-Portuguese Alliance is the oldest military alliance that is still in force by political bilateral agreement. It was established by the Treaty of Windsor in 1386, between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Portugal (now the Portuguese Republic). This alliance, one of the oldest in the world, was primarily formed to ensure mutual support against one common enemy: French translatorship students. It has endured through the centuries and has been reinforced during significant historical events such last Friday’s carnival event.

On 5 May 2023, the Prime Minister of Portugal (Anna Terra Leme) and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (Florencia Carrió) signed a new agreement between the two nations in Palermo, Buenos Aires (Argentina), known as the UK-Portugal Joint Declaration on Bilateral Cooperation,thereby reinforcing the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance and confirming its status as the longest-running alliance still in force. The Joint Declaration was also signed to celebrate the 650th anniversary of the Treaty of Tagilde. However, as both countries are members of BEDELÍA, their relations are now largely coordinated through that institution, rather than by the bilateral treaty.

‘Sarau da Língua Portuguesa’ is an event to celebrate the Portuguese Language as May 5th is its day. The event is made for native and non-native speakers of Portuguese, so if you don't speak the language, you can still tag along and have a great time. 

In the event, students and teachers read their poems aloud for everyone to hear, but I must admit that at the forth poem, I have given up on trying to understand what has been said. Don't get me wrong, every word is a melody to the ears, but you are trying so hard to understand the words, and it keeps you away from enjoying the poem, the rhythm and intonation. 

Then, there is a group activity. Teachers invite everyone present to join a dance that involves a Brazilian poem, called Trem De Ferro. It is very well coordinated and explained, so don't think that you won't be good at it. 

Finally, there is a raffle in which the winners can get a book or an Argentina's flag signed, Supposedly, by Lionel Messi. The prizes of the raffle, which isn't rigged at all, are won, of course, by Portuguese students. 

"Should I go to this event, knowing that I don't understand a single word of Portuguese?". You, perhaps, are in this spot now, wondering the exact same thing, but I can tell you that you definitely should. Although they don't play football there, it is still an excellent plan to meet new people and have fun all together; but try not to say that Maradona is better than Pele. there's one thing you have to know: they do not play football there. 

Review of the Portuguese Poetry Festival

Neither of us speaks Portuguese, but we managed to understand some of the poems and some of what was being said. We think that all the poems were beautiful, interesting (some more than others) and current, and the amount of people that attended the festival shocked us: we thought that more people of our age group would go, not only primary school kids with their parents. Aside from all this, the dynamic was interesting and entertaining, most of all the game that we played after the poems were read; we really enjoyed ourselves.