NG200403013

A LÍNGUA PORTUGUESA NO ORIENTE 661 Por tudo isto, podemos dizer que a história da expansão portuguesa na Ásia teve como consequência directa, mais alargada no espaço e no tempo, a expansão da língua portuguesa no mesmo espaço geográfico. H ERCULANO A LVES , OFMCap Universidad Católica de Portugal ABSTRACT The author develops the idea that the expansion of the Portuguese Empire in the East and the Far East resulted in the subsequent spread of the Portuguese language. This growth is seen in the fact that Portuguese became the official language of Asia in the 16 th - 18 th centuries, a fact to which many foreign documents testify. The presence of the Portuguese language in Asia was not limited to spoken language, there were also many works printed in Portuguese, from India to Ceylon even as far as Japan. The first translation of the bible into Portuguese, published in Amsterdam, as well as Tranquebar, on the Coromandel Coast by the Portuguese Joao Ferreira of Almeida, merits special mention. The use of the language by the peoples of the Orient, led to a certain decline in Portuguese, seen in the formation of dialects. Some are still spoken today in Asia, especially on the western coast of India and in Malacca.