Article 9 of the Basic Law of Macao contains clear provisions on the official languages of Macao: In addition to the Chinese language, Portuguese may also be used in the executive, legislative and judicial bodies of the Macao Special Administrative Region, and is also the Portuguese an official language.
Decree-Law No. 101/99/M also highlights the principle that both Chinese and Portuguese are official languages of Macau and that both official languages have equal dignity, establishing a system that provides for and guarantees the coexistence and use of these two languages on an absolutely equal footing in the executive, legislative and judicial spheres.
Everyone has the right to address in one of the official languages, orally or in writing, to any administrative body, as well as to the concessionary entities in the exercise of powers of authority, and to receive a response in the official language of their choice.
Article 6 also establishes that everyone has the right to address in one of the official languages, orally or in writing, any body of the Administration, as well as the concessionary entities in the exercise of powers of authority, and to receive a response in the official language. of your option.
The Central Government has constantly stressed that Macau, as a platform for Sino-Portuguese business cooperation, must fully and actively exploit the advantages of its bilingual talents, in order to promote deeper exchanges between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.
Macao has long suffered from a shortage of bilingual talent, a problem that is still unresolved and causes a lot of inconvenience.
This is reflected in the incomplete publication of official information in Portuguese and the low number of documents translated into Portuguese, at a time when the RAE’s electronic governance is being developed. The Portuguese translations are not up to date and are published late.
For example, on the official website of the courts, the time taken to ‘upload’ the final judgments of the cases in the different instances of the courts is very long and there is a great difference in the time of publication of each case.
In the ‘Written interpellations’ section of the Legislative Assembly website, most of the questions submitted by deputies are in Chinese, with the translation into Portuguese delayed, which does not reflect the importance of the language. The Portuguese translation of the news on the Macao SAR Government’s website is also not timely.
Furthermore, according to many Portuguese residents of Macao, there is a problem with the inaccurate translation of public signs into Portuguese, which confuses them and does not provide them with accurate directions. Competent authorities should monitor the accuracy of the Portuguese translation of public signs, in order to provide clearer guidance to non-Chinese-speaking Macao residents.
The Macao SAR Government has stressed the need to actively promote e-governance.
As Portuguese is one of the official languages of Macao, all documents and information in Portuguese must be accompanied and published in a timely manner.
The lack of timely and accurate dissemination of information in Chinese and Portuguese, and the lack of clear access by the public, not only hamper the authorities’ efforts to promote e-governance, but also undermine the public’s right to information and fail to demonstrate the equality and importance of both Chinese and Portuguese as official languages.
*Association of Civil Service Workers of Macao
