Language barrier

Yang Jing-yi, 21, says: 'My name is Contanca Rosa.' She apologises as she stumbles over the English words, and says her Portuguese is much better.

Ms Yang is one of a handful of mainland students who have come to Macau to learn Portuguese. At the end of her five-year study programme at the University of Macau, Ms Yang is certain she will find a job as a Chinese-Portuguese business translator.

The conviction came about when she learned of the mainland's growing trade ties with the eight Portuguese-speaking - or Lusitanic - countries: Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Sao Tome, Principe and East Timor.

'Nowadays there's a greater need for Chinese and Portuguese interpreters because of increasing business between the two communities,' she says.

Although Ms Yang says Chinese are increasingly interested in picking up the language, the two Macau universities with Portuguese departments - the University of Macau and Macau Inter-University Institute - have caps on the number of mainland acceptances to their schools (as do Hong Kong universities). Of 180 students studying Portuguese at the University of Macau, for instance, only 28 are mainlanders.

This could make Ms Yang's bilingual skills even more valuable, particularly as the mainland looks to new markets to reduce its dependence on the United States.