Aida de Jesus, 103, grew up hearing Portuguese in the alleyways and speaking Patua, a creole language, with her grandmother at home in Macau. Photo: Goldthread Aida de Jesus, 103, grew up hearing Portuguese in the alleyways and speaking Patua, a creole language, with her grandmother at home in Macau. Photo: Goldthread
Aida de Jesus, 103, grew up hearing Portuguese in the alleyways and speaking Patua, a creole language, with her grandmother at home in Macau. Photo: Goldthread

Macau

Lifestyle /  Arts & Culture

Patua, Macau’s dying language, and the 103-year-old Macanese woman who speaks it

  • As a young girl, Aida de Jesus spoke Patua with her grandmother at home. Today, only 50 people speak the critically endangered creole language
  • Her daughter feels she is witnessing the last chapter of their people, the Macanese – people in Macau with mixed Chinese-Portuguese ancestry

Topic |   Macau
Goldthread
Goldthread

Updated: 1:33pm, 28 Sep, 2019

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Aida de Jesus, 103, grew up hearing Portuguese in the alleyways and speaking Patua, a creole language, with her grandmother at home in Macau. Photo: Goldthread Aida de Jesus, 103, grew up hearing Portuguese in the alleyways and speaking Patua, a creole language, with her grandmother at home in Macau. Photo: Goldthread
Aida de Jesus, 103, grew up hearing Portuguese in the alleyways and speaking Patua, a creole language, with her grandmother at home in Macau. Photo: Goldthread
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