Text 10A2

From a distance, Brazil may look like a linguistically homogeneous country. You can easily challenge this false impression if you travel around its huge territory. You will find Spanish in the borders, with most of its neighbors, as well as nearly 200 indigenous languages from the remaining original inhabitants. Over a quarter of a million deaf people use sign language and a small amount of speakers use learned additional languages, English being the most prevalent one.

The monolinguistic ideology that prevailed in social contexts, such as the school, the media, and trading, has been gradually transformed by globalization. New generations commonly listen to music, watch TV, and browse the internet using languages other than Portuguese. English has become more familiar and is easily seen in urban linguistic landscapes. Children and teenagers have access to video games, music videos, and other contemporary forms of entertainment in which English is the main language available. English has become a means to access information that is widely spread online.

Internet: < www.cambridge.org> (adapted).