Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has signed an agreement to implement spelling reforms in the Portuguese language.
The agreement was signed Monday in the Brazilian Academy of Letters here during a ceremony to commemorate Machado de Assis, who died exactly 100 years ago and is considered the greatest Brazilian writer.
The spelling reforms in Portuguese have been under discussion since 1990 by the member countries of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), grouping Brazil, Portugal, Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau and East Timor.
Brazil will be the first CPLP country to start implementing the reforms.
Changes are due to start on Jan. 1, 2009 and will be concluded by the beginning of 2013. The terms of the agreement stipulate that both old and new forms will be accepted during the transition period.
The changes will affect about 0.5 percent of all the words used in Brazilian Portuguese, and up to 1.6 percent of the words used in other CPLP countries. Most changes are related to accentuation.
During the ceremony, Lula also announced a plan to build at least one public library in every Brazilian town by 2009.
"Today is such an important day for our beautiful literature. There are still many chapters missing in access to books in Brazil. Most books read today are those suggested by the school," he said.
Source: Xinhua
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