Unlike Hong Kong, Macau always seems far away from me, not in distance, but in time. I have only been there once before, and that was eleven years ago. To others, it always seems to be overshadowed by Hong Kong, or oversimplified down to casinos. To me, it was a memory of exoticism: the quiet, little city with the spectacular Ruins of St.Paul. Hong Kong is vibrant, so the quieter place appears a little bit desolate; but away from the casinos and tourist spots, the quiet place in Macau looks perfectly right. The tranquility brings back the past. It is a place for nostalgia.Maybe that is why even though the languages are alive here, Macau is called a language museum, in addition to meaning of multilingualism.

With the bilingual street signs ,the European style of architecture and the bilingual government documents, people always have the illusion that Portuguese is still prevalent here, in spite of the fact that only 0.7% of the population speaks Portuguese.Macau is a place reminiscent of Portuguese.

But the language does not stagnate here.Surprisingly, after the 1999 Transfer of Sovereignty, Portuguese, instead of dying, seems to revive, especially in recent years. The strong influence of Mainland China economy serves as a stimulus. According to Professor Morais and the Portuguese faculty at University of Macau, a growing number of mainland students come here to learn Portuguese, some even with no previous experience in Portuguese.The Portuguese summer session at University of Macau is also very popular, attracting more than 300 students this time.The reason behind is that Macau is the bridge connecting Mainland China and other Portuguese-speaking countries, and Brazil is a rising economic entity.

The overall language situation is not static, either. Besides Cantonese, other Southern dialects, Mandarin and English, Southeast Asian languages, such as Tagalog, are spoken here as well, because —Filipinos is the largest ethnic minority group here. Another phenomenon not seen in Hong Kong is that Macau has its Creole（Patuá） spoken by the Macanese community.The Macau Patuá is a mixture of Cantonese, Portuguese, Malay and some other dialects in Macau. The creole developed due to the relatively-long period of colonialism. The overseas Portuguese diaspora in Macau established interracial relationship with local Chinese and Asian immigrants and partly assimilated into the Macau customs. Their multiracial descendants were even more susceptible to the local culture. Therefore their language system transformed and Macau Patuá was created.Macau Creole developed along with the continuous and constant exchange between Macanese and other ethnic groups in Macau. However,even before the 1999 Macau's Return to China,Macau Patuá began to diminish because it was not officially recognized and Portuguese promoted standard Portuguese education in its oversea colonies. Macanese themselves also picked up Cantonese. After 1999 ,Macanese population lost their privileges. Some left Macau; others stayed but left the Patuá behind.With the ever decreasing population of speakers,Macau Creole is included in the UNESCO's Red Book of Endangered Languages.Fortunately, in recent years,a theatre group based on Macanese language brings the endangered language,the heritage of the history back to the public. The drama group is called "Dóci Papiaçám di Macau", directed by Mr.Miguel Senna Fernandes. They try to tell the story of Macau in the unique local dialect. For example,this is a video clip that introduces the multicultural Macau. They have also performed in the Macau Festival of Art. Dóci Papiaçám di Macau have seeked to help the endangered language survive. The mission is not complete yet, but we see an optimistic start.

Macau is the museum: all the past glories of languages revive, and new dynamics establish.