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First bilingual Portuguese-Tetum newspaper goes public

Source
Lusa - March 18, 2005

Dili – "Lia Foun", East Timor's first fully bilingual newspaper, hit the streets Friday, with the weekly's director forecasting it will underline the importance of Portuguese to the country's cultural identity.

"Anyone who still has doubts will finally understand the importance of the Portuguese language to Tetum and, consequently, for the very identity of this people", Vasco Carrascalao da Silva, said, referring to Timor's two official languages.

The 28-page "Lia Foun", or +news+ in Tetum, will have a weekly print run of 5,000 with a cover price equal to about euros 0.35, Carrascalao da Silva, the newspaper's director, said.

The weekly has foreign correspondents in Portugal, Australia and Indonesia and counts on contributions from Lisbon-based Angolan author Jose Eduardo Agualusa.

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