In 2017 at the end of winter, Zé Lúcio visited Berlin, among goals was to get closer to the German language. This time around the town Zé was looking for something more real, integrated, that would mark what learning a language does, that is, changing perceptions, breaking distances, dismantling stereotypes. At the time, ten euros was the value of a 30-minute conversion on internet lessons. This was the price criteria Zé took. The choice of to whom to talk had many reasons, including time availability for a trivial conversation with someone unknown. Beggars and houseless people reminded Zé that, even though marginalised, everyone has a mother tongue, a personal patrimony, a wealth formed by centuries of imagination and codifications of the world. The five chronicles that follow were chosen from the accounts, originally written in Portuguese on the day which the conversations took place. Four years later (2021), these writings finally gained a German version. 

“I still feel they (Chronicles) are up-to-date, they are part of the most interesting moments I experienced in the city and, by gaining a different sound, they make me feel again close to the human diversity of the streets of Berlin, a diversity that does not fit in postcards.”

Zé Lúcio.

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The book is written in Portuguese, German and English.