Catalan Language Use: Public, Educational, and Socioeconomic Spheres
Fields of Use of the Catalan Language
The Official Public Sphere
State institutions do not use the Catalan language or use it anecdotally. While citizens have the right to address institutions in Catalan, a response in the same language isn’t guaranteed. Catalan institutions exclusively use Catalan. Autonomous bodies, dependent on basic state policy issues, continue to discriminate against the Catalan language. However, agencies created by the Catalan Government normally use Catalan.
The Educational System
The Government of Catalonia’s immersion program ensures students receive instruction in Catalan, regardless of their family’s language, from their incorporation in school until the end of compulsory schooling. Catalan’s presence is significant in high school and vocational training. At the university level, Catalan usage varies across studies, faculties, and colleges.
The Non-Official Public Sphere
Media
The creation of public media like CCRTV has successfully promoted the language’s social diffusion. Private media initiatives have partially balanced the Catalan language’s previously marginalized position.
- Newspapers: Two daily general newspapers and two sports newspapers have Catalan editions, alongside Spanish versions.
- Periodical Press: Local and regional publications, journals on diverse topics, and free publications exist in Catalan.
- Radio: Barcelona’s provincial and local public and private radio stations have established Catalan broadcasts, and state broadcasters offer disconnections in Catalan.
- Television: Local television networks, including commercial ones, broadcast in Catalan.
Cultural and Leisure Activities
- Publishing: The Catalan publishing industry has grown over the past thirty years, with increased translations and sales often rivaling or exceeding Spanish publications, despite a smaller potential readership.
- Theatre: Catalan theatre has flourished with the establishment of stable local companies and high-quality productions.
- Cinema: It’s important to distinguish between films produced in Catalonia (not always in Catalan) and films dubbed into Catalan. TVC’s scheduling of Catalan films promotes this art form.
- Music: Catalan singer-songwriters and rock groups, influenced by the Nova Cançó (New Song) movement of the late 1950s, are prominent.
- Popular Culture: Catalan remains prevalent in traditional culture and facilitates the integration of new residents.
- Sports and Leisure: Catalan’s presence in sports, leisure, and tourism varies geographically.
Socio-economic Activities
Catalan’s presence in professional, commercial, and economic activities has seen limited growth. Some companies incorporate Catalan in aspects like advertising, signage, and customer service, particularly for Catalan-speaking clients.
New Technologies
- Software: Basic computer software is available in Catalan, alongside Spanish and English versions. Nonprofit organizations distribute free Catalan software.
- Language Processing: Catalan universities are involved in developing human voice processing programs for the language.
- Internet: Despite the dominance of major languages online, Catalan ranks among the top twenty languages globally for web pages proportionate to its speaker base.
The Catalan Language in Other Catalan Regions
. – Valencia. Increased knowledge of the language and moderate their use. As negatives include the decline of language in the provincial capitals and constant attempts to secede linguistics, namely the Valencian consider a language other than Catalan. – Balearics. It shows also an increased knowledge of the language. The pressure of migration and tourism are relatively recent phenomena that have broken the traditional isolation of this territory. – Western Strip. The social use of Catalan language but the majority are not official and is taught on a voluntary basis. – Andorra. Although Catalan is the only official language, the pressure of Spanish and Portuguese immigration and the continuing trade with Spain and France have significantly lowering the weight of their own language. – Northern Catalonia and Alghero. Decline of Catalan has accelerated in recent decades, although it has intensified contacts with Catalonia in both cases