World language Spanish threatened in Spain, campaign claims (Feature)

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By Sinikka Tarvainen Jul 25, 2008, 2:08 GMT

Madrid - While Spanish is consolidating its position as one of the world's most international languages, a debate is raging in Spain on whether it is under attack in the country where it was born. A group of intellectuals, some media outlets and citizens' associations have launched a campaign in 'defence' of Spanish which they see as being endangered in regions promoting their own languages in the country with a plural identity. The debate focuses on whether parents wanting to educate their children only or mainly in Spanish should be able to do so in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, the Basque region and Galicia, which want pupils to learn Catalan, Basque or Galician alongside Spanish. The pro-Spanish campaigners stress the role of Spanish - known in Spain as Castilian, language of the region of Castile - as the only language common to all Spaniards and as one of the cornerstones of the national identity. The idea that a language spoken by 500 million people worldwide could be threatened by minority languages is nothing short of ridiculous, regionalists hit back. Spoken in most of Latin America, Spanish is the second most important language in the United States. It is also studied increasingly worldwide, making it the most widely used language after Mandarin Chinese, Hindi and English, according to Culture Minister Cesar Antonio Molina. In Spain itself, however, regional governments are questioning the domination of Spanish in an attempt to promote regional languages. These include Catalan, spoken widely in Catalonia, a north-eastern region of 7 million residents, and on the Balearic Islands; Basque, spoken by about a quarter of the region's 2.1 million residents; and Galician, the first language of more than 60 per cent of the region's 2.8 million inhabitants. Catalan and Galician are Romance languages related to Spanish, while Basque or Euskera is not known to be related to any other language and is much more difficult for Spanish-speakers to learn. Dictator Francisco Franco, who ruled from 1939 to 1975, repressed the use of regional languages which could often not even be spoken in public. Franco's death in 1975 turned the tide. The constitution now establishes the coexistence of regional languages with Spanish. Regions enjoy wide measures of autonomy including the right to teach regional languages in schools. Some now see the decentralization as having gone too far, with Catalonia and Galicia having made bilingual education compulsory and the Basque region preparing to adopt a similar policy. Policies to promote regional languages are the most extensive in Catalonia, where the regional government is sparking controversy with plans to cut down the number of Spanish classes from three to two a week in primary school. Even children of immigrants from Latin America or Africa now speak Catalan, a language without the knowledge of which it is often difficult to find a job in the region. Educational and other measures to popularize regional languages sparked a 'manifesto for the common language' launched by some 20 journalists, philosophers, historians and authors including Mario Vargas Llosa of Peru. Parents' associations have also sprung up in several regions, demanding the right to educate children in Spanish. The most vocal critics include representatives of the opposition conservative People's Party (PP), which has also accused Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialists of endangering national unity by granting regions more self-government. Madrid media close to the PP accuse Zapatero of allowing regionalists to 'persecute' the national language, something that the government firmly denies. The coexistence of Spanish with other languages was 'the richest, most open and most democratic' way, the premier said. The government has done a lot to make Spanish more popular in the world, establishing dozens of new Cervantes Institutes to spread it, Molina said. Some experts worry that Catalan or Basque children will speak poor Spanish after learning it mainly from television and stress the right of parents to make educational choices for their children. Children in some Catalan schools reportedly have trouble expressing themselves in Spanish. Overall, however, there are few signs that teaching regional languages would have undermined the Catalans', Basques' or Galicians' knowledge of Spanish and regionalists dismiss such arguments as absurd. 'If any language is threatened, it is not Spanish, but Catalan,' Catalan politician Josep Antoni Duran y Lleida said, attributing the language row to underlying political power struggles.

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Bill ChapmanJul 25th, 2008 - 06:37:13

Regional and minority languages such as Galician, Basque and Welsh are treaures like rare wild flowers which need to be preserved. I am in favour of a radical solution: use the regional language within the region, use the state language within the state, and use Espertanto for international communication.

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odeteresaJul 25th, 2008 - 08:59:23

Castilian language was born in the Kingdom of Castile, which later became an Empire, thus spreading (= imposing) its own language, culture and religion on many territories across the world (by killing,torturing and expatriating millions).

Of course, this long process begun with the other kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula (they succeeded in Galiza and Al-Andalus and they failed in Portugal, thanks to England's support).

Galician kingdon was the matrix of two kingdons: Galiza and Portugal. The portuguese language was therefore born in Galiza and it is still spoken there (where it is referred to as Galician or Galician-Portuguese). Thus, galician language is by no means a 'regional' language, but an international and wide-spread one).

No question that the Spanish authorities have always tried to isolate galician language from the Portuguese world to which it belongs and convert it into a Spanish dialect, which, on top of it, was proscribed during the fascist dictatorship of General Francisco Franco.

I beleive that after several centuries of repression and colonialism, we Galicians, should now have the right to educate our kids in our own language (which is an internationally useful language still spoken by most of the Galician population). If the fact that we are in Spain is going to be the excuse to keep on prohibiting our language and culture, well, then maybe we should not be in Spain... Of course we will never renounce to the treasure of the spanish language (which, by the way, is more correctly spoken in Galiza than it is in Madrid), but we firmly demand respect for our own: galician-portuguese language, which was born in Galiza.

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July the 25th GalizaNationalDayJul 25th, 2008 - 11:40:46

Watch out for those 'Spanish speakers' in Galiza or Catalonia claiming his 'rights' (created by the Spanish rule), no matter what the democratically elected Galician parliament rolls off. Any organisation with the word 'bilingual' on its title is made up by monolingual Spanish speakers aiming to wipe Galician language out of Galiza.

The trick is to reverse the plot: it is not Spain forcing small old kingdoms, it is actually those Spanish speakers being abused by Galician nationalism.

Check what is happening in the Basque Country, where a plebiscite over independence come out of the democratically elected Basque parliament is on hold by Madrid.

It is time for you to meet the new Spanish Nationalism based on 'defendless Spanish speakers' who are trying to keep rights imposed by centuries of Spanish dominion (the core of Spanish far right). The United Kingdom eases the tie on Scotland. This is definitely not for Spain.

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CitizenJul 25th, 2008 - 13:43:17

The only languages threatened in Spain are these regional ones.

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GalicianJul 25th, 2008 - 16:08:30

It's nice to read the opinion of someone's who wiev this topic from the distance. I'm galician and I have to say that it's being threatened. Nowadays, some great advances to stop this situation are taking place.

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galegoJul 25th, 2008 - 21:31:14

que vaiam tomar polo...... os imperialistas espanhois.
VIVA GALIZA CEIVE!!!!!!!!

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PereJul 28th, 2008 - 15:35:51

If in Catalonia there is a language in danger this is, without a shadow of a doubt, Catalan.

Catalan has been forbidden by the Spanish regimes and governments for centuries (1714 - 1932, 1939-1978). It is important to realise that Castilian speakers in Catalonia believe that Castilian language is NOT in danger over there. The 'manifesto' has been written in Madrid and with the clear aim to acomplish what the Castilian acomplished in South America: to eliminate any native-language to impose their own one.

Galego is the language of Galizia, Basque -spoken in the Basque Country-is probably the oldest and one of the few remaining native European languages still alive and Catalan is the original language of the Catalans, Valencians and the Balearic Islands.

Castilian should remain the language of the Castilians. Obviously, that does not mean to abolish it from the streets of Barcelona, Bilbao or Santiago. I am proud to be able to speak three languages. I believe in a multilingual Europe and, therefore, I believe I should have the right to speak Catalan in Catalonia as English speak theirs in England.

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Erik BostonAug 18th, 2008 - 13:04:01

Good grief--tourists are confused everywhere. That's not a very convincing argument. Multiple languages don't keep them away from Belgium or Switzerland.

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World language Spanish threatened in Spain, campaign claims (Feature)

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