aodhanc Diglot Groupie Iceland Joined 6071 days ago 92 posts - 130 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish
| Message 1 of 22 24 November 2012 at 7:38pm | IP Logged |
Has anyone any thoughts on how the current moves towards a referendum on independence for
Catalonia would affect the linguistic siutation there between Spanish and Catalan?
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espejismo Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 4862 days ago 498 posts - 905 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: Spanish, Greek, Azerbaijani
| Message 2 of 22 24 November 2012 at 10:40pm | IP Logged |
I think that in the case of independence, many Catalans will continue to speak and learn Spanish, albeit in smaller numbers. Spain would probably be their biggest trade partner for years to come.
Here's a map of Catalonia's exports:
via The Economist
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Medulin Tetraglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 4479 days ago 1199 posts - 2192 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Hindi, Nepali
| Message 3 of 22 25 November 2012 at 3:15am | IP Logged |
The linguistic differences between Catalan and Spanish are not much greater than the differences between the Bavarian dialect and Standard German.
Show someone from Hanover the Bavarian soap opera DAHOAM IS DAHOAM (which airs daily on Bavarian TV channel BR) and they will not understand anything.
I'm not really sure the rest of Spain would like to import things from Catalonia.
For example, in the former Yugoslavia, Croatia's main trading partners were
Slovenia and Serbia. And now, we import most goods from Germany, Austria,
and Italy, while we export goods mainly to Croatian-speaking parts of Bosnia and Hercegovina.
Edited by Medulin on 25 November 2012 at 3:23am
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aodhanc Diglot Groupie Iceland Joined 6071 days ago 92 posts - 130 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish
| Message 4 of 22 25 November 2012 at 9:48am | IP Logged |
I agree that there could be an econmic backlash or revenge by the rest of Spain aganst
Catalonia if it were to declare independence.
There could also be demographic conseqences, as some Castillian speakers living in
Catalonia may feel threatened by the new supremacy of the Catalan language in an
independent country.
Witness the mass exodus of anglophones that took place from Montréal to other Canadian
cities during the time of the independence referendums in Québec.
A departure of Castillian speakers from Catalonia would play into the hands of Catalan
nationalists, allowing them to solidify Catalan as the main language of communication
in the province.
And if Catalonia becomes independent, what will be the reaction in the Basque country?
Will it give them a new impetus too?
Edited by aodhanc on 25 November 2012 at 9:50am
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Jinx Triglot Senior Member Germany reverbnation.co Joined 5504 days ago 1085 posts - 1879 votes Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Catalan, Dutch, Esperanto, Croatian, Serbian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish
| Message 5 of 22 25 November 2012 at 4:02pm | IP Logged |
espejismo wrote:
I think that in the case of independence, many Catalans will continue to speak and learn Spanish... |
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Does anyone have any statistics on how many Catalans have to actually "learn" Spanish at present? I'm not very informed on the matter, but I was under the impression that almost all Catalans are natively bilingual. Is there still a significant population in Catalonia that doesn't speak Spanish fluently?
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espejismo Diglot Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 4862 days ago 498 posts - 905 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: Spanish, Greek, Azerbaijani
| Message 6 of 22 25 November 2012 at 8:27pm | IP Logged |
Jinx wrote:
espejismo wrote:
I think that in the case of independence, many Catalans will continue to speak and learn Spanish... |
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Does anyone have any statistics on how many Catalans have to actually "learn" Spanish at present? I'm not very informed on the matter, but I was under the impression that almost all Catalans are natively bilingual. Is there still a significant population in Catalonia that doesn't speak Spanish fluently? |
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I found this on Wiki:
Idioma español en Cataluña wrote:
El castellano es actualmente la lengua mayoritaria de los ciudadanos de Cataluña, tanto como lengua propia de las personas, materna o habitual, en todas las franjas de edad excepto en los más pequeños debido, en parte, a que la educación hasta los 9 años es exclusivamente en catalán. A partir de los 9 años se introduce una asignatura en castellano (Lengua y literatura castellana) dos horas a la semana, y la tendencia se invierte y el castellano se convierte en la lengua habitual en esa franja de población.
En las librerías y quioscos el castellano representa el 85% de la oferta y la demanda del mercado catalán, mientras que algunos diarios publican una edición en castellano y otra en catalán ... Barcelona, ciudad editorialmente muy potente, era hasta hace pocos años líder en número de libros publicados en castellano, y cuenta con el mayor grupo editor en castellano del mundo: El Grupo Planeta. Entre 2002 y 2006 se vendieron 2882 millones de periódicos en castellano en Cataluña y otros 655 millones en catalán.
En cuanto a los cines, la oferta y la demanda del cine en castellano es superior al 90%.
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I would quote the Catalan version of the article, but it skips the part on the bilingual education of children...
It also gives the following statistics:
Quote:
El idioma español en Cataluña
Conocimiento Personas Porcentaje
Lo entiende 6.973.500 99,0%
Lo sabe hablar 6.793.900 96,4%
Lo sabe leer 6.440.300 91,4%
Lo sabe escribir 6.258.200 88,8%
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I guess the question is, how would independence affect the school program and the dominance of Spanish in the media?
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aodhanc Diglot Groupie Iceland Joined 6071 days ago 92 posts - 130 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish
| Message 7 of 22 25 November 2012 at 8:44pm | IP Logged |
The table in the following link from the Catalan Statistics Institute shows the
percentage speakers of each language:
http://www.idescat.cat/dequavi/Dequavi?TC=444&V0=15&V1=2
Approximately 46% are habitual Spanish speakers, 36% habitual Catalan speakers, with 12%
having both as their main language.
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iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5073 days ago 2237 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French)
| Message 8 of 22 25 November 2012 at 11:41pm | IP Logged |
I just saw this today on the BBC Website: The French who see Barcelona as their capital. The fallout could be quite interesting.
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