Català. Sociolinguistic situation · Català GRAPHIC. Pre-school level According to data compiled by the Department of Education of the Regional Government of Catalonia, Catalan

Català The Rambles(Barcelona. Catalonia)

Urban population

Sociolinguisticsituation

General introduction

Linguistic competencein Catalonia

Personal usageamong youth people

Public administrationsand official usage

Education

The socioeconomicsector

Media and culture

E uskara Cymraeg ElsässischG alego

The majority of the Catalan-speaking population is located within Spain, where the official Catalan-speakingregions occupy over 60,000 km2 with a population of 10,700,000- over 7,400,000 speak it and almost 9,000,000undestand it.

The sociolinguistic situation in the Catalan-speaking Statutory Regions that form a part of Spain is as follows:

Table 1: Catalan knowlwdge grade


Català

A vision of the knowlegde of the Catalanlanguage among the territoriesLinguistic normalization,

the commitment of the people


Personal usageamong youth people Education



Media and culture

Olimpic venues (Barcelona. Catalonia)

Understand, speak, read and write

Understand, speak and read

Unddestand and speak

Understand

Catalonia

41%

24%

9%

22%

Communityof Valencia

12%

19%

24%

35%

BalearicIslands

22%

32%

17%

23%

Competence


In the rest of Catalan-speaking territories, linguistic competence is as follows:

Eastern Aragon

Although there are noofficial recent statisticsregarding Catalan usagein the eastern Aragonregion, it is estimated that90% of the population(approximately 45,000persons) consider Catalantheir habitual mode ofexpression.

South-western France (Department of theEastern Pyrenees Region)

According to data compiled in asurvey conducted in 1993 by Media-Plur iel , 40% of the populat ion(approximately 140,000 persons) statedthat they could speak Catalan, while16% admitted having difficulty inexpressing themselves due to a lack offluency. Linguistic competence increaseswith age: while only 16% of young peoplebetween the age of 18 and 24 speakfluently, this figure increases to 73% inthe case of persons over the age of 65.

Alghero

There have been no census statisticsin this region, but it is possible to extrapolatefrom partial studies. In this way, it is estimatedthat there are approximately 18,000 Catalan-speaking inhabitants in this region.

Andorra

According to a study commissioned bythe Government of Andorra, Coneixementsi usos lingüistics de la població d’Andorra(Linguistic knowledge and usage of thepopulation of Andorra) (1995), approximately85% of the surveyed population understandsCatalan, between 75% and 80% can readand write and over half write correctly.

A vision of the knowlegde of the Catalanlanguage among the territoriesLinguistic normalization,

the commitment of the people






Media and culture


Català

U rban population

Information from the 1986 municipal registerand 1996 census data show the evolution oflinguistic competence in Catalonia over thatperiod.

Understand

Speak

Read

Write

1986

90.3%

64.0%

60.5%

31.5%

1996

94.97%

75.30%

72.35%

45.84%

Expressed in absolute terms, this means that5,683,237 persons over the age of two understandCatalan, 4,506,512 can speak, 4,330,251 can readand 2,743,326 can write. Catalan linguistic competenceis closely linked to cultural origins. In locations wherethe number of persons born outside of Catalonia islow, the generalized usaage of Catalan is practically100% of the population. In regions where the majorityof the population was born outside of Catalonia, thecompetence level still remains over 60% (except in thecounty of Baix Llobregat, where the percentage isslightly lower). It is important to note that the highestlevels of competence are found in the segments ofyouth between the ages of 10 and 19.

Table 2: Language competece





Media and culture


Català

Basic information on the knowlegde of Catalanin Catalonia (1986-1996)

Catalan, everyone'sresponsability

Urban view (Barcelona. Catalonia)


TAB

LE

A survey made by the Gabinet d’Estudis Socials (Social Studies Cabinet) (1990) yielded thefollowing results regarding Catalan usage among young people:


Education


Media and culture


Català

The following data is in reference to Catalanusage by young people and languagefluencyThe future: the recuperation of

Catalan among youth peopleYouth group


Catalan

Spanish

Both

Catalan usage by youth people 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Language used in the home

Language of normal expression

Language used with strangers

Language used among friends

Language used in the workplace

Language used in taking notes

Language used with schoolmates

Language used in exams



Table 3: Catalan usage by youth people

The future: the recuperation ofCatalan among youth people


Education


Media and culture


The following data is in reference to Catalanusage by young people and languagefluency



General introductionCatalà

GR

AP

HIC

Language used in the home

Language of normal expression

Language used with strangers

Language used among friends

Language used in the workplace

Language used in taking notes

Language used with schoolmates

Language used in exams

Catalan

57

50

53

58

56

48

57

46

Spanish

34

32

40

28

27

38

25

38

Both

8

17

-

13

16

12

17

14

It should be noted that the improvement in the level of Catalan knowledge and usage inrecent years is also confirmed by the fluency and quality of the language used among youngpeople.

Correctly With someerrors

With difficulty

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0Not at all

Competence level among young peopleSpeak

Read

Write



Education


Media and culture






TAB

LE

Correctly

With some errors

With difficulty

Not at all

speak

66

19

8

6

read

73

15

3

7

write

24

44

18

15

Table 4: Competence level among young people



Education


Media and culture






GR

AP

HIC

Both the statutoty and local administrations present a fairly avanced level of linguisticnormalisation, both orally among public servants and between civil servants and the public ingeneral, as well as in written documents. Fewer advances have been made in the Justice andState Administrations, where at informal oral, formal and written levels, Catalan is still a minoritylanguage.

Within the scope of the State Administration within Catalonia, the degree of linguisticnormalisation is very low, although use of Catalan in relations between Administration employeesand citizens is permitted (Law 30/1992, Legal Regimen of the Justice and State Administrations,Art. 35 and 36). For years now, there have been bilingual versions of Income Tax Forms andelection documentation for the General Courts.

In practice, full linguistic normalisation can be considered to be effective among employeesof the Regional Government Administration and in the various documents that originate fromthe various departments. The data compiled in the 1991 survey can be confirmed for theemployees of the Regional Government Administration.


Education


Media and culture




The following data is in reference to Catalanusage in the state, autonomous and localAdministrationsCatalan: the official language of

the Catalan AdministrationPublic administration


GR

AP

HIC

In the local Administrations, Catalan is the majority language in most cases, both in Town Hallsand in Provincial Delegations (except in Town Halls in suburban Barcelona due to the special social-linguistic and demographic configuration in these areas). This widespread usage refers to oral usageof Catalan in sessions and usage among functionaries, as well as oral and written communicationbetween functionaries and citizens, including documents.

In general, Catalan usage is minimal in the courts, except for some courts outside of Barcelona.Approximately 98% of the cases are held in Spanish, although the informal usage of oral Catalan isbecoming more frequent. This situation is generally due to the fact that most of the judges are notof Catalonian origin and that the temporary status of their appointments does not motivate them togain further knowledge of Catalan; many of them request to be transferred to their AutonomousRegions of origin.

In spite of this, there are positive aspects that seem to indicate a change in behaviour: a) thereis a greater knowledge of the linguistic situation in Catalonia, b) there has been an increase in oralCatalan usage in legal proceedings and c) the employees of the Justice Administration have beentransferred to the Regional Government of Catalonia in April 1996.


Education


Media and culture





the Catalan Administration


Català

TAB

LE


Education


Media and culture







Català

Hear Speak Read

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Write

Time-language distribution Catalan

Spanish

Table 5: Time-language distribution

catalan

79

79

81

86

spanish

21

21

19

14

Hear

Speak

Read

Write


Education


Media and culture







Català

GR

AP

HIC

Pre-school level

According to data compiled by the Department of Education of the Regional Government ofCatalonia, Catalan is the principal language of instruction in the majority of pre-school centers and,at any rate is an obligatory subject for all children. The information regarding Catalan usage at apre-school level in the 1992-93 school year is as follows: almost 87% of children in Catalonia(138,858 students) receive the majority of their education in Catalan, while only 7.8% (12,556students) receive part of their education in Catalan. In addition, there is a Language ImmersionProgram (PIL) offered in schools in which more than 75% of the students are not of a Catalan-speaking origin.

Primary level

Catalan is the principal language of instruction in the majority of primary level schools as wellas being an obligatory subject in all of them. At this level, the majority of students are educated inCatalan.



Media and culture




The following data is in reference to Catalanusage in the different levels of officialeducation and adult Catalan languagecoursesThe future of Catalan

Education

GR

AP

HIC

P reschoolar educat ion

Public administrationand official usage

Monolingual Catalan Schools with full Catalan educationBilingual evolutive (1) Schools in which units in Catalan exceed level twoBilingual evolutive (2) Schools in which units in Catalan do not exceed level twoBilingual static Schools that regularly teach some areas in CatalanMonolingual Spanish Schools with full Spanish education

TAB

LE



Media and culture




The following data is in reference to Catalanusage in the different levels of officialeducation and adult Catalan languagecourses

The future of Catalan

Education


Català

Public schools

Private schools

Catalan

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Distribution of centers (3 - 14 years of age). 1995-96 school year

Evol. 1 Evol. 2 Static Spanish

Table 6: Distribution of centers (3 -14 years of age). 1995-96 school year

Public schools

73

15

11

1

0

Private schools

58

12

17

13

0

Catalan

Evol. 1

Evol. 2

Static

Spanish



Media and culture






Education


Català

GR

AP

HIC

Secondary level

At the secondary level (BUP), Catalan is the principal language of instruction in the majority ofschools as well as being an obligatory subject. As is the case in other levels, the presence of Catalanhas been increasing steadily in recent years and at present, the students avail of a broad range ofcomplementary texts for each age group and for each subject.

TAB

LECatalan Centers with full Catalan teachingCTCS (1) Centers which over 50% teaching in CatalanCTCS (2) Centers which less than 50% teaching in CatalanCTCS (3) Centers in which all groups receive bilingual educationSpanish Centers with full Spanish teaching



Media and culture






Education


Català

Public schools

Private schools

Catalan

50

40

30

20

10

0

Distribution of BUP (secondary level) schools.1994-95 academic year

CTCS 1 CTCS 2 CTCS 3 Spanish

Students group

Table 7: Distribution of BUP (secondary level) schools. 1994-95 academic year

Public schools

32

32

34

1

0

Private Schools

25

24

25

25

0

Catalan

CTCS 1

CTCS 2

CTCS 3

Spanish



Media and culture






Education


Català

GR

AP

HIC

Within the scope of Technical Training (FP), the figures are lower than for high school studentsduring the 1994-95 academic year. Only 17% of the schools consider that they teach in Catalan and15% in half of their classes.

TAB

LE

Catalan Centers with full Catalan teachingCTCS (1) Centers which over 50% teaching in CatalanCTCS (2) Centers which less than 50% teaching in CatalanCTCS (3) Centers in which all groups receive bilingual educationSpanish Centers with full Spanish teaching



Media and culture






Education


Català

Public school

Private schools

Catalan

50

40

30

20

10

0

Distribution of FP (technical training) schools.1994-95 academic year

CTCS 1 CTCS 2 CTCS 3 Spanish

Table 8: Distribution of FP (technical training) schools. 1994-95 academic year

Public school

20

27

38

15

0

Private school

15

8

44

34

0

Catalan

CTCS 1

CTCS 2

CTCS 3

Spanish



Media and culture






Education


Català

GR

AP

HIC

Post secondary levelIn order to evaluate Catalan knowledge among post secondary level students, the differences among faculties

within the same university and among different universities in Catalonia must be taken into account.



Media and culture






Education


Català

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

0

20

Post secondary level language competence

UB (1991-92) UAB (1991-92) UPC (1990-91) URV (1992) UdLI (1994) UPF (1995)

TAB

LE

Understand

Speak

Read

Write

Table 9: Post secondary level language competence

UB Universitat de BarcelonaUAB Universitat Autònoma de BarcelonaUPC Universitat Politècnica de CatalunyaURV Universitat Rovira i VirgiliUdLl Universitat de LleidaUPF Universitat Pompeu Fabra



Media and culture






Education


Understand

Speak

Read

Write

UB(1991-92)

96,20

83,20

94,20

77,50

UAB(1991-92)

97,80

92,70

95,70

87,30

UPC(1990-91)

92,70

68,20

81,20

47,50

URV(1992)

98,90

86,40

98,60

86,40

UdLl(1994)

95,30

84,90

94,10

79,90

UPF(1995)

93,80

83,30

94,80

74,70

Català

GR

AP

HIC



Media and culture






Education


Català

Adult and continuous education

The purpose of the Consorci per a la Normalització Lingüística (LinguisticNormalisation Consortium) is to oversee and coordinate with Town Halls throughoutCatalonia all of the initiatives for the support and diffusion of Catalan knowledge andusage. This includes the organisation of a large number of courses every year. Duringthe 1995-96 academic year, approximately 2,000 courses were given to over 5,000participants.

The Junta Permanent de Català (Permanent Catalan Commission), ascribed tothe Servei d'Assessorament Lingüístic (Linguistic Consulting Service) of the DireccióGeneral de Política Lingüística (General Directorate for Linguistic Policy) (Departmentof Culture of the Regional Government of Catalonia) has had an increase in applicationsfor exams of various levels over the decade of the nineties (from 10,372 in 1991 to 35,498in 1996).

Media and culture





Català

The following data is in reference to theusage of Catalan in the socioeconomicsector: publicity, labeling and companiesCatalan, a working tool


Inside of a shop


Education

PublicityWithin the scope of roadside publicity, a very small percentage of private publicity is in

Catalan, while the majority of the institutional publicity is in Catalan. Similarly, practically all ofthe publicity in public radio is also in Catalan, as is the case with publicity in the two televisionchannels of the Catalan Radio and Television Corporation (CCRTV) and in Spanish Televisionchannel two (TV2) commercials are in both Catalan and Spanish. Most of the direct mail publicityis in Catalan or in a bilingual format.

In 100% Catalan newspapers, the majority of the advertisements are in Catalan, except for multinationalcar sales advertising, which is in Spanish.

Labeling

The Associació per la Defensa de l'Etiquetage en Català (Association for the Defence ofLabelling in Catalan) (ADEC) has a record of almost 1,000 companies that provide Catalanlabelling, of which, over two thirds are concentrated in six sectors: wines and liquor, bakery, dairy,meat and sausage, handicraft and oil products. Some supermarket chains label their productsonly in Catalan. Nevertheless, the use of Catalan in the supermarket sector is minimal.

Media and culture





The following data is in reference to theusage of Catalan in the socioeconomicsector: publicity, labeling and companiesCatalan, a working tool



EducationCatalà

Boqueria market(Barcelona. Catalonia)

Companies

In the banking sector, the situation is much better because a large number of savings banksoperate only in Catalan and offer their customers the language of choice in their dealings.

In the business sector and among self-employed professionals, more and more Catalan isbeing used in recent years, in spite of many gaps that continue to exist, making this sector one ofthe challenges for linguistic normalisation.

A study made in 1992 by ICOP S.A., commissioned by the General Directorate of Linguistic Policy, analyseslanguage usage among the major companies with head offices in Catalonia. This study is based on annual invoicefigures (all of the companies under study invoice over 1,000 million pesetas annually). Almost 90% of the employeesof these companies understand, read and speak Catalan correctly, although only 40% have a sufficient writtenknowledge. The oral use of Catalan in the workplace is relatively high for managerial posts: 82% of surveyedemployees speak Catalan very frequently and 13% frequently. 66% of the employees that are in contact with thecustomer use Catalan very frequently (this figure is 78% for office employees). These percentages are lower forthe reading knowledge of Catalan (40% read Catalan documents) and the written knowledge (only 12.3% ofemployees write in Catalan very frequently). Oral and written fluency in Catalan is a selection criterion in 47% ofthe companies and 30% respectively.






The following data is in reference to Catalanusage in written and audiovisual media:theate, film, literary and musical industries


Media and culture

EducationCatalà

Put Catalan on the screen

R ock g roup

Newspapers

With the advent of democracy, the first fully Catalan newspaper was edited after an absence ofCatalan press over a period of almost forty years. In April 1976, the Avui newspaper was launchedand the supply of daily newspapers gradually increased: Regió 7 (1978), Punt Diari (1979, currentlyEl Punt). In 1986, the Diari de Barcelona was re-launched, although it is no longer in circulationtoday, and in 1989-90, the Diari de Girona is born. Considering the significant increase in thenumber of newspapers in Catalan, it is important to note that their circulation (11% in total) remainsfar lower than Spanish language publications.

Radio

The publicly-funded radio stations of a general scope that offer 100% Catalan broadcasts are:Ràdio 4, Catalunya Ràdio, RAC 105, Catalunya Música, Catalunya Informació and COMRàdio.

The following private stations broadcast totally or partially in Catalan: Cadena Flash (100%),Cadena Nova (50%), Antena 3 Radio (30%), Onda Cero (30%) and Cadena SER (15%).


Media and culture







Education


Català

Television

The situation with respect to Catalan usage in the television medium is as follows:

a) Televisión Española: the two TVE channels broadcast mainly inSpanish, although TV2 has some Catalan programs.

b) Televisió de Catalunya: the two CCRTV channels have exclusivelyCatalan language programs. Between the two channels, approximately 85%of the publicity is in Catalan, both oral and written.

c) Antena 3 Televisión: the presence of Catalan is purely symbolic.d) Tele 5: the situation is similar to Antena 3, in spite of efforts to broadcast

dual system programs in a few episodes of series such as "Melrose Place"and "Beverly Hills 90210".

e) Canal Plus: there is no Catalan programming, other than rare and isolatedexamples of films once a month that are dubbed in Catalan.

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

4.327

4.838

4.965

5.806

5.905

5.281

5.793


Media and culture







Education


Català

C a s t e l l e r s

Book Publishing

The publications of books in Catalan had been constantly increasing since the advent ofdemocracy, until 1994, when rates began to fall. The following are figures for the last few years:

Table 10: Development of Catalan publishing


Media and culture







Education


Català

Theatre

There are a number of professional companies that operate entirely (or almost entirely) in Catalanand which have been very active in the last decade and have gained a successful following in Catalan society. Amongthe many companies, we have Els Comediants, the Companyia Flotats (linked to the Department of Culture ofthe Regional Government of Catalonia), La Cubana, Dagoll-Dagom, La Gàbia Teatre, Els Joglars, El Talleretde Salt and the Teatre Lliure. In addition, the recently inaugurated National Theater of Catalonia has done bothCatalan and foreign works. There are also a number of experimental theatre companies that offer works that aremainly in Catalan; one of these is the Teatro Fronterizo.

Film Industry

Practically all of the films shown in Catalonian theatres are in Spanish, most of which are dubbedinto Spanish in conformance with a 1942 Decree.

A study made during the week of April 12th -18th, 1996 on Catalonian films in Barcelona yieldedthe following results: 0.50% projections/day, 0.33% projections/week, 0.56% ticket sales/day and 0.23%ticket sales/week.

According to data compiled by INUSCAT in 1994 for the media and culture sector, thepresence of Catalan in the film-making sector is 0.43%, compared to 91.64% for films in Spanishand 7.88% for original versions dubbed in Spanish.

Documents

Català. Sociolinguistic situation · Català GRAPHIC. Pre-school level According to data compiled by the Department of Education of the Regional Government of Catalonia, Catalan