Article de The Independent:
Catalans are 'persecuting' the language of Cervantes

By Graham Keeley in Barcelona
30 May 2007

The language of Cervantes is being "persecuted" by nationalists in Catalonia, a director of Spain's leading linguistic body has claimed.

Gregorio Salvador, the deputy director of the Royal Spanish Academy - Spain's version of the authority which compiles the Oxford English Dictionary - hit out at the way Spanish was being downgraded in schools by nationalists running the regional government in the north-eastern region.
Catalan is the first language in schools in Catalonia and Spanish is taught only two hours a week.
Mr Salvador said: "Franco's dictatorship imposed [Castilian] Spanish on the Catalans and the Catalans thought it was an abuse, which it was. But now the same thing is happening the other way round."
In an interview with the Argentine daily, Clarin, Mr Salvador said that regional governments in Catalonia, the Basque Country and Galicia - which all have their own languages - "have come up with dictatorial regimes of linguistic immersion".
He said that children were increasingly taught in regional tongues. Headded: "The children of Spanish speakers in Catalonia do not have the option of studying in Spanish. Spain is the only country in the world where people cannot be taught in their own language and have another one imposed on them."
After democracy was restored in 1978 Catalonia, like other regions,was granted more autonomy.

Dear Sirs,

 I am appalled of reading what stated in your article ‘Catalans are 'persecuting' the language of Cervantes’.
It is one of those articles that leads one to wonder whether what written about other countries and nations in your newspaper is to bereliable at all. After this article I will have it harder to believe information and news from realities I am not familiar with.

 Shame on you for writing an article with hardly any positive statement bearing a minimum of quality and truth. Do you ever double check what stated by old-fashion nostalgic of dictatorship?Let us stop once and for all to compare what happened with Franco and what is going on now in Spanish regions with their own tongue. It is already almost three centuries that Spanish troops occupied Catalonia and imposed their language by enforced law and massive immigration.

 I myself was born in Italy from a Catalan mother who considered Catalan such a low level language that was not even worth being taught (only 28 years ago, of course totally brain-washed by the education received). When we moved to Catalonia I kept on speaking Spanish with everybody since everybody is able to speak Spanish in Catalonia, and most people that endured the Dictatorship think it is mandatory to answer in Spanish if someone asks in Spanish (I challenge you to prove the contrary).
Cultures that feel superior have it difficult to accept that someone may prefer to speak a language other than their own. Look at the Russians with the Estonians.
In Catalonia there is a mild Government presided by an immigrant whose command of Catalan would not go through the most elementary Quality Control. And very few people are complaining.

 I would suggest you to write a new article after a bit of research. How many TV channels are in Catalan? How many books are in Catalan in the bookshops and libraries? How many movies are in Catalan? How many people are able to speak decent Catalan in Catalonia? Which percentage of hours is in Catalan language at the university? How many goods are sold with Catalan descriptions? How many State Civil Servants are able to answer in Catalan? How many judges in Catalonia can speak Catalan? How many state politicians can speak Catalan? Can the King of Spain speak Catalan (because I think officially he is also the King of the Catalans)? Does the Spanish TV accept people to speak Catalan in its shows (because I think the Catalan TV does it quite often)? Who, eventually, decides what Catalonia can do and cannot do (See discussion on the last Regional Constitution)? Etc, etc, etc, etc…

Best Regards,
Paolo Gervasoni

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Dear Sir,

I read George Keeley's article "Catalans are 'persecuting' the language of Cervantes"(30 May) in amazement. On the other hand, Mr. Gregorio Salvador's opinions were hardly surprising. At the Spanish Congress of Rosario in 2005, he stated that all lesser used languages on Earth should become extinct to favour better international communication. Since then, as you can imagine,
all linguists and experts in the preservation of cultural diversity
reverently await his further contributions with bated breath.

And now he has come up with the idea that "Spain is the only country in the world where people cannot be taught in their own language and have another one imposed on them." Unfortunately, that's not true at all. Take the example of what happens in neighbouring France, where Breton, Occitan, Basque or Catalan speakers have no right to be taught in their own language in public schools. Nonetheless, he is in part right about the Spanish
situation: Catalan or Aragonese speakers in the region of Aragon receives no lessons in their language, the same occurs with Asturian or Leonese speakers. All of them could give Salvador a clear example of what imposition means. As can the Catalans: nearly 300 years of Spanish domination have helped them to know something of linguistic pressure. And yet, any Catalan student who wants to pass University access exams needs to show a high
command of Spanish. If we also consider the large number of Spanish TV channels, films, journals, books etc. in Catalonia we should admit that "persecution" is, at least, a bit of an exaggeration.

However, as I suggested before, what really surprised me is not Salvador's statements, but your correspondent echoing such biased viewpoints and assuming them to be proven facts. Henceforth, it will be harder for me to believe information about other realities I am not familiar with and to trust in the competence of the Independent's correspondents as I did before.

Yours Faithfully,
Alexandre Serrano