Martin wrote:
>Anyway langauge maintainance in autochthonous minority language
>communities is a visible political and economic process and a site of
>political struggle. <Renee, it is intersting to compare the status of
>Gallega in Vigo with Catalan in Barcelona or Euskari in San Sebastian. The
>level of economic and political strength of the language users has a strong
>influence.>>
Ha!! OK Martin, you asked for it...you have tapped into a big scary vein of
my recent contemplations about this very matter...(well, OK, admittedly you
didnīt exactly ask for it, but itīs excuse enough for me...)
Well, I can tell you what I have noticed since I have been in Galicia (for
three months). Before I came I was really surprised to read some news
articles in El Pais (Spain newspaper) about the very agressive legislative,
official attempts by the regional governments of Catalunya and Pais Vasco to
maintain their indigenous languages. For example, In Catalunya, there are
government quotas regulating film dubbing...so that if a theater shows a
certain number of foreign films dubbed into castellano (Spanish) they have
to include a certain minimum percentage of films in catalán. OK. And then
I was really dismayed by contrast at the relatively laid-back policy in
Galicia regulating Gallego use. As far as I can tell, the policy is more of
tolerance (teachers, for example, are permitted to speak Gallego in public
schools, if they choose). Itīs a very different approach, I think.
And from what people here tell me, your interpretation of the historical
"level of economic and political strength" seems to be a significant factor,
at least that is the story my friends here tell and it seems to make sense,
as Galicia seems to be historically rural, agrarian, people stereotyped as
uncultured and not-so-bright. People here tell me that for Galician people
themselves speaking Gallego is associated with the negative aspects of the
Galician stereotype, and my friend tells me of his aunt, for example, who is
appalled to hear that some professors in universities here teach in Gallego,
apprently finding academia and the "rustic" gallgo language incompatible.
Interestingly, nobody seems especially opposed to havuing their kids
learning Gallego in the schools, but as a second language (my kids here take
Gallego, English, and French...their classes are in Castellano (unless any
teacher feels like speaking Gallego, which as far as I know nobody does,
since most people in Vigo, a city, speak castellano to each other and nobody
seems particularly dominant in Gallego). However, some of the textbooks are
in Gallego, while the teacher teaches in Castellano....
Lots of description, Martin (and whoever else has stuck it out this far)
sorry for detail overload. I am just trying to get across my sense of
surprise and, well, dismay, at the sort of laid-back and well, disorganized
approach to language planning that I am finding here. Because I had always
imagined things would be more, um, militant?
I am really curious about the issue you encounter about convincing parents
that their children will not suffer from learning Welsh. I wonder if here
children were learning IN Gallego instead of learning Gallego as a second
language there would be more of a problem.
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue May 23 2000 - 09:20:39 PDT