Catalans are 'persecuting' the language of Cervantes

By Graham Keeley in Barcelona
Published: 30 May 2007 in the Independent

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.

Nationalist authorities started a process of "normalisation" in which Catalan was introduced to every part of everyday life.

A political linguistic department was established in the regional government to enforce laws which say Catalan must have equal status with Spanish.

Companies can be fined if they do not print signs in both languages. Some Spanish parents, who want their children to study Castilian, have brought court cases against the regional education department.

The Catalan regional government even gave €15,000 (£10,000) to a film director to make three pornographic films because they promoted Catalan.

But Artur Mas, the leader of the conservative nationalist party, Convergencia i Union, said that Mr Salvador's remarks were "an insult to Catalonia" that demonstrated "little common sense''.