Marcos Maceira, President of Linguistic Normalization A Mesa, which brings together the promoters of the Galician language, has shown great concern about the survey data. In his opinion, the data is "a sign of the extreme anguish experienced by the Galician." The lack of knowledge of the language on the part of young people has surpassed the historical highs”.

The Salto has made a summary of the data. The percentage of people who claim to have little or no knowledge of Galician has increased in all age groups. In the case of children under 15 years of age, the increase is more noticeable. In five years, the number of strangers has increased from 23.9 per cent to 32.44 per cent.

Use has also regressed in all age groups. For the first time since the Galician Institute of Statistics (INE) began conducting the survey, the percentage of Galician speakers has dropped below half. In the 2018 survey, 51.88% of respondents said they used Galician in their daily practice, while in the last survey the figure is 45.51%. The percentage of people who only work in Spanish is 29.2% and it was 19.56% twenty years ago. 64.9% say they understand the Galician a lot, the rest answer that it is enough, little or nothing.

Domestic transmission is being disrupted

This survey reflects the generational difference: the older, the better knowledge and use. The largest number of commonly used speakers is concentrated in older age groups. 67.92% of people over 65 use Galician rather than Spanish. By contrast, in 2018, 26.12% of people between the ages of 5 and 14 had Galician as a regular language and in 2023 16.19%. In five years, ten dropping points. Twenty years ago more than 40% of boys and girls spoke daily in Galician. In the case of Castilian speakers, the figure stands at 53.67%, compared to 34.17% that was recorded twenty years ago.

As for the languages in which they operate more comfortably, 46.31% of those over the age of 65 say that they do better in Galician. In the case of people between the ages of 5 and 14, 6.68% responds more easily in Galician.

The first language is Spanish

16.06% of people aged 5 to 14 answered that their parents always speak to them in Galician. In 2008, the CAV figure was 27.88%. The number of fathers and mothers who always do them in Spanish has risen from 36.98% to 47%. When compared to the population over 65 years of age, in the 2023 survey, 66.12% said that their parents had only done them in Galician. In 2008, the figure was 78.85%. The data show that a socio-linguistic change is taking place. Galician was a private language and Castilian was for the public and the social. Today, in the new generations, Castilian is increasingly a language in the private sphere.

Knowledge among the youngest decreases

If we look at the data from 2004 to the present day, the greatest changes in knowledge and use have occurred in childhood and youth. 56.98% of people between the ages of 5 and 14 who said they knew a lot about Galician did so twenty years ago, and in 2023 that figure was 27.43%. Almost a third said they know little or nothing about Galician. This is twice as much as 20 years ago, and it is an increase of 8.54 points compared to the latest data.

In the educational field, more and more Spanish speakers are involved, especially in compulsory education. Among students under 17 years of age, those who always or almost always speak Spanish represent 85.2 percent. Twenty years ago the figure stood at 61.52%. The only ones who do so in Galician make up 4.65% of the total. Young people have also been asked in what language they receive the subjects. 29.49% of respondents said they receive them in their entirety or almost in their entirety in Spanish and 13.89% in Galician.

Media almost exclusively in Spanish

They have also been asked about the use of radios, televisions, the media and books. The answers “Always in Spanish” or “More in Spanish than in Galician” represent 90% of those under 16 years of age.

The Salto talked to Carlos Callón with the survey data. Callon is a high school teacher and author of the book O libro negro da lingua galega (Xerais, 2022). In his opinion, “the surprising thing is that the Galician is alive and maintained” after the mandates of PP politicians Alberto Núñez Feijóo and Alfonso Rueda. Despite the disturbing data, Callon has pointed out that Galicians love Galician, although they do not speak. In his view, this emotional bond is the basis of the future, as long as linguistic policies are changed.

The Galician Government puts migrant people in the spotlight

The Secretary General of Xunta Language, Valentín García, has put migrant people in the spotlight after learning the survey data. In his opinion, between 2018 and 2023 115,000 migrants arrived in Galicia and “this is very important and directly influences the increase in the Castilian speaking population”. The Salto has published several data and has pointed out that there are many statistics that deny that migration is one of the main factors in the sociolinguistic changes of the last five years.