Automatically translated from Basque, translation may contain errors. More information here. Elhuyarren itzultzaile automatikoaren logoa

"If young people and immigrants turn their backs on us, we have a party."

  • Josep Ruaix (Moià, Barcelona, 1940) is grammatical and priest. He wants a dignified Catalan. To do so, the objective is clear: to achieve as many speakers as possible and to speak as well as possible. However, it does not alter the lack of correctness and honesty of speakers regarding language. The interview was carried out in the publication Vilaweb and we have brought here some passages.
“Kazetariek ez dute mailarik hoberena, baina ezin dugu askoz gehiago eskatu”.
“Kazetariek ez dute mailarik hoberena, baina ezin dugu askoz gehiago eskatu”.

Are you very concerned about the situation in Catalan?

Yes, I'm very worried, but I'm also very hopeful. I follow what Fabra said [Pompeu Fabra established the current Catalan regulation]: “Domestic work and hope must never be neglected.” There are a lot of people fighting for language, and the struggle gives results. On the other hand, people from other backgrounds have acquired the language and cannot adapt it to what we dominated in the 40's, 50's, 60's or 70's. We have to pay a kind of toll: to have more Catalan speakers you have to lower the level a little.

What do you mean?

I lived in Italy and spoke Italian, but not like the Italians. They were happy to speak Italian, but I couldn't speak as well as they were. Here's the same thing. We have people from many backgrounds (China, Latin America, Ukraine, Russia…). They're not going to learn Catalan like us. We will have to accept some objective deficiencies. If we want more than a million Catalans who have not been born in Catalonia, we will have to recognise that they have a lower language level, they will not behave as if they had it or not, they do not have the same authenticity. I'm not pessimistic, because there are a lot of people working. We must continue to fight and wait for these people to acquire the language, love it and improve it. I'm Catalan everywhere, but the Ruaixt seemed to have come from Occitania, probably in the 16th century, and they adapted. We now have to wait for the same thing to happen: for those who have come to adapt, for them to feel Catalan speakers, for them to defend the language and to try to speak as well as possible.

What role do the media play?

I have a lot of respect for the media for a number of reasons. For starters, they have to work very quickly. I understand that when I see mistakes in the newspapers. Secondly, the media are a reflection of society. If the Catalan spoken has many shortcomings, we cannot ask the media to act very differently, they are also part of society. They don't have the best level, but we can't ask for much more. We cannot ask journalists, who have to know many things and, above all, everyday things, to take care of the quality of the language as well. We can't go find them.

The surgeon is asked to know how to use the scalpel. Should we not demand the same level of those who speak the language in their profession?

It would be nice for those who work in the media to speak and write better. But they've studied journalism, not linguistics. We can't ask them to write like a professor of philology.

And what role do teachers play?

A distinction must be made between language teachers and those who teach a subject. Language teachers should ask for more, but they have had to learn so many lessons… In addition to language there are many interesting things and not all are linguists. In the future we will see things that are going to improve and that are going to get worse. But because Fabra was, I want to be optimistic.

If we are so pragmatic and lose references, are the second and third generations not going to suffer damage?

We have to get the media to connect with the new generations. If we make language too esoteric, too complicated, too high, they won't feel identified. We have to get used to more authentic and straightforward ways, but in the meantime, they don't feel uncomfortable. They're going to be asking, they're going to be recovering the ways that were lost. So did the Hebrews. They were in the diaspora, they had the opportunity to return to their country and they have regained Hebrew. It's not exactly the same, but there's some similarity. We have to be prepared to lose a battle if we want to win the war. If young people and immigrants turn their backs on us, we have a party. We must be skilled. Pragmatics.

In the media, in the duplicate conversations, we hear expressions like: “how to mole,” “uncle, what you do,” “what to suck.” Can't we have our juvenile language?

I insist. We have to be skilled. We must know to what extent we can impose or propose genuine forms. We can guess them, but users must be willing to accept them. In order to win in the long run, we have to lose now twenty. For the future, they will be able to recover the most authentic forms or will invent new ones. Some sociolinguistics said: languages are impure. Catalan comes from poorly spoken and poorly written Latin. In the 8th and 9th centuries, those who knew Latin would be frightened of the footsteps of their contemporaries. And we are now happy, it is an exemplary language. A certain impairment is inherent in language. Languages are not forever, they are perishable like us.

Don't die.

In the long run, like all things, he will die. In 200 or 300 years… I’ve started talking like a cure…

Do we go vigorously or do we fall?

In the Principat we are winning in number of speakers, but in quality we are losing out. With regard to other peripheral areas, it is quite worrying, there are forces that want the language to be reduced, even to disappear. We have to help them, but as Fabra said, the Valencians and those in the Balearic Islands have to decide their policy. We cannot be imperialists.


You are interested in the channel: Katalana
2025-03-17 | ARGIA
Ipar Katalunian katalanezko ikastetxeak larri: babes ekonomikoa eskatu diete instituzioei

Milatik gora lagun bildu ziren larunbatean Ipar Kataluniako Perpinya herrian La Bressola ikastetxeak defendatzeko. Murgiltze eredua katalanez eskaintzen duten ikastetxe horiek arrazoi ekonomikoengatik larrialdian daudela adierazi dute eta erakunde publikoei eskatu diete babes... [+]


Elle-aren biya

Lagun asko sumatu dut kezkatuta euskaldun gero eta gutxiagok ahoskatzen duelako elle-a. Haur eta gazte gehienek bezala, heldu askok ere galdu du hots hori ahoskatzeko gaitasuna, idatzian ere nahasteraino. Paretan itsatsitako kartel batean irakurri berri dugu: altxorraren biya... [+]


Mazónek ez du lortu bere misioa: Valentziako gurasoek katalanaren alde egin dute

“Askatasunaren” izenean, ikastetxean zein oinarrizko hizkuntza nahi duten galdetu diete guraso valentziarrei. Helburua katalana zokoratzea zen. PPren eta Voxen gobernuak ez du lortu. 33 eskualdeetatik 22tan katalana gailendu da. Emaitzarekin oso pozik agertu dira... [+]


Eskoletan katalanaren biziraupena kolokan jar dezakeen galdetegia abian jarri dute Valentzian

570.000 familiak euren haurren ikasgeletako hizkuntza nagusia zein izango den bozkatzeko aukera dute martxoaren 4ra arte: gaztelera edo katalana. Garikoitz Knörr filologoaren eta euskara irakaslearen arabera, kontsultak "ezbaian" jartzen du katalanaren zilegitasuna... [+]


Chronicle
Why does the Basque Country not have an adequate media share?
It is drawn as a taboo subject in the Basque Country, but this is not the case in the world. Language policies cannot be put into the logic of the free market, but quotas or quotas must be established. They are necessary. And the ones that exist need to be complied with, because... [+]

Shops that do not offer care in Catalan will be punished in Andorra
The sanctions, ranging from EUR 6,000 to EUR 10,000, amount to EUR 2,000,000. Catalan is the only official language in Andorra, although the mother tongue of half the population is Spanish.

2024-09-03 | Sustatu
Rigorous analysis of the evolution of Catalan
Joan M. Sociolinguistics Serra has published a book on the possible futures of the Catalan language: L'ús parlat del català: In a decisiu tombant (oral use of Catalan: at the decisive intersection). Kike Amonarriz has read a statement in which he called "stimulus to action,"... [+]

2024-06-07 | Sustatu
Google’s results have shown some reasons for Catalan to appear less
This website documented the fall of Catalan and Basque between 2022-2023 in the search results of Google. Something that had some repair. Recently, from some studies that have come from Catalonia, we have known some reasons for these languages to appear less in the searches. On... [+]

Minority languages: review of emerging discourses
On April 23, the Basque Socio-linguistic Day 2024 was held in Vitoria-Gasteiz, organized by the Socio-linguistic Cluster. In recent years they have focused on the speeches that have been shown for and against Euskera and Catalan. Around the Basque country, Onintza Legorburu, Xan... [+]

2024-02-14 | Cira Crespo
Júlia Ojeda, literary criticism
"We lack speeches to face the great battles of globalization"
The voice of Júlia Ojeda, literary critique, is important in the current Catalan media and helps us to approach one of the multiple axes in which Catalonia is rethinking after the independence process. He is also a member of Matriotes, a space defined as “feminist and... [+]

A small and free

The Catalan linguist Carme Junyent died last September. We have followed closely what he said about language policy here, hoping that we will ever dare to implement some of his proposals. I was behaving without burnings. Many examples have been gathered in this journal: ARGIA... [+]


The Spanish Government will press for the formalisation of Catalan in the European Union, ahead of Basque and Galician
The reasons used by the Foreign Minister, Manuel Albars, are, among others, that the preference for Catalan will speed up the process and that Catalan has more speakers than the other two languages.

Catalan linguist Carme Junyent dies
He died on September 3 from pancreatic cancer. The linguist has spoken rigorously about the dangers of the disappearance of Catalan and his brutal messages generated discomforts. He has fought for his language until the last moment. He calls for the right to be respected in... [+]

2023-08-31 | Ilargi Manzanares
Andorra requires a minimum level of Catalan to reside
The new Catalan defense law of Andorra will require the basic level of Catalan in order to live and work in it. They shall require a level below Title A2.

Spain calls for Basque, Catalan and Galician to be official in Europe, Sánchez calls for the vote of nationalists
When there were a few hours left to form the Spanish Courts, Pedro Sánchez has put on the table the issue of minority languages in order to obtain the vote of the necessary nationalist parties. The President of the Bureau of the Spanish Parliament, Francina Armengol, was... [+]

Eguneraketa berriak daude