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What a gracious reply! Very informative. And an excellent example of why it can be worthwhile to reach out to an official source because now you have horse's mouth attribution.

Debora

 

Catalans are the most courteous of people.

 

Not it one tries to speak to them in Spanish, the official language of their country.

Debora

 

Catalan is a co-official language of Spain, as are a few others.

I never had issues speaking Spanish in Catalunya, although some people replied in Catalan, which is no problem for me. Maybe they were always pleasant because I am from the land of Johan Cruijff.
Johan and Danny Cruijff gave a boost to Catalan identity when they gave their son the Catalan name Jordi at a time when the Catalan language was banned.

 

"The official language in Spain is Spanish or Castilian Spanish, which is spoken by all citizens. However, certain Autonomous Communities have their own official language in addition to Spanish. Catalan is spoken in Catalonia, Galician in Galicia, and Basque in the Basque Country and part of Navarre."

Debora

 

Catalan has parliamentary status, making it co-official under EU law, which Spain must abide by.

I live in a country with several officially recognized languages, and don't mind if people prefer to speak in their native tongue.

 

I don't either. I think language = cultural wealth. But isn't it a be a tad chauvinistic (that word again) when a Catalan-speaker replies to a question in Spanish with a reply in English?

Debora

 

I’ve heard that often in Catalunya. And indeed, many signs are in Catalan, then English and finally castellano. The first language in schools is Catalan too. I know quite a few who are way more fluent in that than in castellano. When I go to Catalunya, I speak in Catalan first if at all possible.

I can remember when people were arrested for dancing the Sardana. When Franco died, street signs in Catalan went up within weeks. It’s way more than chauvinism, it was freedom and liberty at last. They never forgave the Hunger Years.

I’ve vivid memories of barefoot children in the sixties.

 

Absolutely. When the language is lost, much of the culture is lost with it.

At least he is being polite and replies in a language you both know.

Some Frisians are like that too, except they will stick to Frisian.
The difference with Catalan is that Frisian was never banned, and it was the first language to be recognized officially in the Netherlands next to Dutch, because our royal family is the Frisian branch of the German Nassau family.
Catalan and elements of Catalan culture were banned several times during Spanish-Catalan history, so I understand why they feel both sensitive and adamant about it.

 

At the time that was seen throughout Spain. The Hunger Years were also throughout Spain, but Catalunya would have been prosperous if it had been independent, that is extra sad.

 

It would indeed. And of course, it wasn’t only language that was banned, as you know. I was in Catalunya the September after Franco died, which coincided with the Diada, the national Catalan day. It was the first time since the thirties that they’d been able to celebrate openly. There were men and woman dancing the Sardana with tears running down their faces. A couple of years later, we watched the local Guardia Civil barracks being demolished, to much cheering. Hence,now, the Mossos.

I do think that the unholy alliance of Franco and the Church contributed to how quickly Catalunya and Spain adopted socially liberal laws.

The detailed history of Barca and Real Madrid is fascinating too.

 

Then there's this: Más del 60% de la población de Cataluña es fruto de los flujos inmigratorios de este siglo

https://elpais.com/diario/1999/10/02/catalunya/938826452_850215.html

Debora

 

One of the reasons why a considerable percentage was against Catalan independence. They were attracted by jobs and a better economy, but don't seem to have settled in as they should have, probably due to the Franco years and doctrine.

 

There’s a dichotomy between the internal immigrants, often from Andalusia and historically poorer parts of Spain, and those from outside Spain. And yes, Franco pushed people to move internally.

The former tend to think of themselves as Andalusian, say, and Spanish and there’s an almost resentment of Catalunya. That’s an ancient one: after all, the Catalans had a pretty decent empire at one time, and were decidedly superior! That gets forgotten. And Franco encouraged the other Spanish regions to resent Catalunya, which had been one of the drivers of the civil war resistance against him. Orwell is worth reading on that. As is Laurie Lee.

Those from outside Spain, and I’ve met a fair few, have assimilated better as Catalans. One of the Catalan presidents stated that anyone who lived in, worked in or loved Catalunya was by definition Catalan, and that went down rather well with that diaspora. Stark contrast to some other nations attitudes to migration.

It’s interesting that Catalunya generally also managed to get what it wanted without violence. There were Tierra Lliure incidents, but nothing like ETA.