The use of Catalan in companies has fallen by almost eleven points in the last 15 years
The Catalan language remains the primary language for SMEs, but there is a growing trend of abandoning it.
BarcelonaCatalan remains the primary language of Catalan companies. This is the main positive conclusion of a survey conducted by the employers' association Pimec among its members. However, the study also raises some concerns. The first is that, despite being the primary language, it is losing ground. Specifically, the surveyed companies perceive that its use has fallen by 10.9 percentage points compared to 2012. The second worrying conclusion is that, depending on the person they are communicating with, companies are increasingly switching languages. In fact, Pimec notes that the decline in Catalan's importance in business has occurred precisely because of the second concern: companies are increasingly adapting to the demands of their interlocutor, whether a client or a supplier. The survey indicates that 60.7% of companies switched languages to adapt to the client in 2012, and now 71.2% do so. This shift occurs not only in oral communication but also in written communication. Written communications in Catalan addressed to clients accounted for 76% in 2012, but now stand at 55.5%. Furthermore, the use of languages other than Catalan in these communications has increased by 20 percentage points. A decrease, albeit smaller, in the number of companies' websites in Catalan has also been observed. On a positive note, the study indicates that 65.6% of companies always or mostly communicate with their clients in Catalan, whether in person or by phone. This is in addition to the fact that 80.7% of SMEs use Catalan in their written communications to clients and suppliers, and that in the digital sphere, 74.5% of companies have a website in Catalan, while 49.5% publish almost all of their social media content in Catalan.
Although in recent years there has been a shift towards adapting to the interlocutor's language – with an increased percentage of companies switching to the language used by the user or supplier – the regular use of Spanish remains a minority (7.6%), while the use of other languages is also significant. Furthermore, the study also confirms a change in the perception of Catalan within the business world, especially regarding the recruitment and promotion of staff who interact with the public. According to the study, 52.6% of companies now consider knowledge of Catalan a requirement in the hiring process, a figure that represents a 6% increase compared to 2024. Moreover, the Pimec analysis highlights a greater commitment by companies to the language training of their teams. One in three SMEs say they facilitate the learning or improvement of Catalan for their employees, a figure that has grown by five percentage points compared to last year, when this figure was 27.2%, and by more than 10 points compared to 2012 (22.8%).
More Catalan in the services sector
The study highlights that the service sector—especially due to its direct contact with customers—exhibits significantly higher levels of Catalan usage than other economic sectors. In customer service, 72.1% of service companies always or mostly communicate in Catalan, compared to 51.4% in other sectors. Furthermore, 83.8% of service companies use Catalan in written communications with clients and suppliers, almost ten percentage points higher than in other sectors. The presence of Catalan is also more pronounced in corporate materials within the service sector, such as signage, invoices, and documentation. The use of Catalan on cash register receipts and invoices is particularly noteworthy, appearing in 44.6% of service companies, compared to 18.2% in other sectors. In the digital sphere, 77.8% of service sector companies have a website in Catalan, and 57% publish more than 75% of their social media content in this language.