Catalan also collapses in Andorra and already ties with Spanish

BarcelonaThe new Law on the own and official language has not managed to stop the decline of Catalan in Andorra. The Government made public this Monday the study on linguistic knowledge and usage of the population, and two headlines stand out. On one hand, the social use of Catalan falls eight points in four years (from 63.7 to 55.9%) and practically ties with the habitual use of Spanish, which grows six points (from 48.6 to 55%). On the other hand, there is a significant rise in citizens who have Spanish as their mother tongue: 47% have Spanish as their initial language and 39% have Catalan as their mother tongue. This reverses the figures from the previous survey four years ago, when 44% of respondents had Catalan as their initial language and 40%, Spanish.

The Government attributes the change to the increase in the foreign population coming mainly from South America (which represents 90% of the new immigration). In fact, the population with Andorran (41%), Spanish (25%), and Portuguese (10%) nationality is decreasing, and the French population remains stable (5%), while the population from other origins rises significantly (they are 18% of the surveyed population). Knowledge of Catalan is slightly reduced (scoring 7.9 out of 10), while knowledge of Spanish (scoring 9.4) and English grows.

Identification with the official language

One of the few pieces of good news for Catalan is that it is the language with which 47% of respondents identify, 8 points more than those who have it as their initial language. In contrast, identification with Spanish is lower than its initial speakers (44%). The fact that Catalan is identified with more than Spanish as one's own language indicates that the official language enjoys status and power of attraction, in addition to state protection laws. The other important piece of data is that Catalan is the preferred language of transmission from parents to children, at 56.7%, 12 points above Spanish. 75% of respondents say they start conversations in Catalan always or very often. However, 80% switch to Spanish when they are answered in Spanish.

Catalan is declining in practically all spaces: in the family, with friends, at work, and in the administration. Spanish is the primary language of habitual use with friends (38.2%), closely followed by Catalan (34.7%). At work, usage is more mixed: Catalan is the most used language externally, to serve users (48% Catalan versus 25% Spanish), but internally, in relationships between workers, both Catalan and Spanish are used, although it is Catalan that is losing ground. The public administration is one of the most Catalanized areas, although bilingual usage is also gaining ground there. The spaces where they attend least in Catalan are restaurants, department stores, and nightlife venues, while banks, insurance agencies, administrative offices, and doctors pass in Catalan.

The Government highlights that, if the two parameters are combined, family and social use, Catalan is positioned as the first language in percentage of time of use, at 45.3%; followed by Spanish, 41.4%; French, 4.9%; English, 4.3%; and Portuguese, 3%. The respondents were 752 people residing in Andorra over the age of fourteen. The Minister of Culture, Mònica Bonell, has assured that the new law has managed to mitigate the decline of the language, which is the own and only official language in the state, which would have been more pronounced in a context of demographic growth, and she has defended that the expansion of Catalan courses and the actions of the National Language Action Plan will have results in the coming years.