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Use of Catalan among young people

Why does the language spoken by young people concern us so much?

The language they consolidate with friends and partners can influence the reproduction or interruption of Catalan.

Unverified translation
Young people at the Cruïlla festival in 2024, in an archive image.
Young people at the Cruïlla Festival in 2024 in an archive image. Manolo García
Laura Serra
06/03/2026
4 min

BarcelonaThe latest figures on young people's language use revealed two contradictory realities. On the one hand, according to l'Survey of Language Uses of the Population 2023Those aged 15 to 29 and those over 65 who report having Catalan as their family language (38%, alone or with Spanish) are the groups in which Catalan is most prevalent. On the other hand, historical trends show a clear decline in the social use of Catalan among young people, a worrying trend that, according to Esteve Valls, a sociolinguist at the University of Barcelona, ​​could jeopardize the transmission of the language to their children in the future.

What is the Bermuda Triangle of language among young people across the entire linguistic domain? First, the fact that they use Catalan less frequently with their friends than with their families. Only 25% use Catalan preferentially, although the percentage of initial Catalan speakers is 31%; In contrast, the use of Spanish is growing: it has increased from 44% of young people who use it exclusively at home to 54% who use it regularly with their friends. Secondly, there is an increase in identifying as bilingual, even among young people who speak exclusively Catalan with their families. Some Catalan speakers "may also be incorporating Spanish into their linguistic and social identity," observes Valls. And thirdly, young people They are the group that changes languages ​​the most. when they are spoken to in another language (and, due to the sociolinguistic context, the convergence is usually towards the hegemonic language, and there are twice as many maintainers of Spanish as of Catalan). Valls puts it this way: "If fewer young people interact in Catalan today, it is more difficult for them to establish a romantic relationship in Catalan and, therefore, to be able to transmit this language to their offspring."

Llengua inicial, llengua d’identificació, llengua habitual i llengua amb les amistats dels joves de Catalunya
Dades del 2023 entre la franja de 15 a 29 anys
Font: Esteve Valls, EULP 2023 / Graphic: ARA

Asymmetric bilingualism

Language use among friends clearly shows a tendency towards language mixing. Looking at the 2022 Youth Survey, Catalan appears in 45% of horizontal relationships among young people aged 15 to 34—seven points higher than those whose first language is Catalan—although only half use it preferentially. In contrast, those who use Spanish with their friends reach 73.5%, twenty points higher than those who are first Spanish speakers. "The weakening of Catalan in intragenerational use makes the language invisible in the public sphere; therefore, it loses social value and hinders the possibility of newly arrived people adopting Catalan, because language is learned not only in schools, but also in everyday life, during leisure activities, and on the street," Valls reflects. The 15-29 age group has seen the greatest decline in regular Catalan use (almost 5 percentage points) in the Survey of Language Use. The sociolinguist continues to elaborate: "This makes it difficult for newcomers to acquire Catalan, which could lead to partnerships and potentially shape the future of Catalan."

An optimistic interpretation of the data would lead us to focus on Catalan's appeal. Given the current population composition—practically two out of every three people were born abroad or have one or two parents born abroad—Catalan can only hope to gain multilingual speakers, indicating that they are adding Catalan to their family's linguistic heritage. However, when sociolinguists analyze actual usage patterns, they are more pessimistic. Sociolinguists Albert Fabà, Joaquim Torres, and Miquel Àngel Pradilla have analyzed the emergence of a significant group in the Valencian Community that identifies as bilingual and have observed that "overall, their behavior is similar to that of Spanish-speaking individuals with a strong sense of identity: in 70% of cases, they favor Spanish." The gap in hopes for this group of bilinguals is not noticeable: "Identity-wise, Valencian appears symbolically, but not instrumentally," notes the sociolinguist from the URV (Rovira i Virgili University). Therefore, it is a connection of little use when it comes to interacting with peers. Pradilla warns that the percentages of language use may vary geographically depending on "whether there is greater communicative density in Catalan." If young people are the ones with the greatest bilingual competence and are the most likely to converge, they could switch to Catalan if the context demands it. However, the context is that Catalan is becoming less and less common in all areas, and the most vulnerable age group is those who become parents, from 30 to 44 years old. "Young people tend to reproduce their parents' behavior in a context with a greater presence of Spanish," says Valls.

"I speak the first language that comes to mind; it's unconscious."
Un grupo de estudiantes del Centro de Estudios Montseny del Poblenou.

The importance of the parents' language

The sociolinguists Avel·lí Flors Mas and Natxo Sorolla studied Linguistic transmission from parents to children in Castellón de la Plana and the Franja And they determined that "language use among parents is a key explanatory factor for the interruption of transmission." In other words, even if parents decide to transmit Catalan to their children, if they use Spanish among themselves, it is more likely that they will fail to do so and their children will address them in Spanish. "Horizontal language is crucial for the success of vertical transmission," Valls points out. Therefore, "it is a risk" that fewer couples use Catalan, especially in a context of minorityization like the one we find ourselves in.

The other key factor for speaking Catalan It is identification with the language“The variable most correlated with usage,” says Pradilla. In other countries, instrumental motivation is crucial for learning and speaking the language because it is essential for work or daily life. In Catalonia, legal asymmetry and demographics weaken this factor. Therefore, it is essential that the new speaker develop an emotional connection with Catalan. If they languish within groups of friends and their use declines in leisure and entertainment settings, there is less chance of achieving this.

If this trend were to reach its extreme, we would speak of “interrupting children,” who do not speak Catalan to parents who speak it to them. The figures do not support their existence in Catalonia, because intergenerational language transmission remains positive for Catalan, but some outraged parents do report it. The loss of identification with Catalan among young people "is an incipient change and is not yet widespread," confirms Valls, and the impact it could have on future generations "is a warning, not a certainty." But experts argue that, in addition to new speakers, young people represent the largest pool of potential speakers to activate in order to guarantee the future of Catalan. The good news is that identification with the language and its uses is elective: "The trend should be able to reverse," concludes Valls.

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Immersion, recruitment and the 'star system': 10 measures to activate Catalan among young people

Faced with the decline in the use of Catalan among young people, there are three possible pitfalls: dismissing it as a passing fad, blaming this group, or encouraging Catalan speakers to retreat into homogeneous environments — which prevents the language from spreading beyond the initial group of speakers . We have asked several experts for suggestions on how to expand the language among young people, from early socialization through adolescence, and especially outside the educational sphere: in sports, leisure activities, audiovisual media, and video games.

1. Strengthen immersion in education

Even the Catalan Ministry of Language Policy affirms the need to promote "the third renewal of immersion education." The use of Catalan as the language of instruction and the monitoring of its implementation, improving linguistic support for newcomers, and training teachers in immersion techniques are key challenges in education. The goal is for young people to achieve the same level of proficiency in Catalan as in Spanish and to be able to speak it naturally in everyday life. Basic skills assessments show that one in three students has a low level of Catalan , and this gap in knowledge hinders linguistic convergence with Spanish.

2. Link to Catalan identity

"The education system must focus on the strength of Catalan culture and the traditions of the place where we live so that, consequently, people can come to love it. If you don't know the country, it's impossible to be interested in it. We must emphasize positive representations of the language and an emotional connection to it," says Esteve Valls, professor of sociolinguistics at the University of Barcelona. Teachers must be able to convey what it means to be Catalan and what our language provides.

3. Linguistic revitalization of educational and sports spaces

To make Catalan more common in everyday conversation, it's necessary to encourage intragroup interactions in Catalan, both inside and outside the classroom —in the playground, the cafeteria, and during leisure activities —by actively promoting Catalan in these spaces . Currently, only one in four sixth-grade students says they always do their work in Catalan. And how many play games in Catalan? Encouraging them to interact in Catalan in leisure and sports settings will help make Catalan a non-marked language.

4. Training of leisure monitors, coaches and referees

Monitors are linguistic role models and the stewards of the language used in group interactions within spaces of cohesion, equality, and social prestige. However, many lack proficiency in managing multilingualism. Job insecurity and the flexible nature of monitoring can be obstacles. The same applies to nursery school monitors, who are key to early Catalan language learning. The Catalan Institute for Culture (IEC) and the Barcelona City Council have launched a pilot program to promote the use of Catalan in leisure-time education, currently in the Sants-Montjuïc district. This pilot program is intended to be scaled up across Catalonia and is developing various measures, such as making "language part of companies' corporate social responsibility," says Vicent Climent-Ferrando, a language expert and project manager at the IEC.

5. Linguistic clauses

If Catalan is to be the language of instruction in community centers, libraries, play centers, and gyms, because these are fundamental spaces for peer socialization, then companies offering leisure activities, especially those operating at the municipal level, should comply with language clauses, and their implementation should be monitored. Pep Montes, from the Catalan Association of Leisure, Education, and Culture Companies (ACELLEC), points out that the administration should include specific language measures in the tender specifications required of companies, provide them with the tools and resources to implement them, and subsidize the additional hours of staff training.

6. Develop a digital 'star system'

In addition to revitalizing and expanding 3Cat's children's and youth channels, the digital media landscape needs creators who strengthen Catalan culture and language from the perspective of young people's interests. The House of Digital Creation in Catalan aims to encourage the expansion of this environment to counteract "the cultural leveling and homogenization brought about by globalization" and the fact that "Catalan no longer enjoys the social prestige it held for young people in the 1970s, as a language of protest," says the Commissioner for the Social Use of Catalan in Barcelona. The Propulsion grants for influencers are also initiatives from the Catalan government aimed at this goal.

7. Culture and references in Catalan

The language must gain a central place in Catalan culture. It's necessary to "make existing role models visible and position them so that the language has a powerful appeal" and fosters identification, says Salicrú, who adds that they are working on a communication campaign to reinforce both digital and real-world role models, such as instructors, coaches, successful players, musicians, influencers, and so on. "We must appeal to emotions within the leisure sector through the figure of the influencer," says Climent-Ferrando.

8. 'League of Legends' in Catalan

The official broadcasts of the Domino's Super League of League of Legends can now be followed entirely in Catalan through the Twitch channel Gamesports Electrónicos (GSE), in an initiative with Òmnium Cultural. Catalonia is home to 18.5% of the game's users, 203,500 people, mostly young adults between 18 and 30 years old. The SAGA convention has been the first step in creating a Catalan-speaking gaming community .

9. Sister language pair

A youth group is promoting a sporting and cultural initiative that retains the historical name of Correllengua and will travel through 500 towns and cities across the Catalan Countries from April 19th to May 5th, in the style of the Basque Korrika. They want to break down "two stigmas surrounding the Catalan language": "To refute the notion that Catalan is a boring language for old people" —which is why they will hold more than a hundred concerts, meetings, workshops, and activities along the way — and "to promote the unity of the language through community organizing," explains Anna Rosselló.

10. Digital Floral Games

Among the 68 measures drawn up by a group of experts commissioned by the Barcelona City Council during the previous legislative term was the creation of a literary competition focused on new digital narratives (memes, videos, Twitch, Instagram, and emerging media). Among other specific initiatives, such as the Optimot meme competition, the Crit Awards, focused on content creation and funded with public money, have emerged in the media landscape.

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