Catalan grows as language of choice in culture consumption

BarcelonaCatalan has increased in popularity as the language of choice by consumers of books, films and theatre in Catalonia. According to data collected in the 2015 Òmnibus survey by Catalonia’s Centre d’Estudis d’Opinió (CEO), 35.4 of Catalans prefer to read books in their own language, a 3.8 increase year on year. The percentage of respondents who prefer to read books in Spanish (42.6 per cent) is also up 3.9 points from last year.

With regard to cinema, both Catalan and Spanish have become more popular. This year 22 per cent said they prefer to watch films in Catalan (1.1 points up from last year), whereas 45 per cent choose to watch movies in Spanish. That is 3.5 points higher than a year ago.

The Catalan language is more present in the field of theatre: 37.5 per cent of the population chooses to watch performances in Catalan, 3 points higher than last year, while 29 per cent prefer to watch theatre in Spanish, 3.3 points up year on year.

Music is the only area where the Catalan language has seen a slight dip. This year, 8.1 per cent said they prefer to listen to music in Catalan, a drop of 3.1 points from 2014. The number of people who choose to listen to music in Spanish has decreased by 2.3 points, down to 15.6 per cent. Yet the percentage of respondents who prefer music sung in other languages (49,4) is up 7.4 points from last year.

The survey also offers some insights into Catalonia’s cultural consumption and habits, such as what the most popular cultural activities are with Catalans: going to the cinema (45,5 per cent), to museums and exhibitions (33,3 per cent), attending traditional festivals (30.2 per cent), talks and lectures (29,3 per cent) and monuments and archeological digs (26.7 per cent).

On the subject of online cultural consumption, 57 per cent claim they access more free online content, while 19.4 buy premium content online. Besides, 58.5 per cent say they look out for discounts on cinema, theatre and concert tickets, while 47.7 per cent only go to the cinema and the theatre at discount prices. According to the survey, 56 per cent have cut back on products and cultural services, whereas 32.1 per cent of Catalans go to the library more often.

With regards to participating in cultural events, the survey shows that 21.6 per cent of respondents belong to some sort of cultural society and 14.2 per cent report playing an active role in it. The overall percentage of those who belong to a society is down by 0.9 points year on year, but the rate of active involvement is up by 1.1 points.