La Fundació La Caixa has just inaugurated a center of excellence research in Barcelona, at the foot of Tibidabo. It has invested 100 million euros in 20,000 m², which will host more than 400 scientists who will investigate “in depth the immune system and its relationship with diseases prevalent in society, such as neurological, oncological or infectious ones”. Magnificent news. The name: CaixaResearch Institute. Why not Institut CaixaRecerca?
I anticipate a reply to the effect of “They are spending a fortune on a scientific center and now it turns out the problem is the name” or “The day they find a cure for an immunological disease, will it matter much that the name is in English?” It is not about that, but about asking ourselves why we have to say the name of an institution that will be in Barcelona in English. It is one thing that English is in part or in whole the language of scientific communication for an institute that will attract international talent, and another is that we give up naming an institute in our language.
It is not that English is useful, but that it is already basic. Just as the economy has trampled over politics, English has completely trampled over concepts such as official language or own language, and it is already a lingua franca. But, even so, it contains a depersonalizing and homogenizing element that makes the world a pa amb tomàquet. I still remember the day I made myself understood in France in reasonably decent French and, as they deduced that I was not a native French speaker, they replied to me in English. My heart sank. The country of grandeur switched to English in a boulangerie. Or when I hear an Italian and a Catalan (or a Spaniard) speaking in English, I think why they are not excited to discover so many similarities and equivalences that Latin languages share. In a world of permanent connection, the use of languages has created new rights of way, but it is fundamental not to always give way to the most spoken if we want to keep them alive.
