Catalan: a merit in addition to a requirement

The defense of the Catalan language since the restoration of regional institutions almost 50 years ago has undoubtedly had positive effects (in general, minority languages have better halted their decline in social use where they have enjoyed greater institutional and social support), but it has also suffered from shortcomings that partly explain the decline. One of the ongoing political struggles is that knowledge of Catalan, as the official language that we all have the right to speak and the duty to know, should be a requirement, not just a merit, for every worker who has to serve the public. If not, how can we guarantee the right to express themselves in Catalan when serving us as citizens or clients?

However, political incompetence has meant that in many cases we have forgotten that Catalan, in addition to being a requirement (which is generally met by obtaining the C1 certificate), must be also a merit, and it should be recognized as such when evaluating and promoting workers. Between the carrot and the stick to promote Catalan learning, the stick is chosen and the carrot neglected. Too often, obtaining the C1 level has become a mere bureaucratic requirement, which some workers in Catalonia see only as a hindrance and not as an opportunity to learn a language that is as necessary as it is useful in their work. It is not unusual to find workers for the Generalitat (Catalan Government) and university professors who always and exclusively speak in Spanish in class and when dealing with people, even though they can show you their brand-new C1 certificate that they obtained a long time ago. As we should all know, a language that is not practiced gradually becomes moldy.

I'll talk specifically about Catalan universities, where I've seen the problems as an Icrea research professor. The C1 level is achieved with a test that's easier to pass than the one administered by the Generalitat (Catalan government). Even so, in some cases, this test is absurdly required as a mere bureaucratic hindrance. This is the case, for example, when a research professor is required to teach a master's degree class that, given the presence of international students, is taught in English. This only generates antipathy. However, among professors who must teach undergraduate classes, which must be able to be taught in Catalan, once the bureaucratic requirement of C1 has been met, Catalan ends up not even being a merit. There are teachers from many foreign countries who learn Catalan with enthusiasm and are perfectly capable of teaching in Catalan, Spanish or English (even if their first language is another), as well as writing articles or giving informative talks, but they do not receive any kind of recognition for the merit of having learned Catalan in their evaluation for the salary increase in Spanish and English) who ask their heads of department that their classes be announced in Spanish, something that they always see granted.

This, in my opinion, constitutes clear discrimination against professors who make an honest effort to learn and use Catalan. And it's a discrimination that the university, which always presents itself as a defender of Catalan, has long hidden. Recognition is needed that impacts salary increases; to be fair, this recognition shouldn't apply to people who have already been educated in the Catalan Countries and know Catalan by origin, but rather to people who have learned it once they arrived in Catalonia as teachers. For those of us who are already here, similar recognition could be obtained for learning Aranese, which is also an official language, and we also need to defend its use in classes and dissemination.

I think this is an important initiative that universities should implement: we offer the carrot to get workers more interested in learning and speaking Catalan. And from the university, we can extend this to the rest of society: when we complain, for example, that many waiters in bars and restaurants don't serve us in Catalan, shouldn't we consider a system that offers salary increases to generally low-wage workers when they make the effort to learn to speak Catalan? Isn't it also discriminatory that a waiter who has learned to speak Catalan and another who hasn't earn exactly the same? And, on the other hand, for those who speak English, they are paid more in any job? Unfortunately, the Generalitat (Catalan Government) hasn't even been able to guarantee that there are enough places for basic Catalan courses for everyone who wants to learn it.