Social and immigration

On the occasion of the extraordinary regularization announced by the government, autonomous communities such as Catalonia or the Basque Country have proposed that the completion of a certain number of hours for learning the Catalan language or the Basque language be included as a requirement for future renewals.Territories with their own language, such as Catalonia, face the challenge of keeping alive a language whose use is declining, especially in the metropolitan area and among the young population. Faced with this reality, immigration is seen as the main culprit and, consequently, many policies aimed at promoting its learning fall upon it. However, it is worth clarifying several issues here. Firstly, the use of the language decreases because its transmission as a mother tongue also decreases: demographically there are fewer Catalan speakers with an initial language in absolute numbers. Another of the elements to take into account is the difference between knowledge of the language and its social and daily use. According to the Survey of Linguistic Uses, 93% of the population over 15 years of age understands Catalan and 80% can speak it. These data show that Catalan is a living language from the point of view of its knowledge and that the policy of vehicular language in schools guarantees with great success that new generations achieve linguistic competence, and can potentially communicate in Catalan. However, the problems are found in the social and daily use of the language, because only 36% of people have it as their usual language.

The question that then arises is why, if the problem is the use of the language, the focus is placed on knowledge and, specifically, on people in an irregular administrative situation. The most recent migratory processes affect the social use of Catalan downwards, but other elements cannot be overlooked, such as the real knowledge of the language by the population as a whole.It is at least naive to think that it is up to irregular immigrants to increase the daily use of Catalan and that courses linked to renewals constitute an effective policy. Firstly, because a course of a few hours does not allow one to reach a sufficient level to use the language normally in daily life. If people have not needed Catalan to relate or to work, it is unlikely that a course will transform this reality. But, above all, because the central problem of Catalan is not that the irregular migrant population does not know it, but that a significant part of the population that has linguistic competence does not use it. In this direction, it seems more reasonable and useful to focus public policies on those groups who already know the language but do not use it in their daily lives. Continuing to insistently direct policies towards the most vulnerable population, and forcing them to take courses, seems more like a punishment than a useful policy, and concentrates efforts on an area that will hardly solve the real problem: the decrease in the use of Catalan.

In this equation, we must also take into account the conditions under which a language is learned in a context marked by the migratory process and the predominant position of Spanish. Learning the language requires an accessible course system, and free tuition only extends up to level A2; furthermore, the schedules are incompatible with working life. The experience of migrants shows that it is not until they manage to overcome job precarity that they can study Catalan beyond the basic level required for settlement.However, learning a language is a bidirectional and social process. That is to say, it requires contact with the Catalan-speaking population and, therefore, implies a shared responsibility on the part of those who already use the language. Programs that promote linguistic interaction offer much more than the obligation to attend a course. On the other hand, the linguistic reality of the environment is decisive. We cannot overlook a clear reality: the use of Catalan among the immigrant population is significantly higher in the inland areas than in Barcelona. The reason is simple: in these municipalities, Catalan continues to be the language of daily use, and it is in this context that migrants incorporate it more easily.In conclusion, linguistic policies should revolve around two key questions: why do many people who know Catalan not use it in their daily lives, and what use do non-native Catalan speakers make of it in areas where Catalan has a higher social use. Ultimately, it is about reorienting policies towards the groups that can truly contribute to keeping the language alive because they have the full capacity to do so.