They are a family made up of the mother, a girl with black braids, about six or seven years old, the boy, her brother, perhaps a year younger, and the grandmother, a young, petite woman with short hair, glasses, and wearing jeans. They speak in Spanish with a perhaps Peruvian accent. The young grandmother, it's evident, is the one in charge. The one who knows that all four have to get off at Pallejà and how many stops are left, the one who tells her daughter (or perhaps it's her daughter-in-law) that there is a free seat at the back of the carriage and that she should take it, and the one who entertains the two children, who have sat with her. The girl takes out a book of the kind with magnetic pages where you can stick letters or flowers and animals, which come with the book itself.

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.

Today we will have meatballs with potatoes, which with the basics I have in the freezer are quick to make and ideal for days, like today, when we have a lot to do before lunch.Will the girls give you a hand?

Tractors, at night, are advancing spaceships. Luminous, dominant giants. These days our terrestrial aliens are sulphating the land. Up and down. If you stop and start an intersidereal dialogue, they don't attack you. From these colossal beasts, worth two hundred, three hundred, four hundred thousand euros, pilots descend with a thousand missions in their hands and on their knees.

It had not been long since the Constitutional Court's ruling on the new Statute, when Professor Marc Carrillo, a professor of constitutional law at the UPF and a great expert in the contemporary legal history of Spain, warned us, in a work meeting of the Research Group on the Francoist and Democratic Eras (GREFD-UAB; currently, Research Group on Dictatorships and Democracies, GReDD-UAB), that everything that referred to the Catalan language in the public sphere had come out profoundly affected. In non-legal terms, in this area of the TC ruling, the most radical and retrograde Spanish nationalism had prevailed, the kind that has always maintained, since imperial times (returned to the present and for which King Felipe VI does not have to apologize because, as a very beloved novelist in Spain wrote, his predecessors brought them urban planning, sewers, and something else) until our days (more than 500 years!), that the nation is founded on language and religion; that is, the Spanish language and the most rancid Catholicism. With Catholicism fallen into disgrace, the language remained (and remains). The final result was a foregone conclusion.

A simple question to ChatGPT (“What is the approximate number of unfavorable rulings against the Catalan language that have occurred during the democratic period?”) gives us a rather long and, above all, disheartening answer. The AI does not dare to give a specific number, but it distinguishes: if we stick to rulings that have limited Catalan normalization policies, especially in the educational and administrative spheres, the figure ranges between twenty and thirty rulings against the Catalan language. However, if we broaden the focus (which must be broadened) to interlocutory orders and resolutions considered minor (precautionary measures, enforcement of judgments, etc.), the figure easily rises to “diverse dozens” of judicial decisions against Catalan issued during the democratic period, that is, from 1978 onwards. The areas affected by rulings that limit the use of Catalan are, for the most part, the educational system, followed by regional linguistic regulations, linguistic requirements for civil servants, institutional use, and signage. In summary, a sustained judicial effort over time to minimize or erase the presence of the Catalan language from public spaces, especially in schools. That linguistic diversity be politically attacked, vilified in the media, and pursued judicially and even policed almost as if it were a crime, is an unacceptable situation for anyone with a minimum of democratic sensibility and common sense. It is, plain and simple, a disgrace.Judges are people who have been able to win the competitive examinations to become judges, and therefore are perfectly capable of understanding that Catalan is the language of Catalonia, with all that this entails. It is another matter that they decide not to accept it. The fallacious reasoning that attempts to present Spanish as if it were a language in danger due to linguistic immersion in Catalan is exactly the same (equally unacceptable) as those that say that feminist demands are a danger to men, or that the integration of immigrants endangers the continuity of Western cultures and societies. They are expressions of supremacism, and this is what the judges who issue jurisprudence against an official language, as fully deserving of respect as any other, do: spit supremacism with a stroke of the pen. To use justice and place it at the service of a political ideology, in this case that of state Spanish nationalism.

The Department of Education has said that the court ruling this Monday against Catalan will not lead to any change in the day-to-day running of Catalan classrooms. But it has fallen short: in reality, it will not lead to any change in the day-to-day running of the Catalan language either, because the ruling in question is another chapter in the books that contain three centuries of prohibitions, persecutions, fines, and limitations of Catalan, dictated by Spain.

A shiver of patriotism, pride and deep satisfaction runs down the Spanish spine: Eivissa will continue to be Ibiza in Article 69 of the Constitution. The trumpets sound. It is a great triumph for the Popular Party with the invaluable collaboration of the PSOE, which abstained in the vote to save the result of another vote, the one that has given the green light for the island of Formentera to have a senator from now on. Catalan as a return.They call themselves non-nationalists, but there is no one more nationalist under the sun. They say their heart is bigger than yours because it fits two flags (in reality only one is the right one, and the other is decorative), but their brain must be smaller, because it only fits one language. They present themselves as cosmopolitans and, before they have even learned to say Cesc, they get flustered when the Barça goalkeeper, Joan Garcia, called up to the Spanish national football team, explains, when asked by a journalist, that his surname is pronounced in Catalan.In Vinaròs, the City Council wants less Valencian and more Castilian in the streets and shops. Citizen pressure has prevented it, for now. It is a new reminder that the Sénia is the most watched border in southern Europe. Invisible, but watched. They are the ones who say they are in favor of uniting and not separating, but they separate Catalan from Valencian and invent LAPAO. They affirm that borders are a thing of the past, but they spent decades putting borders on TV3. Anyway, no need to continue; we know them by heart. Fighting them is tiring (and very unequal), but it gives Catalan the status of a reason to live and love.

On Sunday, TV3 premiered Dia u, the series they promoted in the context of the Mobile World Congress to take advantage of the futuristic atmosphere that saturates us during those dates. It is a technological thriller with simple and precarious dialogues, full of clichés and with affected performances so that the viewer can more easily connect with the story. It aims for the effect of suspense, but with everything very well processed so that it is understood. The plot unfolds in Barcelona, with the participation of Catalan actors. A grandiloquent and modern postcard of the city, but with a singularity: there is no trace of Catalan beyond the dubbing that has been added afterwards. Dia u is a series conceived entirely in Spanish, in every sense, and TV3 only seems to have contributed the dubbing. That is, it is a layer added afterwards that causes that grating artificiality. The Catalan actors work in Spanish and only a few have dubbed themselves. The others appear with a borrowed voice and a forced tone that distances you from the action. The disappearance of Catalan goes beyond the language of the characters. All the screens and interfaces that appear, and there are many, have texts written in Spanish. Therefore, it is no longer just about the conditions of the filming: the screens are a matter of post-production, and even then Catalan could not be incorporated. We can already demand Catalan in technological gadgets, as the series linked to the Mobile normalizes Spanish as the language for communicating with machines. Furthermore, on Amazon Prime Video, the platform that distributes the series internationally, the option of Catalan dubbing is not offered. It is understood that 3Cat has kept the exclusive, but then Catalan is left out of the circuit, relegating our language to the local sphere. The hierarchy established between the two languages is therefore clear.The most serious thing is that Day one, in addition to the participation of 3Cat, also counts on the associated production of the Mobile World Capital Barcelona Foundation. The core of this board is made up of three public administrations: the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Barcelona City Council, and the government of Spain. It is sad, therefore, to see how the institutions that should ensure the centrality of Catalan demonstrate null influence or little interest in the defense of the language in a fiction with global pretensions.The result of Dia u causes perplexity. A production that is conceived from simple commercial logic, forgetting the cultural function and turning Catalan into an accessory patch, a final addition to disguise. It is not fully understood who wins in this operation. But it is regrettable to see the effectiveness of this public participation. If we are going to invest in dubbing a series, frankly, they could have chosen another one of higher quality.

There are some heroes. They are real and moral heroes. In the square. You won't see them. You won't hear them either. Let me introduce you: they are the teachers of the reception classrooms. But, hey, the ones who always speak in Catalan. Hello (in Catalan).

I cross Barcelona's Gran Vía amidst the flood of teachers. A teacher asks me if it's clear that they haven't taken to the streets solely because of salaries. I think so, that it's been clear for some time now (especially since this week of nationwide mobilizations) that they can't take it anymore, that they lack manpower and resources, that they suffer from a host of grievances, including financial ones, just like the doctors, with whom, incidentally, they've shared for years the sentiment that they're fed up with bureaucracy without anything changing.

My friend, a veteran writer who has won a handful of awards, pauses and concludes: "The independence movement responds to the anguish of a people who know that their identity, starting with their language, is going to waste. It was the last gasp, the final throes." At first, I found his statement strange, shocking, and I filed it away in a drawer of my memory. The conversation I'm referring to took place after October 1st, when the protagonists of the independence attempt were in prison or had fled. However, some time later, I've given considerable thought to my friend's words—who today considers the battle for language completely lost—and I've wondered about the degree of truth they contain. Note that accepting what he says requires acknowledging that what we call the people, the nation, or society possesses some kind of collective unconscious, something shared that motivates action.

Last month this newspaper published an interview at Nicolas LevratThe UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues, who recently completed a study visit to the European Union, was asked if Catalan is in danger. Levrat responded unequivocally: "No, my opinion is no; in the European Union there are many other languages ​​that are in much greater danger than Catalan." No, Catalan is not in danger. However, for some time now, the perception of Catalan society regarding the future of Catalan has entered a pessimistic spiral. The latest CEO Longitudinal Survey, released on March 5, reveals the speed with which this perception has worsened. Currently, 52% of those interviewed believe that Catalan will be used less in the immediate future than it is today, compared to 48% in 2024 and 42% in 2023. That the perception has worsened is undeniable; the question that should be asked is whether reality has also worsened to such an extent.

Kris Charlier, 76, born in Belgium and living in Catalonia since 2015, has taken two Civil Guard officers to court, accusing them of harassing him at El Prat airport, allegedly for speaking to them in Catalan: "If I had spoken in Spanish, I suppose the Barcelona Provincial Court would have said everything." Charlier, represented by Plataforma per la Llengua (Platform for the Language), is seeking a six-year and two-month prison sentence for hate crimes, coercion, and falsification of official documents. He has also asked the court to disqualify the two officers from public office for almost seven years, fine them €4,800, and award him €3,122 in damages. The prosecution, however, sees no crime in the officers' actions, who are represented by the State Attorney's Office. Charlier stated during the trial that the officers' actions made him feel "humiliated, offended, and wounded" in his dignity as a citizen.

The Parliament cannot require drivers to prove an intermediate level of Catalan, but at most an elementary level. This is the response given by the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) to the request of Convivencia Cívica Catalana, which asked to annul the bases of a call for positions for these official vehicle drivers who transport high-ranking officials of the Generalitat. Specifically, the Spanish nationalist entity wanted to eliminate the requirement for candidates to demonstrate a B2 level of Catalan.

Just a few meters from the ruins of the Born district, destroyed in 1714—an archaeological site of great symbolic importance—three top-level football executives are chatting. Elena Fort, the Barça representative, beams after the long election night in which Joan Laporta was elected. "We will make sure to continue taking care of the Catalan language," she remarks, chatting with Xavi Andreu, director of institutional relations at Espanyol, and Nacho Mas-Bagà, from Girona. Andrés, who He remains angry about the refereeing decision suffered by Espanyol in Mallorca. He recalls how their official statements "were made in Catalan." The three have just given a talk at the International Symposium on Minority Languages ​​and Sgôr Football, organized by Plataforma per la Llengua.

In the real Catalonia, repetitive, recidivist, bounced back… Rrrrrr. The van arrived and said we didn't exist. I reread: "Oops! Your shipment could not be delivered due to an incorrect address.". All my life living in a wrong place. A: we check. We reiterate: correct address. The same as always. Nothing to say? Neither reread the paper. Nor trace the streets. Nor look with your eyes. No scratching. Rationality 0 - Irrationality 10. If the GPS says that it is not here: it is not here: it is not here. The important thing is the trip. Rrrrrr.

A study by Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) shows that the most popular generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools spread errors in Catalan because they are trained in Spanish, in addition to English: non-standard forms in Catalan grammar and lexicon are spread due to the influence of these global languages. The study, led by Professor Thomas Brochhagen from the UPF's Department of Translation and Language Sciences and published in the journal "Linguamática", is pioneering in demonstrating the bias towards Spanish. According to researcher Mireia Almena (UPF), "AIs not only reproduce language, but also influence its evolution and can have a much greater impact on languages like Catalan, with less written content in digital media, than on other languages with more speakers and text production capacity such as English, Spanish or Chinese." Therefore, they call on institutions to work to improve these biases. In fact, the Accent Obert Foundation has already announced that they will "take the official exams of Catalan students for the most popular AIs" to evaluate their knowledge of Catalan language and culture, in order to objectify the shortcomings in this area. Spreading Errors

The Valencian Regional Government's Ministry of Education, headed by Minister Carmen Ortí, has confirmed a new attack on the teaching of Catalan language and literature in Valencian public schools. This is yet another secessionist assault: a measure that, under the guise of "prioritizing Valencian authors" in academic content, marginalizes and excludes writers born in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands from the Valencian language curriculum. Because they are not "Valencian" and do not write "in Valencian." Minister Ortí and her team overlook, or perhaps ignore, the fact that the first author to write in Valencian was a Mallorcan, Ramon Llull (with all due respect to the troubadours). This was possible because Llull was the first European writer to address theological and philosophical themes not in Latin, which was the language of culture in the 13th century, but in Catalan. In other words, Llull was a Mallorcan who wrote in Valencian because he wrote in Catalan. This, interchangeably, can be said of all Catalan writers throughout history. Of Valencian writers, too, and first and foremost: a very significant part of the best Catalan literature has been written by Valencians. Furthermore, from Ausiàs March and Joanot Martorell to Josep Piera, Enric Soria, Maria Josep Escrivà, Àngels Gregori, and Joan Deusa, including giants like Estellés and Fuster, it can be stated unequivocally that Catalan literature would not exist (it wouldn't exist as we know it: it would be much smaller). And we can put it another way: all Catalan, Mallorcan, Menorcan, and Ibizan authors write in Valencian. Doesn't Councilor Ortí know this either? If she doesn't know something as basic as this, she's obviously not fit to be a regional minister, much less the Minister of Education.

Catalan remains the primary language of Catalan companies. This is the main positive conclusion of a survey conducted by the employers' association Pimec among its members. However, the study also raises some concerns. The first is that, despite being the primary language, it is losing ground. Specifically, the surveyed companies perceive that its use has fallen by 10.9 percentage points compared to 2012. The second worrying conclusion is that, depending on the person they are communicating with, companies are increasingly switching languages. In fact, Pimec notes that the decline in Catalan's importance in business has occurred precisely because of the second concern: companies are increasingly adapting to the demands of their interlocutor, whether a client or a supplier. The survey indicates that 60.7% of companies switched languages ​​to adapt to the client in 2012, and now 71.2% do so. This shift occurs not only in oral communication but also in written communication. Written communications in Catalan addressed to clients accounted for 76% in 2012, but now stand at 55.5%. Furthermore, the use of languages ​​other than Catalan in these communications has increased by 20 percentage points. A decrease, albeit smaller, in the number of companies' websites in Catalan has also been observed. On a positive note, the study indicates that 65.6% of companies always or mostly communicate with their clients in Catalan, whether in person or by phone. This is in addition to the fact that 80.7% of SMEs use Catalan in their written communications to clients and suppliers, and that in the digital sphere, 74.5% of companies have a website in Catalan, while 49.5% publish almost all of their social media content in Catalan.