Enric I. Canela
Un fenomen ens ataca en la prestigiosa revista Nature, en el seu número d’avui 31 de juliol. La calor li ha afectat el cervell. Com es pot veure, saber de ciència no és ser intel·ligent.
Schools in a third of Spain teach only in minority languages
Jose M. Rojo
Departamento de Fisiopatología Molecular y Celular, Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, CSIC, Ramiro de Maeztu 9, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Email:jmrojo@cib.csic.es
Sir,
Your Editorial ‘Comédie française’ (Nature 453, 1144; 10.1038/453114b 2008) argues that opposition by the members of the Académie française to including regional languages in the French constitution is disingenuous. But maybe these French academics have looked south and seen what has happened in Spain, where “regional and minority languages, like endangered species”, are considered to “merit protection” by several of the regional governments.
Today, it is impossible to obtain public or publicly funded education in Spanish, the common language, in the schools of about one third of the country, including Catalonia, Mallorca and Valencia. For example, teaching is conducted in Catalan or one of its variants in northeastern Spain, and in Gallego in Galicia in the northwest.
In the Basque country, despite the obscurity of the language, education programmes will be available only in Basque from 2009 and programmes taught partially in Spanish will be dropped.
This is an absurd situation, where in some places it is easier for Spanish children to study in English (for example, in the British Council schools) than in Spanish, the language that the Spanish constitution has set as the common official language.
It has stimulated prominent — and by no means all conservative — intellectuals, headed by the novelist Mario Vargas Llosa, to sign a manifesto calling to defend the rights of Spanish-speaking people in their own country (see http://tinyurl.com/692c5g, or in automatic-translation English at http://tinyurl.com/5fvbrp). ¡Qué horror!
L’individu es deu haver quedat ben descansat.
Sembla mentida que li hagin publicat aquest article. Per sort no tots els químics/científics pensem d’aquesta manera i en tot cas ja m’agradaria que el català estigués tan fort com ens comenta aquest espanyol.
Esperem que hagi estat un cop de calor tot plegat i a seguir lluitant per la llibertat de Catalunya.
Visca CAT
Ell mateix demostra la inutilitat de l’espanyol, almenys en el món científic, quan escriu l’article en anglès.
Hola Enric,
Trobo que hauríeu de respondre a aquest ésser viu com bé es mereix. I penso que, donat el context científic, la resposta no ha de venir de gent “corrent” com jo, sinó de gent del món acadèmic i científic. Si us plau, que podries respondre’l tu? Tindràs la meva gratitud eterna.
Gràcies!
I si suggerim a en Lluís de Yzaguirre que enviï una traducció a l’anglès d’aquest seu article:
http://terminotica.upf.es/membres/DE_YZA/publi/analisiManifestAmpliat_es.pdf
Trobo que, tot i haver-se fet en castellà, és de les poques peces intel·lectuals que han anat més enllà d’opinionisme, juntament amb algunes frases impagables del Daniel Innerarity en un dossier d’El País.
Els catalans ens hem d’organitzar, però. Ni podem dependre de l’empenta concreta i voluntarista de cada moment ni podem deixar que ens deixin la cohesió interna com un colador, mentre a Ca l’Ample tot els sembla fenomenal.
Traducció, volia dir (tot i que dependria d’ell), amb una mica més de context perquè quedi ben clara a tot el món la infumabilitat d’un concepte “llengua-comuna” amb què no tenim per què voler combregar i encara menys si ens hi volen forçar.
A fer la mà, home!
Amics,
Crec que és imprescindible donar resposta a aquesta carta a Nature, més encara quan fa poc la mateixa revista va publicar “Catalonian powerhouse”, article que vaig referenciar:
https://www.enriccanela.cat/index.php/2008/07/19/catalonian-powerhouse/
L’article de Lluís de Yzaguirre és excel•lent, però se surt completament de l’espai que deixa Nature per una carta i en to cas la carta l’hauria d’escriure ell mateix.
El problema de la carta del “personatge” és que podria espantar a alguns candidats a venir als nostres centres de recerca creant una imatge d’intolerància. No crec que per a la majoria del món tingui la més mínima importància. Simplement alimenta als intransigents carpetobetònics.
Miraré que hi puc fer.
I el Sr. Moreno Cabrera?:
http://www.elperiodico.cat/default.asp?idpublicacio_PK=46&idioma=CAT&idnoticia_PK=531823&idseccio_PK=&h=
Un expert madrileny que, cito:
“–¿Algun avantpassat català?
–No. Només vull defensar la meva llengua, que no se l’associï a cap imposició ni cap tipus d’imperialisme.”
>i>Chapeau!
Dear Sir,
On 31th May you published a letter by J.M. Rojo where he used your editorial Comédie Française to claim against immersion (in terms of vehicular language) model in education in some parts of Spain. He argues that it is impossible to find publicly funded schools in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, Valencia, the Basque Country or Galizia teaching in Spanish but in “minority languages”. The first thing one should note is that summing up the population of these areas they represent a 40% of the population in Spain (not a third) so one could easily ask why a 40% of the people in Spain live in areas with languages different from Castilian (knows as Spanish outside Spain). The answer is trivial: these regions where not Spanish in the past. Furthermore, if you know a bit of Spanish history, you could add to the previous list regions those that where not part of the Kingdom of Castilla and find that 50% of Spanish actual population lives in regions that were other kingdoms not so long ago.
Some political unions and figths led to what is nowadays known as Spain and obviously those who won tried to impose their language and culture in their new dominions. As a result of that in Catalonia one can only find one national TV station in Catalan, while there are 5 in Castilian, 2 national newspapers in Catalan, while more than 7 in Castilinan… something similar happens when talking about magazines and, if you take a look on films, the proportion is dramatically increased in favor of Castilian. With this linguistic environment the knowledge of Castilian is ensured but Catalan is clearly endangered. All studies performed in Spain show that the Spanish language skills of Catalan students is the same as that of others while they are better in foreign languages thanks to the ability developed when using two languages in their common life.
It is surprising that despite the author works and lives out of the regions he talks about, he still tries to teach about the situation here. Talking without seeing is not scientific attitude but religious: belive and spread the doctrine. Probably he should come here and see that in Catalonia is possible to live 100% in Spanish, while it is impossible to live 100% in Catalan. De fora vingueren que de casa ens tragueren.
Carles Oriach i Font
Centre de Desenvolupament de Sensors, Instrumentació i Sistemes
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Tonet,
No havia llegit l’article de Moreno Cabrera. Gràcies, n’he fet referència específica.
Carles,
L’has enviat al Nature?
Bé.
Molt bona la resposta Carles.
Hola Enric.
No, no l’he enviat a Nature, és una proposta perquè pugui ser enriquida aquí per la comunitat blogger. L’he escrit de pressa i corrents i crec que és millorable.
Aviam què hi dieu, Carles i companyia:
Dear Sir,
On May 31st, you published a letter by J.M. Rojo, where he referred to your previous editorial “Comédie Française” (Nature 453, 1144; 10.1038/453114b 2008) to protest against language-immersion (in terms of vehicular language) model in education in some parts of Spain. He argues that it is impossible to find state-funded schools in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, Valencia, the Basque Country or Galizia teaching in Spanish, all of which use “minority languages” instead. The first thing one should note is that the population of these areas combined represents 40% of Spain’s total, so one could easily wonder why 40% of the people in Spain live in areas with languages other than Castilian (known as Spanish outside Spain). The answer is trivial: these regions were never Castilian in the past. Furthermore, looking back in Spanish history, you could add to the list regions that where not part of the Kingdom of Castile, to find that half of current Spanish citizens live in regions which were other kingdoms not so long ago.
Some political unions and figths led to what is nowadays known as Spain, and those who won tried to impose their language and culture in their new dominions, including Franco’s regime (up to 1975). As a result of which, in Catalonia one can only find few TV stations broadcasting in Catalan, as opposed to many more in Castilian, and the same holds true for written press, magazines, films… the list is endless. With this linguistic environment, knowledge of Castilian is ensured but Catalan is clearly endangered. All studies performed in Spain show that Catalan students master Spanish quite as satisfactorily as mother-tongue Castilians elsewhere, while they perform better in foreign languages thanks to the ability developed when using two or more languages in their common life.
It is surprising that despite not living and working in any of the regions Mr Rojo talks about, he still tries to teach about the situation. Talking without seeing is not a scientific attitude but a religious one: believe and spread the doctrine. He should probably come and see that while it is perfectly possible to live 100% in Spanish in Catalonia, living fully in Catalan remains an impossible challenge. Hostes vingueren que de casa ens tragueren.
Potser amb un altre plantejament estructural (com una versió sintètica del text d’n De Yzaguirre) em convenceria més, però. Tot i que jo crec que cadascú pot enviar el que li plagui, si la firma és individual…
Per continuar amb l’anglès i concloure (i deixar-vos tranquils), brevity is the soul of wit, que digué Jane Austen. Vet aquí què en diu El vigilant del far:
http://info-reflex.blogspot.com/2008/08/sobre-el-manifiesto.html
No sé, però em sembla que demà enviaré una carta a Nature. Tot i que el Miquel diu a Edunomia que millor riure, jo crec que no hem de callar.