Regional Languages ?

[Emma]

I just wondered what the forum's opinion was : Am I wasting my time learning my local Spanish regional language or not ?

[CostaGratis]

It really depends on your situation. Whereabout are you?

Certain regions that have nationalistic ambitions, use the language for social engineering.

Personally I and my family have wasted and lost a lot thanks to the Catalan language.
In Catalunya the language is the PRIMARY language in schools and it is compulsory. What that means is even subjects like science and biology are taught in Catalan. Yet, when you go to university, the subjects are in castellano again! Just one small example...

I was told straight by a catalan guy that if I wanted Spanish hospitality and culure, I should go to Spain, NOT catalunya!

If you have no kids and you intend to stay there and indulge in the local culture for a long time by all means.

[JoGreen]

Like Costa Gratis says, it depends where you are - IE what your local language is.

Also, if you have kids who will be going to a state school - my daughter is taught almost exclusively in Valenciano, and her homework, letters from school etc are almost alaways in Valenciano aswell, so as a paren it makes life much easier to know a bit of the language.

The influence of local vs national languages can vary a lot throughout the region aswell - for example, In my rural inland village I would say that Valencian is by far the prominent lanaguage, whereas in the city centre of Valencia itself you hardly ever hear it spoken.

[CostaGratis]

Hi JoGreen, we were in exactly the same situation with Catalan and it would have been fine had we wanted to remain local. My daughter did want to go to university and unfortunately discovered too late that they revert to Castellano in university which was a step too far.
A Catalan/Valencian education makes no sense abroad and with the current economic climate in Spain, many Spanish University Graduates are seeking work abroad.

We do speak English and a Dutch language aswell, so my daughter, who only started with castellano and catalan from age 14, had 4 languages to cope with, never mind wanting to do a science Batxilerat (A level).

So, my advice is, unless you plan to entrench yourself locally, long term, and you have kids, go to the larger spanish speaking (castellano) areas.
Keep in mind, you probably also would want your kids to have some friends who share the same home language...

My youngest is now in a Spanish guarderia in Alicante and it is like a breath of fresh air not having to contend with an extra language AND prejudice...

Unfortunately we had learnt Castellano before we came to Spain many years ago, only to discover we were NOT in Spain, we were in Catalunya, and, as far as the Catalans were concerned, we were speaking the language of the invaders (Castellano), so were treated quite badly...

Hopefully our experience can prevent others from making the same mistake.

[Emma]

Thankyou, I have an 11 month old so your advice is certainly worth taking into account. Fortunately in my area the regional language is not all that prominent.

[MrGrumpy]

Thankyou, I have an 11 month old so your advice is certainly worth taking into account. Fortunately in my area the regional language is not all that prominent.

You have got to be led by your local school.
In your circumstances I would suggest that you are better off just concentrating on getting your Castilian to the highest possible standard as opposed to learning a language that isn't taught or spoken to that extent in your immediate area.

[Chandra]

If you know a good standard of Castilian already, live in an area where a regional language would be useful to you, and pick up languages quite easily I would say sure - go for it. However, if you are like the rest us, and it takes all your time and mental capacity to come to terms with 1 extra language - let alone 2 - I would say forget it !

[CostaGratis]

If you know a good standard of Castilian already, live in an area where a regional language would be useful to you, and pick up languages quite easily I would say sure - go for it. However, if you are like the rest us, and it takes all your time and mental capacity to come to terms with 1 extra language - let alone 2 - I would say forget it !

I must agree, sometimes we need to just be pragmatic and honest with ourselves, and if the neighbours are going to be upset because you don't want to adopt a language that only a few million people speak...

They say that in a hundred years there will only be 4 languages. Castellano is already the 3rd most spoken ahead of English and behind Hindu...

[MrGrumpy]

The whole "Spanish regional languages" issue is one of the major reasons that Spanish never can and never will be a major player in European Business.

If the Country's own residents can't even agree on what to speak amongst themselves, how can they expect the rest of the world to take them seriously ?

Like the whole EU patent system : The EU pushing forward with 4 standardised languages - none of which is Spanish. And then teh spanish Gov't is up in arms about this. WHY ? when a country has about 8 different Official / Co-official / Recognised languages, is it any wonder that any foreign country prefers to do business with another country that speaks JUST ONE foreign langauge and where it's residents don't get on their soap box every 2 minute to whine about their 'independance' and 'cultural identity' ?

[CostaGratis]

I know it is an old post, but thought you should know South Africa has 11 OFFICIAL languages.

Is that political correctness gone wrong or proper representation....?

I know it won't teach them anything but hopefully the Catalans have now realised that in this crisis and high unemployment, many of their youth are stuck in Catalunya without international job prospects because they were forcibly schooled in Catalan...
The Catalan youth also struggle to communicate with their own grandparents who were schooled in Spanish (castellano).

Here's to social engineering for political aims....