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Index de la
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La polèmica sobre "2001, Any Europeu de les
Llengües"
Els orígens: Narcís Parés
La resposta: Gillian McLaughlin
La primera reacció: Toni Strubell
La cullerada: Instituto Cervantes
La rèplica primera: Narcís
Parés
La rèplica segona: Miquel Strubell
La difusió: Miquel Strubell
La felicitació: Instituto Cervantes
L'agraïment:
Miquel Strubell
La petició d'informació: Miquel Strubell
La crida: Miquel Strubell
El funcionari: Alastair MacPhail
Les respostes: recomanem.htm
Narcís Parés mailto:npares@iua.upf.es
envia un escrit a la Comissió, lamentant l'exclusió del català
del portal del programa 21001 Any Europeu de les
Llengües, que només s'ofereix en les 11 llengües oficials de
la Unió. En segueixen d'altres.
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La sra. Gillian
McLaughlin , de l'organització, envia a molta gent una
resposta molt correcta, a través de l'adreça Kerstin.Ringler@cec.eu.int
, una còpia de la qual rep i comença a divulgar M. Strubell a
partir del mateix dia 22 de gener:
Dear
colleagues,
thank you very much for your messages and
for your interest in the European Year of Languages
2001.
I note with interest your feedback on the
web-site for the Year and hope that the following comments /
observations may answer some of your questions.
I'd
like to say first of all that the European Year of Languages
is not about the status of languages, it is about encouraging
people to learn them, as well as generally raising awareness
of linguistic diversity as a vital feature of European
culture. I think you can appreciate that it would be
practically impossible for us to create a web site providing
the same information in all of the hundreds of languages
spoken by Europeans (11 official languages, 40-odd other
indigenous languages and several hundred non-indigenous
languages spoken by immigrant communities) all of which are
equal in importance and dignity. We would have loved to
provide information in Catalan, as we would have loved to do
so in Saami, Frisian, Irish, Hindi, Turkish, Arabic... but
managing a website in 11 languages is already a considerable
feat of logistics. Hence the decision - agreed and approved by
the Governments of the EU - to provide information in the 11
official languages as the only effective way of ensuring that
all Europeans find the information they need in a language
they understand, though it may not be their mother
tongue.
I'd also like to point out that our website
is still under construction. Our work is proceeding very
quickly. We intend to ensure that it includes information and
facilities which cover all the languages that the users are
interested in. There will be a facility for links to all
types of web-site, and we would hope that you can help us to
establish some of the Catalan links: particularly those which
can provide information to people who are not Catalan
speakers, with information about the language and particularly
about how they can learn it if they want to.
All
chat-room facilities etc will be open to everybody to use the
language they wish to use. The message lists and discussion
topics may be provided in any language the user wishes, and
will include a box showing the language of communication for
the message. None of these facilities restricts the language
to be used. We will be replacing the current language menus
with open text boxes, so that there is no question of certain
languages being treated as "second best".
The
interface languages for the information campaign is only one
aspect of the European Year. As you have seen from the
objectives, the European Year activities extend to all
languages spoken, used and taught in Europe. You may also have
noticed that one feature of the European Year is the Call for
Proposals for co-financed projects. You will be pleased to
note that among the first 43 projects selected, many include
language festivals and other activities which are not language
specific, and which therefore can and do include minority and
regional languages alongside the 11 official languages of the
EU, as well as many of the hundreds of languages spoken by the
citizens of the regions concerned. Additionally there are
several projects which have a specific interest in the
regional and minority languages of Europe and 2 which include
Catalan specifically.
We hope very much to see more
projects submitted for the second round of selection (deadline
15 February 2001) which will take Catalan to a wide public,
and specifically to communities and countries who have not had
much exposure to it. This is one of the main objectives we
hope to achieve in the Year: to increase the knowledge and
exposure of the public at large to the diversity of the
languages spoken and used in Europe.
So as you can
see, the European Year itself is integrating Catalan into the
very core of its activities, and we hope very much that your
interest in the Year will be sustained throughout
2001.
With our best wishes
Gillian
McLaughlin for the European Year of Languages Team at the
European Commission
European Commission
Directorate-General for Education and
Culture
Language Policy Unit
Tel. 00 32 2 29
940 14 Fax 00 32 2 29 963 21
E-mail: kerstin.ringler@cec.eu.int
http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/languages/actions/year2001.html
http://www.eurolang2001.org/
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Toni Strubell
contesta el 17 de gener:
Dear Kerstin
Ringler,
Thank you so much for taking an interest in the
Catalan language. As a Catalan-speaking University teacher
living outside the Catalan-speaking countries (Catalonia,
Valencia, Balearic Isles, French Catalonia, Andorra etc), I am
very glad to be able to give my opinion to you.
Catalan is
one of the great submerged languages of Europe. Why submerged?
Well because it is still not possible to discern with ease the
exact geographical significance of the language. Nor is it
easy to estimate the situation in which the language is forced
to live within the Spanish and French states, where the fact
that democracies formally exist makes the very real oppression
the language suffers hard to observe, for some at
least.
After the total prohibition suffered by the
language for over 40 years under the Franco regime (to which
one must add centuries of colonisation and official
repression of the Catalan language from last 1/3 19th Century)
Catalan is only approaching a normal situation in one part of
the countries it is spoken in: Catalonia. But even here,
despite the fact that the language is considered the main
language of education, the chances for cultural betterment or
consumer satisfaction in this language are still really
limited. The fact that the language's cultural goods are
submitted to the Spanish market means that even in Barcelona
it is difficult to actually find more than one or two
publications in Catalan on the news stands. However, the fact
that one major newspaper is available in two editions -Catalan
and Spanish- with the former doing almost as well as the
latter would seem to proove that the demand is there. In
cinemas, where dubbing of foreign films into Spanish is
commonplace (if not fully universal), to see a film in Catalan
is little short of a miracle. The American film producers,
aided by the protective shield of Spanish legislation, are not
forced to dub into Catalan and only do so in small token
amounts. As for the Spanish Administration, especially under
the new Partido Popular government - a Government,
let's remember, loathe to condemn the Franco coup- the advance
of Catalan in official forms, sign posts etc is cripplingly
slow, and even countered on occasions. As regards TV, Catalan
channels exist, but the offer is limited to 2 while TV in
Spanish knows no limits. Yet no one seems to see this as an
unfair disadvantage for the weaker language. As regards prizes
and public "prestige" for the language, is it enough to
mention that the Premio Planeta for literature in Spanish
-awarded privately in Barcelona- offers 50 million pesetas to
the winner, whereas the largest Catalan literature prize
amounts to less than five times less? How can the Catalan
language compete with this situation. And yet, the fact that
Catalonia lacks sovereignty and real opportunites to create
anything remotely approaching a "public opinion", as exists in
all language contexts where a protective State is involved,
means that any attempt to bestow Catalan with real rights,
with the prestige and funding available to other languages
meets with the howls of discontent of the Madrid press and the
radio and TV opinion programmes of Spanish ideology and
language that penetrate Catalonia and the Catalan-speaking
countries with no kind of restriction. One imagines what would
occur to -let's say- Turkish anti-German radio broadcasts
freely circulating within Germany. Or lavishly funded
(by whom) Arab anti-French newspapres circulating in France.
How long would they last? Why should Catalonia be exposed to
enormous currents of anti-Catalan opinion within its own
frontiers? Who favours this? In whose interest deos this
work?
In French Catalonia the situation nears genocide, for
the language knows no official status at all. In Valencia, the
Partido Popular local government is doing its utmost to
erradicate the Catalan language, and even the use of the term
"Catalan" is severely repressed despite the fact that no
self-respecting Romance Language Department of any University
in the World would hesitate to refer to the language of
Valencia as anything other than what it is: Catalan. In the
Balearic Isles the recovery of the language has also been
thwarted by years of Partido Popular government.
The
Catalan language and culture are in a better situation than
they were under Franco. The persecution has decreased. But has
it disappeared? In Germany a persdon can go to prison for
stating that the Concentration Camps are a figment of Jewish
propaganda. Yet those directly responsible for banning and
persecuting Catalan for decades were left unscathed in 1975
when Dictator Franco died. The Spanish Government refused to
participate in the tribute to Catalan President Lluís
Companys, murdered by Franco in 1940 (being the only
democratically elected President of a European country to be
executed by an Axis ally in the 1939-45
conflagration). He
was handed over by the German Military Police to Franco's
thugs at Hendaye bridge (29.8.1940), tortured and shot after a
40-minute "trial". If this is the behaviour today of the
Spanish Government, what kind of an environment can one expect
for the regeneration of the Catalan culture, language and
people?
And more so when over 50% of the Spanish State
budget for culture for the year 2002 is to go to the Community
of Madrid alone! In Spain, everything is set for the gentle
extermination of all that is not Castilian (President Aznar is
100% Castilian) and for the nationalistic betterment of
everything that is Castilian. Catalonia, Galicia and the
Basque Country, along with their cultures, are completely
ignored by Spain. The State directly or indirectly contributes
all it can to their decadence, economic starvation and
cultural stagnation. For example, never in the long years the
Eurovision Song Contest has been on, has any singer
represented Spain in any language other than Spanish. One
attempt at introducing a Catalan singer, in Catalan, met with
severe repression and that singer's being ostracised from TV
for years. As regards something as popular as singers in shows
etc, one can say that the percentage of Catalan, Basque or
Galician on Spanish TV is almost null. Asking around, not one
University colleague can remnember when there was last/ever a
song in Basque or
Catalan on Spanish TV. The same sort of
situation reigns in plenty of other fields.
Decidedly, the
Catalan culture is being forced to live on in a political and
economic situation that any European State would find
absolutely inadmissible for its own language. Is this the
price a country must pay for not having a State? If the UE is
to be democratic and fair, it should shake off the bureacracy
and hypocrisy that tends to characterise it in this and other
fields where "minorities" are involved, and take into
consideration the voice of those deprived of privilege because
they are deprived of State. Equal rights for all cultures is
all that we are asking for.
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El mateix 22
de gener l’Institut Cervantes contesta el missatge de Narcís
Parés (Rosario Guijarro , proeuro@cervantes.es)
:
Estimados Srs.:
Lamentamos el error que ha herido su
susceptibilidad, pero en el caso español, han sido
consideradas idóneas dentro del Año Europeo de las Lenguas,
todas aquellas que están recogidas en el texto constitucional
o en los textos legislativos de las respectivas comunidades
autónomas del estado. Por tanto, el catalán es lengua meta del
Año Europeo de las Lenguas, si bien los proyectos deben
presentarse redactados en una lengua oficial de la Unión
Europea, y con un resumen (al menos) en inglés, francés o
alemán (lenguas de trabajo de la Unión), lo que,
lamentablemente, ha dado lugar a algún
equívoco.
Atentamente.
Instituto
Cervantes.
Departamento de Programas
Europeos.
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Narcís
Parés contesta el mateix dia
a proeuro@cervantes.es:
Estimados
Srs.
Ante
todo, muchas gracias por su correo electrónico.
Me
temo que no se ha entendido mi ruego sobre el sitio del Año
Europeo de las Lenguas. Lo que yo quería dar a entender en mi
correo inicial, era que no se puede hacer un sitio de Internet
sobre diversidad lingüística en Europa dando entradas a la
información a través, tan solo, de las lenguas de los estados
y discriminando las demás lenguas europeas. Esto no es
solidario ni ayuda a aclarar las diferencias y agravios
comparativos entre las lenguas "poderosas" y las "oprimidas".
Tal y como algunas personas han comentado ya, con el sitio
actual se están discriminando más de 9 millones de
catalanoparlantes (y seguro que muchos millones más de
Eusquera, Gallego, Flamenco, Gaelico, etc.).
Lo
que yo pido a la Comisión Europea y a los co-organizadores es
que en todo el sitio del Año Europeo de las Lenguas se tenga
esto en cuenta. En otras palabras, que lo que se promulga en
el sitio se aplique a sí mismo como ejemplo de lo que debería
ser el respeto diario y a todos los niveles en el uso de las
lenguas en Europa.
Muchas
gracias por su atención.
El mateix 22 de gener Miquel
Strubell contesta a proeuro@cervantes.es:
Apreciada
Sra. Guijarro,
Gracias por su respuesta. Ahora bien,
el hecho de no hacer una versión catalana del portal (o
gallega, o vasca) hace tan, tan improbable que se le ocurra a
alguien que estas lenguas sí entraban en el Año Europeo, que
seguramente no habrá solicitudes antes del polazo fijado: y
solamente lamentaciones después.
En definitiva: ¿de
qué organismo representado en la organización del año depende
la invitación a catalanes, gallegos y vascos, para que sus
lenguas participoen en el año? ¿Y qué pasos ha tomado para
asegurarse de que dicha participación queda
garantizada?
Por otra parte, me ha sorprendido que
haya salido del Instituto Cervantes la afirmación de que el
sueco, el finlandés, el danés, el neerlandés, el italiano, el
español el portugúes y el griego, aun siendo lenguas
oficiales, no son lenguas de trabajo de la Unión
Europea.
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Simultàniament Miquel Strubell envia un missatge a la European Bureau
for Lesser-Used languages:
Instituto Cervantes has just claimed that Swedish,
Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Greek
... although official languages are not working languages of
the European Union.
Take note,
please. |
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L'Instituto Cervantes contesta
l'endemà, dia 23, per boca de Rosario Guijarro proeuro@cervantes.es.
No cal dir que la seva felciitació no havia d'anar adreçada al
destinatari, sinó al conjunt de catalans mobilitzats per
aquest tema:
Quisiera felicitarle por el
entusiasmo demostrado y por la resonancia que ha tenido la
iniciativa de su grupo, y luego, una pequeña aclaración: no
afirmamos que algunas de las lenguas oficiales de la Comunidad
Europea no son lenguas de trabajo, sino que hay lenguas que se
utilizan más en las reuniones de trabajo y en los textos, y me
refiero a párrafos que aparecen en documentos de la Unión
Europea, como el siguiente: "Numerosos documentos estándar
están disponibles en las 11 lenguas oficiales de la UE. No
obstante, tendrá que realizar ciertas comunicaciones no
normalizadas y ad-hoc, en las que deberá utilizar el inglés,
el francés o el alemán."
Atentamente.
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El mateix 22 de gener
Miquel Strubell escriu a kerstin.ringler@cec.eu.int
de la Comissió:
Dear Ms. McLaughlin,
Thank
you first of all for your long and detailed reply to one of
the many complaints that are sweeping
the
Catalan-speaking corners of the Internet,
regarding the absence of a Catalan- language portal to the
2001
EYL website (http://www.eurolang2001.org/).
Neither
on this page nor on http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/languages/actions/year2001.html
is it
more than hinted that Catalan is on the list of
eligible languages (3 weeks before the deadline for the
final
proposals for financial support!). Who, when
and where designated Catalan as eligible, on behalf of the
State?
In response to the kafuffle it seems that the
Spanish state has done so, to judge by a message that
the
Instituto Cervantes has sent around today, (in
which it also says, in effect, that Swedish, Greek,
Portuguese,
Finnish, Dutch, Italian, Spanish and
Danish are not working languages of the Union!).
It
seems inadmissible that reference be made to "any other
language – including regional and minority
languages
and sign languages – which European Union Member States
designate as eligible". If, as it
appears, Catalan
has been thus designated, it should appear in its own right,
alongside the list of other
named
languages.
A lot of Catalans feel left out of the
only Council of Europe + European Union initiative that seems
tailor-made
for us! There are seven million speakers
of our language and we are all citizens of the European Union,
which
on both scores is more than can be said for
several other "eligible" languages.
Incidentally, I
would be very interested indeed to learn about the 43 projects
that have already been financed
(and particularly
about those including lesser-used languages such as Catalan).
Could you give me an
Internet address to access the
list?
I am especially pleased that you are going to
replace the current language menus with open text
boxes,
so that no languages will be < > - the truth is, right now they simply
couldn't be treated at all!
Finally, rest assured
that every effort will be made in Catalonia, Valencia and the
Balearic Islands, to ensure
that your website
"includes information and facilities which cover all the
languages that the users are
interested in." We shall
endeavour to send you information for people who are not
Catalan speakers, including
information about the
language and about how they can learn it if they want to. The
75-odd EU universities
that teach the language will
also, I'm sure, cooperate. Who should we send this information
to, exactly?
Yours sincerely / Salutacions
cordials.
Miquel Strubell
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El mateix 22 de gener Miquel
Strubell escriu a philia.thalgott@coe.int
del Consell d'Europa:
Dear Philia,
There's been quite a rumpus because Catalan is left out of the official versions of the 2001 EYL website
(www.eurolang2001.org) which in any case right now seems incapable of giving any useful information at all.
Neither on this page nor on http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/languages/actions/year2001.html
is it more than hinted that Catalan is on the list (3 weeks before the deadline for the final proposals for
financial support!). If any Member State designates it (as it seems that the Spanish sate has, to judge by a
message that the Instituto Cervantes has sent around in response to the outcry), then it should go on the
website as "Catalan", it seems to me! This business about "any other language – including regional and
minority languages and sign languages – which European Union Member States designate as eligible" should be
replaced as such languages are indeed designated.
A lot of Catalans feel left out of the only Council of Europe + European Union initiative that seems
tailor-made for us!
Do you know where we can find out about the 43 projects that have already been financed (and
particularly about those including lesser-used languages such as Catalan)?
Best wishes as always / Salutacions cordials.
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El mateix 22 de
gener Miquel Strubell fa córrer una
circular:
"Catalans, valencians,
illencs!
Algú a la Comissió Europea ens està demanant
informació seriosa sobre la llengua catalana, en diferents
llengües, sobre els llocs on es pot aprendre, i sobre enllaços
a pàgines web amb recursos lingüístics per a no
catalanoparlants.
Senyores i senyors, posem-nos-hi,
cadascú amb el seu granet de sorra. Envieu aquest missatge a
qui cregueu que el pugui contestar, allà on sigui del món
mundial! I vosaltres mateixos, col·laboreu també, enviant-hi
informació: útil i exacte, amb adreces electròniques, pagines
web, tot. Convindria, de debò, que la pluja d’informació
d’alta qualitat sobre la llengua catalana i el seu ensenyament
a estrangers inundés l’oficina de 2001 Any Europeu de les
Llengües. Tot de qualitat, insisteixo. Han de quedar
impressionats (i per tant, no s’hi val a adjuntar-hi aquest
missatge!!!).
Recordeu que la senyora en qüestió és:
Kerstin.Ringler@cec.eu.int.
Deia:“We
intend to ensure that it includes information and facilities
which cover all the languages that the users are interested
in. There will be a facility for links to all types of
web-site, and we would hope that you can help us to establish
some of the Catalan links: particularly those which can
provide information to people who are not Catalan speakers,
with information about the language and particularly about how
they can learn it if they want to.”
A més, necessitem
amb gran urgència un voluntari que es presti a rebre còpies de
TOTS els missatges informatius que s’enviïn a la sra.
Ringler.
Al final demanava que sortís un voluntari
per recollir còpies de tota la informació que s'envia a la
Comissió Europe. De seguida s'hi va prestar Josep Antoni
Martín Pérez, josepamartin@yahoo.es.
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El funcionari de
la Comissió Alastair.Macphail@cec.eu.int
envia un cordial missatge a Miquel Strubell (que coneix
per altres projectes), a banda de les respostes oficials, amb
un bon consell respecte de la nostra iniciativa: vigilem, ve a
dir, que si afegim llenya al foc encara podríem perjudicar les
nostres pretensions.
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A partit del dia 23
de gener de 2001, comencen a arribar a la Comissió Europea
propostes concretes de pàgines web sobre el català.
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A mesura que podrem, anirem afegint còpies de les
respostes a la pàgina Recomanem.htm.
A més, com que no tenim tota la història, envieu directament a mi les còpies d'altres escrits, sobretot anteriors al 22 de
gener. | |
