Spot the Language 15

Repost from the old blog. Spot the language. Text of an unknown language, plus clues. Answer in the comments.

Les contradiccions de l’autoanomenada – en un atac d’optimisme – Esquerra Independentista (EI) són tant bèsties que poden ser fins i tot apreciades per un nen de quatre anys amb problemes de miopia. Vegem-les: 1) El Capitalisme està interessat en què el jovent es drogui i d’aquesta manera no s’impliqui en qüestions socials i nacionals adoptant una postura “passota”: l’EI està a favor del consum i la legalització de les drogues i protesta quan hi ha ràzzies policials per acabar amb els “camells” i perseguir els consumidors. 2) L’EI diu voler construïr una Societat Socialista i un Home i una Dona nous (de fet també ho volia Pol Pot i Enver Hoxha) i en canvi aposta per fer costat a la degradació humana mitjançant el consum de drogues i el flirteig amb el món de la delinqüència que hi va associat. 3) Al Capitalisme li interessa que hi hagi molta immigració il.legal i descontrolada per poder explotar millor als treballadors i abaixar els sous. L’EI, a l’igual que fan els gestors de la Burgesia s’omple la boca de crides pels “papers per a tothom” i el multiculturalisme que no fa més que donar suport a la globalització del Capital que diu combatre. 4) Al Capitalisme li interessa que les agressions contra els drets socials i nacionals quedin sense resposta. L’EI s’omple la boca de declaracions ampuloses com “La lluita és l’únic camí” o “Cap agressió sense resposta” que no són més que manifestacions gestuals i buides i se li arruga la titola quan 4 killakos i 3 immigrants tercermundistes maten a un dels nostres a Berga o quan els germans Rochina de torn surten de caça.

I was actually amazed and pleased to see this language on the Internet! Well, this is a European language, and yes, it has millions of speakers, and yes, it’s even on the Internet! Amazing! If you have some knowledge of European languages, it should be clear to you that this language is a member of a large European sub-family. Considering the popularity of the languages it is related to, it’s a bit strange that this language is little studied. Indeed, it is only spoken daily by about 5 Art, Picasso, Miro and Dali. Music, Casals and Cugat. Gaudi’s structures, Father Serra the Indian killer, Nacho Vidal’s dirty flicks, Ferrer elected President three times. From anarchism to fascism to democracy, but the industry was always there. Tourists, skiing, cathedrals and white beaches. Dancing and a taste of burning rum. Which rum? Why, Bacardi, of course! What other? Human castles, of all things. The food, the food. Tomato, garlic, aubergine, red peppers, artichokes, bread, pasta, olive oil, cava wine, beans, chickpeas, mushrooms, pork, mato cheese, poultry, lamb, sardines, anchovies, tuna, and don’t forget the cod. Making wine forever, for 2000 years. Oh come now, you can get this one!

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4 thoughts on “Spot the Language 15”

  1. Wow, that’s my mother tongue, thanks for posting a sample of it!
    Btw, a nice summary/portrait of Catalan society.
    As for the number of speakers, we should consider that without the successive immigration waves from the beginning of the 20th Century onwards, today Catalonia would only have 2,5 or 3 million inhabitants instead of 7. So, considering that Catalonia is not a sovereign country, the intergenerational transmission of the language works quite well in spite of the huge pressure of the Spanish language.
    In fact I can’t think of another minority language (with regard to the dominant and official language of the state) with a similar relative good health. For instance, Galician is still spoken by 3/4 of the population, but intergenerational transmission is beginning to be interrupted: since the 80’s-90’s many Galician-speaking parents only use Spanish with their children, especially in the cities. On the contrary, in Catalonia almost 100% of those who have Catalan as mother tongue use it with their children, no matter if they live in the countryside or in the area of Barcelona. So, although Catalan speakers are a minority in many parts of Barcelona’s metropolitan area (due to immigration from other parts of Spain and, more recently, from abroad), the transmission of the language to the new generations has never ceased (that’s not the case in Valencia, and of course not in Roussillon or Alguer!).
    In Catalonia “old catalans” represent only 40% of the population due to massive immigration. About 1 million of the “new catalans” have adopted Catalan as daily language so that’s why the number of people who actually use the language on a daily basis roughly surpasses 50%.
    Figures are like this:
    Speakers of Catalan at home / Catalan used as the main language in social life (friends, work…)
    Catalunya 45% 51%
    País Valencià 37% 32%
    Illes Balears 44% 41%
    Catalunya Nord 1% 1%
    Andorra 38% 51%
    Franja de Ponent 70% 61%
    L’Alguer 8% 4%
    (source: wikipedia)
    Note that only in Catalonia and Andorra the daily active speakers of Catalan surpass the percentage of speakers who have Catalan as a mother tongue. In the rest of the territories situation is the opposite. So you can guess where the use of the language rises and where it declines. “Franja de Ponent” has a quite high percentage of speakers but it is a mainly rural and sparsely populated area, where Catalan has no official status since it is a part of the Spanish-speaking region of Aragon. In fact in some rural areas of Catalonia the percentage of use of Catalan is above 90%.

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