Is not BS it is a synthetic effort from the government? Lol.
Go there and experience it yourself and try to create an objective opinion from it. Another fact, most of the first generation immigrants will learn Spanish way earlier than Catalan, if they ever learn Catalan at all. And I am not saying this is bad, as for practical reasons they will obviously learn the 4th most spoken language in the world before learning a language that is spoken by 7 million people. Besides they know that with Spanish they can communicate with everybody, which is not the case with Catalan.
More rigor and an independent point of view from politicians and media is needed if there is a real will to solve the issue.
This is my reason for learning Spanish yes. It's just so useful in the world. Catalan is useless outside Catalonia.
If they do secede from Spain I will not learn Catalan, I will just leave. I'll probably have to anyway because I assume Spain will force them out of the EU and there's no way the multinational I work for will stay then.
It feels very similar to Ireland where they also use heavy handed methods to keep their language alive but in a globalized world it would hurt them a lot if it were actually needed to live there. So it has to stay this fringe thing. A lot of it is just to pacify the old people that still associate English with the British oppression (which was brutal to be fair)
I assume this will happen to Catalan too, the oppression is just a lot more recent to them. So it's more fresh and alive.
FWIW I'm Dutch and I wouldn't care if my country abolishes Dutch in favor of English. I view language as a means of communication, not cultural identity. And as such being able to communicate with as many people as possible makes a language more valuable.
That was an overwhelmingly optimistic article made long long ago. The truth is that not even everyone who got to learn it uses preferently within Catalan speaking regions. Let alone southern France or Alguer (Italy).
Go there and experience it yourself and try to create an objective opinion from it. Another fact, most of the first generation immigrants will learn Spanish way earlier than Catalan, if they ever learn Catalan at all. And I am not saying this is bad, as for practical reasons they will obviously learn the 4th most spoken language in the world before learning a language that is spoken by 7 million people. Besides they know that with Spanish they can communicate with everybody, which is not the case with Catalan.
More rigor and an independent point of view from politicians and media is needed if there is a real will to solve the issue.