Speaking In Tongues

Hackneyed cliché time – education is a political football. No more so than in Mallorca where the language of education is as much a part of the political keepy-uppy as the curriculum.

The Partido Popular (PP), which enjoys something of a polls lead in Mallorca ahead of the general election in March, has said that it will make castellano (Castilian, or Spanish if you prefer) the language of education, regardless of location. It has also said that it will introduce English learning from age three. The electorate has more pressing concerns than which language is to be used to teach its children, but it is a subject that has the power to divide more than most.

In Mallorca, where Catalan dominates the educational scene, there is the additional complication that Mallorquín lays claim to its own status as a language. Far from everyone will accept that Mallorquín is merely a variant of Catalan. In some respects it isn’t. A Catalan speaker from Barcelona struggles with Mallorquín, not just because of the accent but also because elements of the local language are different. Even something as basic as the definite article is different. In Catalan, the masculine and feminine “the” is “el” and “la”, the same as Castilian; in Mallorquín, it is “es” and “sa”. In Mallorca, it isn’t a simple (!) case of reconciling the educational claims and needs of two languages – Castilian and Catalan – but of three.

Regional autonomy and also respect for regional languages, suppressed under Franco, have been things of Spanish democracy since the end of the dictatorship, but both have opened cans of worms, albeit for laudable reasons. Standardisation of education may make sense for centralist-minded politicians, but it creates tensions because of the decentralisation of institutions. They are essentially incompatible. The PP may yet win the election and press ahead with its Castilian-first philosophy. It would win a lot of supporters among those who find it absurd that the national language should not have primacy. The problem is that there are plenty who disagree that Castilian is the national language. And education is the battlefield, or should that be playing-field?

And while on language, elsewhere I saw something about Spanish politeness or rudeness as they are expressed through language – Castilian in this case. It was said that “gracias” and “por favor” were not generally used, certainly not to the extent that the British would use “thank you” or “please”. In the case of “por favor”, this is generally true, but with “gracias” it is not. In shops, for instance, it is the norm for a checkout person or assistant to say “gracias” as they hand over change. I don’t find or believe that the usage is any less than would be usual in Britain with “thank you”. As to the lack of “por favor”, this is not, as is claimed, a function of grammar negating its necessity. It is not used because it is not used. No more difficult than that. In French, there is similar disinclination to use “s’il vous plaît”. It has nothing to do with grammar, it is convention. Say to a waiter, “tomo un café” (I’ll have a coffee), the “por favor” is superfluous unless you really want to use it. It is not rude, it is just convention.


QUIZ
Yesterday – What else but “Vienna”, Ultravox. Today’s title – album by? (American, innovative, have been “quizzed” here before.)

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