divendres, 19 de desembre del 2008

Reason 14: MORE SPANIARDS THAT ARE AGAINST CATALAN LANGUAGE


It is difficult to imagine. But please try: Imagine being in a plane of Swiss air to Barcelona. When landing the welcome message and information is given in English, German, Spanish and then Catalan. What problem should that be for passengers who don’t speak Catalan? Non. As a matter of fact, most of the passengers will not understand one of the other languages either.

But still, there seem to be passengers (if we believe what Swiss air says) that have complained because the Catalan language was used in the plane.

I find it very, very difficult to imagine. That someone has so much hatred towards Catalan language, that someone finds it so irritating that the Catalan language is being used that he/she takes pen and paper to make a letter of complaint to Swiss air.
I also find it very difficult to understand how on earth an airline company listens to this people.
If you don’t understand Catalan, why do you care about it being spoken? What’s the problem? Why does it bother you?

Up till now Swiss air was using English, German, Spanish and Catalan when landing in or taking off from Barcelona. Now they have listened to these Spanish complaints and are doing it only in English, German and Spanish.

The only reason to make such a complaint is hatred. And it really hurts me to see that hatred is being listened to instead of love.
There are no practical reasons to stop using Catalan. When Swiss air lands in Brussels they also use 4 languages, English, French, German and Dutch. And nobody complaints about it.
EVERYBODY HAPPY! Why on earth would one of these communities not be happy with it?
The use of more languages is giving attention to everyone in an equal way. If we don’t speak French when landing in Brussels we are discriminating the French speaking Belgian people. If we don’t speak Dutch when landing in Brussels we are discriminating the Flemish.
Yes, the Flemish understand perfectly French and English and most of them German too, and still it is a matter of saying: You exist, we take care of you, welcome home, welcome to your own country.
Catalans understand perfectly Spanish, but it is not my language, and by not speaking in Catalan to me you are saying to me: You don’t exist, you don’t care, we don’t care about you, your language is worthless, you are worthless, fuck you!

So, it is not about respect, it is about hatred. So simple is this.
Here again I have an argument to stand for the independence of Catalonia from Spain.
As you can see, Spain is full of people who deliberately want to boycott us (21% of Madrid citizens boycott Catalan products according to the Spanish paper ABC), to avoid us to exist, to avoid us to participate in international sports competitions, and now who find it irritating that our language is spoken in air planes.
The only way to protect ourselves from people like this is independence.
Original article in Catalan only:
http://www.directe.cat/article/swiss-air-retira-el-catala-dels-seus-vols-per-pressions-dun-afiliat-del-partit-de-rosa-die-11360

9 comentaris:

Anònim ha dit...

Hi,

I came across your blog by chance and I was impressed with it.

I'm currently writing an essay about catalan identity and I was wondering if you can help me? I need to know how many people watch Channel 3 (the catalan channel) Do you know the answer? Or do you know how I can find out, because I can't find it on the net.

Thanks,
Charlotte

Miquel Marzabal Galano ha dit...

Hi!
Impressed? Why?
---
A friend of mine works for TV3.
I'll ask him. He'll know.
Miquel

Miquel Marzabal Galano ha dit...

According to Viquipèdia (Catalan Wikipedia) TV3 is the third most popular channel in Catalonia.
The audience has gone down in the past few year though.
Perhaps because Catalonia, a country with only 6 million inhabitants, got one million immigrants in the past 10 years (now 7 million inhabitants). Obviously the majority of these immigrants do not speak Catalan or do not speak it very good and prefer to watch Spanish TV
(I guess).
The audience has gone down from 21 % to 14% (annual average) in the past years.
If you seek in www.viquipedia.cat and type TV3 you can see the graphic.
Of course it is also watched in Valencia and Balearic islands, but I didn't find any data about the audience in these autonomies.

Anònim ha dit...

Hi,

I'm impressed because you seem to have researched your theory alot and it shows in your blog that you are passionate about this subject.

Thanks for the help with TV3 research,

Charlotte

Miquel Marzabal Galano ha dit...

Thanks!

Jim Morrison ha dit...

That's shocking!
I live in Zurich and flew to Barcelona recently with Swiss air. There were no Catalan announcements (and now I know why) and a Catalan guy behind me politely complained to an attendant saying that there should be announcements in Catalan. The attendant was Swiss and also very polite and said that he would pass on the complaint. I hadn't realised that the original policy was actually to include Catalan. I, like you, find it bizarre that anyone would complain about Catalan being used and even more bizarre that the airline would listen to them.
Anyway, take it easy,
Jim

Miquel Marzabal Galano ha dit...

Hola Jim,
I will take it easy, thanks. I won't fly Swiss air not to get frustrated.
Vueling and Clickair are great price fighters who do use Catalan on board.
They make me feel I exist.
That's the only thing I am asking from any company doing business in Catalonia.
Best regards.

YeomanDroid ha dit...

Almost the same issue for Aranese. It really is about suppression of their identity in Spain. We have the same issue in the United States where the English language is widely spoken but everybody "thinks" it is the official language; there is no official language in the United States. We are a melting pot of immigrants from all over the world and should respect each other's cultures and languages. Spain and France should do the same!

YeomanDroid ha dit...

The same issue is happening with Aranese. No official recognition, however, the State of Catalonia does recognize it. No wonder why Spain has so many issues, nobody respects the local cultures or regional identities. Really sad because the loss of that identity is a loss in capital for tourism and gastronomy.