Table 1: Why do you think that your
company seldom or never uses Catalan in these areas?
Reasons |
Never |
Seldom or
sometimes |
Spanish is the habitual language of
clients and the market |
33.9 |
26.8 |
Spanish is the habitual language of
the company |
31.4 |
24.1 |
Bilingualism (use of both languages) |
9.5 |
8.8 |
International markets and clients |
7.7 |
6.1 |
Lack of knowledge of Catalan |
6.2 |
4.2 |
Routine/convenience of using Spanish |
5.5 |
5.0 |
Services offered in Spanish |
2.9 |
- |
Logistical issues |
1.5 |
1.1 |
Deals with civil service or
bureaucratic state organizations |
1.5 |
1.1 |
Freedom of language and lack of
guidelines on language |
0.7 |
0.8 |
Other |
2.9 |
2.7 |
Didn’t know/answer |
4.0 |
25.7 |
Basis (never or seldom/sometimes use
Catalan) |
274 |
261 |
spontaneous
multiple choice
Managers of
CECOT companies believe that the use of Catalan in their companies does not cause internal
complications and improves client relationships.
Firstly, 75.5%
of businessmen and women strongly or somewhat disagreed that the use of Catalan in their
companies leads to stock management complications. Secondly, seven out of ten CECOT
companies rejected the notion that the use of Catalan entails increased production costs
(71.8% strongly or somewhat disagreed) and causes logistic complications (70.8% strongly
or somewhat disagreed). Thirdly, two out of three business managers rejected the notion
that the use of Catalan increases the cost of product referencing (68.3% strongly or
somewhat disagreed) and a similar proportion considered that the use of Catalan
facilitates communication with clients (66.8% agreed strongly or to some extent) and
increases client satisfaction (63.8 agreed strongly or to some extent).
Lastly,
managers of CECOT companies are somewhat divided as to whether the use of Catalan in their
company improves their brand image and offers commercial advantages. Although 52.8% of
CECOT companies agreed strongly or to some extent with the idea that the use of Catalan
improves brand image, 21.3% believed the opposite. Moreover, 45.1% considered that the use
of Catalan offers commercial advantages for companies in themselves, whereas 24.8%
rejected this notion.
4.3. Plans to increase the use of Catalan
Almost two in
three companies have no intentions of increasing their use of Catalan in the immediate
future. The main reasons for this rejection of a possible increase in Catalan are that
Catalan is already the habitual language; therefore, its current level of use is adequate
and an increase is not considered necessary. On the other hand, a number of managers
affirmed that there would be no increase in the use of Catalan because it was not in the
company’s interest; moreover, these companies were accustomed, both internally and
externally, to the use of Spanish.
However, one
in four companies aimed to increase the current level of Catalan use in the short-term,
whereas 9.3% did not express their opinion. This intended increase in use is motivated by
the desire of companies to defend and promote Catalan and to respond to the growing
demands of society and markets for use of this language.
5. Evaluation of the Language Policy
5.1. Awareness and feasibility of agreements
A.
CECOT Agreement
Only 6% of the managers whom we surveyed were aware of the agreements signed between the
Consorci per a la Normalització Lingüística and CECOT, while 93.4% were oblivious to
these. Of those aware of the agreements, optimism regarding their application was
moderate, given the strong presence of the Spanish language and culture in both the
general market and among their direct clients.
B.
Trade-association agreements
Knowledge of the signatory companies of the agreement between the Centre per a la
Normalització Lingüística and their trade association was 4.1. Once again, the general
consensus is that the agreement is moderately feasible due to the importance of the
Catalan language within the company and the interest that this agreement holds for both
parties.
Industry had a
greater knowledge than the services sector of the agreements signed with their trade
association. However, both the construction and commerce sectors were unaware of such an
agreement. |
