|
The Education subsector
includes all levels, from the kindergartens to higher and adult education, both public and
private. In this section, where the Autonomous government of Catalonia has all the
competencies in some cases shared with the local councils the written signs
and labels are virtually 100%. On the question of Oral identification [LOI], in this case
the observations were not based telephone calls as in the other ambits but
rather on the language in which classes were given, according to the data supplied by the
Education Department, Rovira i Virgili University and the centres for adult education. The
language of teaching at secondary level, higher or tertiary level and in adult education
are the reason for this indicator being a little lower than others [79%], although still
quite high.
Figure
10. Education
The Health subsector
includes both the public and the private, and while the Autonomous administration has full
powers here, the mobility of the staff and the proliferation of private clinics, provides
an explanation for the fact that while the signs and labels index scores 94% for
identifying notices [RID] and 96% for Informational notices [RIN], written communications
[WRC] reach only 70% and oral language scores 89%.
Figure
11. Health
8. Conclusions at local level
LOfercat
allows us to obtain specific data and determine specific objectives relating to the
sociolinguistic situation, which can then be used to programme actions to further language
normalisation in the light of the existing situation and giving priority to the most
deficient sectors.
When we
compare the Tarragona results with those of the other areas where Ofercat has been used we
find an intermediate situation, less Catalan than Tremp and Manresa, slightly more than
Lloret de Mar and the Barcelona Old City (Ciutat Vella) and quite considerably more than
the Barcelona suburb of Santa Coloma de Gramenet. If we analyse the results by sectors, we
will see that the Tarragona results are noticeably less than those of Manresa and Tremp in
two specific sectors: Public administration and Economy, and slightly so in the realm of
Society and Leisure. Where the Public Administration factor is concerned, the results here
that bring down the mean index score are Central Government and the Courts and court
offices which, given that Tarragona is the Provincial capital, are present in force. In
contrast, the rest of the settlements where Ofercat has been applied (with the exception
of Barcelona's Ciutat Vella), the predominant administration is local government, while
the other levels of administration are scarcely present or not present at all.
Given the
results of the study, now is the time to take advantage of them, and use them as a guide
for future actions and future campaigns to increase normalisation in the municipal area of
Tarragona. The work of the Centre for Language Normalisation of Tarragona (CNLT) will need
to orientate its work over the upcoming years to correcting the shortfalls and weak points
that the study has revealed. Of course the staff need be aware of the areas which are
strictly their area of competence, and the areas which are the competence of other bodies
working to the same end.
By sectors, Local
administration is the only level of government at which the Consortium for Language
Normalisation (CPNL) has powers, and the results of the study show very clearly the work
done since the CPNL was set up, in 1989, with an average of 96%, indicating that it is a
sector that is completely language normalised. Regional government (i.e. of the
Autonomous region of Catalonia) scores 98% and has its own network of language
normalisation, so that the CPNL has no need to intervene. As for the other two
administrative levels, the State (central government) and Justice (the law
courts) with 52% and 41%, respectively), we see here that there is a clear need to
intervene, although the sectors lie outside CNLT's area of operation.
The
Economy and Society and leisure sectors are those where the CPNL
can intervene, and, given the results they register (66% and 73% mean score,
respectively), it is evident that action by the CNLT over the coming years has to
concentrate, above all on the Economy sector, which is slightly below the average for
Tarragona (68%). In fact, in the fourteen years of CPNL's existence, the work carried out
by the area of Dinamització i Assessorament (Vitalisation and consultancy) has aimed
efforts mainly at these two areas and we imagine that without those efforts the indices in
these two sectors would be lower. But there is still work to do, and it would be good if
in the future second observation, the score obtained by Economy were to reach at least the
overall mean level for the city.
Of the three
remaining sectors or subsectors, the Media, Education and Health, the
CNLT can intervene in the first, but only where the companies in question are local and,
in this case it does intervene actively. But it can do little to influence the linguistic
decisions of other companies where they have opted for one languge or the other.
The other two
subsectors achieve indices of 90% and 89%, respectively, so that they are not priority
areas for intervention.
Rosa
Ibarz Meler
Director of the CNL at Tarragona
ribarz@cpnl.cat
Enric
Garriga Martí
Technician for Revitalisation of the CNL at Tarragona
egarriga@cpnl.cat |