The Pilot Plans for increasing knowledge and use of the Catalan language implemented by the Generalitat of Catalonia (Catalonia Autonomous Government) via theSecretariat for Language Policy and the Consortium for Language Normalization, are currently in operation, over the period September 2004-December 2005 in sevenmunicipal areas of Catalonia –Badalona, Banyoles, Lleida, Manlleu, Reus, Ulldecona and Vic. The objective: to make Catalan the vehicular language, the language common to all those living in Catalonia and a means of social integration. Once the necessary corrections have been applied, the experience will serve as a model that can be subsequently extended, in gradual fashion, to other localities.

Summary

1. Introduction

2. Aims and objectives of the Pilot plans for increasing knowledge and use of the Catalan language

3. Principles of action and basic ideas which will encourage application of the plans

4. Municipal areas and criteria for selection

5. Organisations participating

6. Reference document for the Pilot Plan for increasing knowledge and use of the Catalan language
6.1. Solinguístic information on the municipal area
6.2. Knowledge of surroundings
6.3. Language teaching
6.4. Activities aimed at injecting dynamism or raising awareness, complementary to the Catalan language teaching courses
6.4.1. The added value of being familiar with the environment
6.4.2. Supporting the "Volunteers for Language" programme
6.4.3. Call fer awareness and for careful consideration of the linguistic attitudes adopted by the local born people with respect to newcomers
6.5. Timing
6.6. Human resources
6.7. Participant organisations and institutions
6.8. Budget allocation and finances

7. Evaluation

8. Conclusions, consequences, plan viability

1. Introduction

The government of the Generalitat of Catalonia is currently developing a strategic plan on language policy. The Strategic Plan lays down:

• The 2004-2005 Plan of Action for the Secretariat for Language Policy, which is an advance of the plan of measures for immediate application. In one of the areas covered by the Plan, a series of Pilot Plans are established, aimed at increasing knowledge and use of Catalan, 2004-2005.

• Plans of the various departments in their respective areas of competence: These will be steadily set in motion in coordination with the Secretariat for Language Policy.

The general aims and objectives outlined in the 2004-2005 Plan of Action of the Secretariat for Language Policy, and with direct application in the above-mentioned 2004-2005 Pilot Plans, are as follows:

1. Guarantee access to knowledge of Catalan for the entire population.
   Everyone has to be able to learn Catalan.
   
2. Foster and encourage interpersonal use of Catalan.
   Get those who know Catalan to speak Catalan.
   
3. Guarantee the right of all citizens to use.
   All those who want to use Catalan must be able to do so without feeling uncomfortable, and must know that the Administration supports citizens who want to live their lives in Catalan.

One of the areas of operation of the 2004-2005 Plan of Action is that of immigration and one of the specific lines of action planned here is the application of the Pilot Plans for increasing knowledge and use of the Catalan language. These plans establish a set of directives and political and economic measures, which will be implemented by the Secretariat for Language Policy together with the Consortium for Language Normalization in accordance with a series of objectives, planning, modus operandi, evaluative indicators, etc. over a delimited period of time, in specific towns and cities. The objective, as we have said, will be that ensuring that Catalan can be spoken as the vehicular language of all those living in Catalonia. On the basis of relevant analyses, objectives will be fixed and activities will be specified together with the means for achieving the objectives.

This is in accordance with the directives established by the 2004-2005 Language Policy Plan of Action, on political and economic measures to be taken by the Generalitat of Catalonia and the city councils directly involved. Participating in the plans are the various departments of the Generalitat and the councils, together with the Consortium for Language Normalisation, immigrants’ associations, newcomers and host communities... with the objective of making Catalan the vehicular language of all those who come to live in our country, the way forward to social inclusion along with the right to knowledge of the language of our country.

Given the impossibility of applying the directives and measures proposed in this plan across the board, the objective is to try the experiment out initially inseven municipal areas, so that each in its own context will be able to experience the proposals, the actions... and so that, once the necessary corrections have been carried out, the latter will be able to serve as a model which can subsequently be extended to other localities.

2. Aims and objectives of the Pilot plans for increasing knowledge and use of the Catalan language

The aims and objectives here are:

1. Set up coordination and cooperation with all entities and organisations in each of the areas taking part.
   
2. Facilitate learning of the language in the case of newcomers to Catalonia, in a coordinated way, coordinating between the local government administrations and other bodies in the corresponding territories.
   
3. Try out new ideas for organisation and action, complement training and education with knowledge of the culture and the environment, incorporate new technologies in language teaching and extend the use of language voluntary workers.
   
4. Propagatethe ideas and experiences referred to in the previous section such that, once necessary adjustments have been carried out, they will serve as a model that can be extended to other localities.
   
5. Cover the basic training needs.

3. Principles of action and basic ideas which will encourage application of the plans

The basic, fundamental principles that will encourage the actions planned and programmed within these projects are the following:

• The effort of learning a language and making use of it, should not fall solely on the shoulders of those who come to live in our country,but should be conceived as a great collective task which demands the mobilisation and complicity of the whole of society.

• A language is much more than a means of transmitting information. A language is also a means of identification and of characterisation of one’s personality and way of being and doing of a given community sharing many things. The language makes it possible for a person to integrate into a community without having to relinquish their individual traits and characteristics and way of being. These two aspects of language, having to do respectively with communication and identity are absolutely inseparable. For that reason, transmission of a language to new speakers, to be effective, needs to be affective. That is, it has to achieve a certain degree of adhesionand identification of the learner with the linguistic community whose language is being learned.

4. Municipal areas and criteria for selection

The local government areas where the plans are being put into effect are Badalona, Banyoles, Lleida, Manlleu, Reus, Ulldecona and Vic. Five of these municipalities–Badalona, Lleida, Manlleu, Reus and Vic- belong to the network set up by the Consortium for Language Normalisation.

Table 1. Badalona. Origin of those born outside Spain

Almost a third of the non-foreign born population were born outside Catalonia. Badalona is one of the areas where there is a considerable concentration of migrants from the rest of Spain who arrived in the sixties and seventies. According to data from the 2001 Language Census, 40%of the population claim not to speak Catalan, and8.5% say they do not understand it.

It is worthwhile noting that, according to the census, people from 103 countries are settled there, although there are three main groups of immigrants with cultures and languages other than Spanish or Catalan: those from Morocco, 4.566,from China 2,827, and from India and Pakistan, 3,018. Central and South Americans make up 29% of those born outside the State of Spain.

Furthermore, the counties of Barcelona are where the Asian born population is concentrated, constituting 10% of the total.

Table 2. Banyoles. Origin of those born outside Spain

Banyoles is the town with the highest illiteracy rate in the Province of Girona (41% of immigrants cannot read or write, and 20% had no schooling at all). Most immigrants are from Africa especially sub Saharan Africa, although there is also a sizable group from Colombia in South America. There is also a considerable number from Eastern Europe .

Table 3. Lleida. Origin of those born outside Spain

Those born outside Spain who live in the city of Lleida belong to no less than 146 different nationalities. Some 56% of the total are men and 43.1% are women. Over the course of 2003 immigration into the area increased by 33.8%. Male immigrants are concentrated in the age range 31 to 35, and women in the age range 26 to 30. Taking the overall immigrant population on the census role, we find that the largest group are from North Africa: 16.3% from Morocco, and 6.4% from Algeria. Of the South American born, the greater proportion are from Colombia, at 9.1%, and Ecuador at 5.9%. Notably, Rumanians make up 8.1% of the total.

Over half the immigrant population in the city (52.4%) are concentrated in just four neighbourhoods: Centre Històric (OldCity) (22.5%), Príncep de Viana-Clot (12.6%), Universitat (9.6%) and Balàfia (7.7%).

Table 4. Manlleu. Origin of those born outside Spain

Manlleu is an administrative area that already had a large percentage of inhabitants who had been born outside Catalonia. It now has a high proportion of immigrants, especially Berbers from Morocco with Amazigh language and cultural identity, although currently these seem to take little cultural pride in the language and culture. The immigrant population is mainly concentrated in the so-called Can Garcia high rise buildings.