
NPLD » Activating municipal language policies at the First Conference on Language Policy in the Municipalities
Activating municipal language policies at the First Conference on Language Policy in the Municipalities
The Department of Language Policy and the Consortium for Language Normalisation (CPNL) held the First Conference on Language Policy in the Municipalities at the Teatre La Unió in Sant Cugat del Vallès on the 17th of January. This event brought together mayors and councillors from more than a hundred Catalan cities to analyse how to position Catalan as a core element in city council policies. Minister for Language Policy, F. Xavier Vila, highlighted the crucial role of city councils in implementing language policies to ensure the preservation, promotion and normalisation of Catalan public spaces.
Speaking at the event, Minister for Language Policy, F. Xavier Vila stated how councils can act in three areas:
- Incorporating a language perspective in contracts and concessions of municipal services, such as guided activities, fairs and major festivals.
- Promoting the use of Catalan in local commerce, within the municipal competences.
- Establishing tax incentives for good language practices.
During this speech, the Minister emphasised the particularly important role of city councils in creating spaces such as kindergartens, libraries, children and youth film series, extracurricular and sports activities, children and youth camps and leisure activities.
Additionally, Gemma Vázquez the manager of CPNL also participated in this conference, stating that to promote Catalan there needs to be collaboration between city councils and the CPNL to gain more active speakers of Catalan. Furthermore, Vázquez used this conference to announce a new point in the CPNL General Action Plan specifically dedicated to Catalan at local level. This new addition includes supporting city councils in adopting Catalan as their working language, incorporating a language perspective into municipal contracts and promoting municipal language plans.
This conference provided the opportunity for participants to learn about successful examples across Catalonia to promote active speakers of the language. Girona City Council presented its project to guarantee the presence of Catalan at the Sant Narcís fairs, Barcelona City Council presented a campaign to encourage reading in Catalan among newly arrived children and their families. Other examples included the creation of a language department in Sant Cugat, the implementation of local working groups in Montcada and the promotion of strategic plans in Lleida.
The conference closed with the mayor of Sant Cugat del Vallès, Josep M. Vallès, and Minister Vila, reiterating the need to work together to consolidate Catalan’s use across Catalonia and developing more active speakers.
Minister Vila concluded the conference by aptly summarising the discussions:
“Today we have shared a brainstorming of ideas and experiences that will help relaunch the municipal language policy and work for the country we are building. If some municipal initiatives are not successful, no problem, we must work with a trial-and-error strategy and discard what does not work, so as not to indulge in lament. There are plenty of ideas and initiatives, and we must get them going from a transversal perspective.”
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