Sorry to say so, but it's not surprising to find that it was the Independent that carried this piece of "news". I've never known a newspaper so notorious for getting things wrong and failing to understand anything outside English - or even London...
As already pointed out, almost everything in the article is false. The situation of countries or regions where some people not being able to go to school in their own language is, unfortunately, the rule rather than the exception. Not so in Catalonia, however, it's perfectly fine to go to shool in Spanish there. This is just another cheap shot at Spain's regional languages and an ignorant English paper all too happy to publish whatever controversy they might find without bothering to check its accuracy.
#10 -- "almost everything in the article is false." So you're saying that Mr. Salvador never said the things attributed to him? And that Clarín never interviewed him? And that he isn't the deputy director of the Royal Academy? And that the Royal Academy isn't the leading linguistic body in Spain? That democracy was not restored in 1978? That Catalonia was not granted more autonomy? That Artur Mas is not leader of Convegencia y Union? That that is not a conservative party? That Mas didn't say that Salvador's remarks were an insult to Catalonia that exhibitied little common sense?
If you're saying that what Salvador said is false, then your quarrel is with Salvador, not with the Independent for reporting his remarks accurately.
I agree that the Independent's characterization of the Royal Academy as the equivalent of the OUP indicates a lack of understanding of what the OED is about.
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<hr>If you're saying that what Salvador said is false, then your quarrel is with Salvador, not with the Independent for reporting his remarks accurately.<hr></blockquote>
Or, perhaps, with the way they reported it. Journalism is all about attracting people to pay attention to whatever story someone is reporting in the way they report it.
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Vinny,
perhaps what The Independent says is not false, but I think that journalists should ask the other part involved in whatever they're reporting, and publish the response as well. If I (The Independent, The Times, The Wall Street Journal or whatever newspaper) publish an article everyday about what's going on in the United States based, only, on what George W. Bush says to the press without confronting the statements, then I'm giving a partial vision of the facts. THAT you can blame on The Independent, I think.
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<hr> I think that journalists should ask the other part involved in whatever they're reporting, and publish the response as well.<hr></blockquote>Sounds like the last paragraph to me.
I think people criticising the Independent are being distracted by a side issue. Sure, it's not a landmark of great journalism, it's superficial and oversimplified. But the same applies to hundreds of foreign news items that are published in newspapers every day (and Spanish newspapers are just as culpable as UK ones). I don't see the point of getting upset about this particular one. It seems more useful to focus on the substance of Mr Salvador's polemic rather than incidental details of the way it is reported.
The full Clarín interview is here. If anything his views are even more uncompromising in the full interview.
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Alan,
the other side here is not a matter of opinion, it's a fact. He's talking about facts, facts that are not true. This person is lying and they didn't even bother to know whether it's true or not. Their side of the story is that in Catalonia people are banned to use Spanish, that Spanish-native speakers (as myself) are denied to be educated in Spanish, that people here are forced to speak Catalan. They keep repeating these lies in order to make them true. Why? Because it sells outside of Catalonia. What are the real facts, then? That none of those things are true. People here grow up learning two languages. I am, according to these people, one of those kids unable to learn Spanish at school. I speak now both languages with no problem, as ALL of my friends do. I have friends with whom I speak Spanish and friends with whom I speak Catalan, and I have no problem with that. Sure I make mistakes in both languages, but I can tell you that I don't make more mistakes in Spanish than someone from Madrid, Seville or Bogotá.
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<hr>I think people criticising the Independent are being distracted by a side issue. Sure, it's not a landmark of great journalism, it's superficial and oversimplified. But the same applies to hundreds of foreign news items that are published in newspapers every day (and Spanish newspapers are just as culpable as UK ones). I don't see the point of getting upset about this particular one.<hr></blockquote>
I don't think there is any side issue here that distract us - and I'm not criticising UK papers at all, but rather journals in general.
On the other hand, it does bother me that people in other countries get things wrong about Spain or the Hispanic culture as a whole. I don't like it when I read wrong stuff about foreign countries in Spanish newspapers either. :)
#2
Learning Welsh in Britain? Easy as. All children in Wales are obliged to study Welsh until the age of 15/16, and there are Welsh-medium primary and secondary schools throughout the principality, as well as Welsh-medium university education at two universities. I don't see your point- for sure there are areas where language policy could be improved, but in terms of the education system there are no problems for Welsh speakers to be educated in their own language in Wales. Yes, for sure in areas where Welsh speakers are less than 5% of the population, they may have to travel a bit go go to school in the morning, but the same thing applies for English speakers in Gwynedd.
As for Irish in Britain- well of course that's difficult. Irish is not an official language in Britain and there is no history of it being used as a first community language here. Why should Irish-medium education be made available in Britain?
And i agree with the posters criticising the Independent for not checking the article- I read it when it came out and was incredulous to say the least.
#18 -- If, as I imagine, #2 meant "the United Kingdom" rather than "the island of Great Britain" when he said "Britain", then there are indeed areas of "Britain" where Irish has a history of being used as a first community language. I don't know know whether #2 is right about the lack of Irish instruction in schools in those areas, though.
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