Independentists win in Belgium

Belgium took another step down the road of separation, with the New Flemish Alliance winning the largest number of seats in the election yesterday.

There is a somewhat similar history of language imposition to Catalunya, since the French speakers ran the country for the first 100 years after independence in 1830. Now the Flemish-speakers are back with a vengeance, ready to “protect” their language at any cost.

A major flashpoint centers around several predominantly French speaking suburbs around Brussels (which is in the Dutch speaking northern part of the country).

Many of the same kind of stupid stories I’ve heard here repeat themselves there:

Mayor Francis Vermeiren is determined to uphold Flemishness. All visitors to the town hall must bring an interpreter if they don't speak Dutch, as staff are banned from speaking another language

[…]

Some who are learning Dutch feel they could be made to feel more welcome in Zaventem. Souhaila, a 16-year-old student, says her native French is banned from the school grounds.

"If they catch us speaking French in playground they tell us to stop. If we continue we get a detention. This bothers me," she says.

The irony that much of the wealth of Belgium has come as a side-effect of being the capital of a more united Europe is apparently lost on the now richer Flemish speaking part.

Catalan and parking fines

Article 138 of the traffic act mandates that written directions of traffic signs be written at a minimum in Castilian.

Las indicaciones escritas que se incluyan o acompañen a los paneles de señalización de las vías públicas, e inscripciones, figurarán en idioma castellano y, además, en la lengua oficial de la comunidad autónoma reconocida en el respectivo estatuto de autonomía, cuando la señal esté ubicada en el ámbito territorial de dicha comunidad.

The information written to include or accompany the marking of roads, and inscriptions, shall appear in Castilian and also in the official language of the autonomous community according to the statute of autonomy, when the sign is located in the territory of that community.

According to the right wing newspaper ABC (which always writes these kind of stories in a very gloating tone), Barcelona city council is annulling any fines that are appealed for linguistic reasons. (I assume this is to avoid losing in court and establishing a precedent)

This is especially handy in downtown Sant Cugat, since this means I no longer have to worry about getting tickets with my shortcuts through no entry "excepte veïns" zones.

Spanish word of the day: el sidecar

Definition: A one-wheeled car for a single passenger, attached to the side of a motorcycle.

Pronounced: see-de-car

English loan words in Spanish

As bad as the American reputation for pronouncing foreign words, it's definitely surpassed here in Spain. If you come here from the US, you need to re-learn your English pronunciation in order for people to know what the hell you are talking about.

My favorite experience so far is asking in a pharmacy for Vics Vapor Rub. No one seemed familiar with it, so I described what it is, and all of a sudden a light went on.

"Ah! beeks bapor rue! beeks bapor rue!"

It's quite well known here apparently. But you have to pronounce it as if it was a Spanish word.

The Catalan Language Police

You know it's a bad sign when you live somewhere that has a language police. Did you know that stores get fined if they don't have all their signage in Catalan? It's even gotten to the point where you get a fine if someone walks into your store and you don't have anyone who speaks Catalan on staff to help them.

The new education law goes even further and tries to deputize kids into reporting any instance of Spanish usage that might be happening at school. There are even schools that try to forbid any Spanish being spoken in the playground.

Culturally, the government has a blanket prohibition on funding anything not in Catalan. We went to play the other day (Pinocchio), which of course was in Catalan. Pepito Grillo (Jiminy Cricket) comes on stage and explains that from now on, he will be known as Pep el Grill, because otherwise he wouldn’t get any money from the government.

All the parents cracks up.