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unique case in Europe, Catalan is the most spoken language among
regions without the structure of a state. It is represented
by 11 million speakers in Spain, Andorra, France and Italy.
It is the 13th European language with regards to importance
– coming before Portuguese, Greek, Bulgarian and Czech, and
it is even two times more spoken than Danish. Catalan is taught
in more than a hundred universities throughout the world, available
on an international television channel and it is strongly represented
on the Internet where search engines exist in Catalan.
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In
North Catalonia Catalan enjoys strong levels of understanding:
63% of the population understands it to different degrees and
42% know how to speak it (140 000 people). Its’ popularity is
progressing rapidly: 78% of residents wish that Catalan was
accessible to all, 56% are in favour of teaching Catalan to
children. The emotional tie with the language affected 74% of
the population and its’ worth for integration in the workplace
was recognised by 59% (Poll by Média Pluriel, Méditerranée
– 1998). The strength of these statistics can be explained by
the events of the 20th Century. At the beginning of that century
Catalan was spoken among the residents of this region – it was
an indispensable condition for all forms of social life – and
a number of people spoke only Catalan. At this time Catalan
enjoyed normality without negative connotations. However, education
sanctions on the language, World War II and the changing times
in the 1960s saw French take over as the popular language. Catalan
was increasing devalued by negative stereotypes until its image
was improved by the widespread rediscovery of South Catalonia
in the wake of the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona.
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