Traducción de www.u pyd.es/index.jsp?seccion=5¬icia=8399
There have been growing reasons for worry in recent years with regards to the institutional situation of the Spanish language, which has the sole status of being both the common and official language of all Spanish citizens. Needless to say, this is not a cultural concern – our language enjoys an enviable and growing position of strength worldwide, only surpassed by the Chinese and English languages – but an strictly political concern, namely: its role as the principal language of democratic communication in this country as well as a concern about the educational and civic rights of those who have Spanish as their mother tongue or those that choose it – exercising their rights – as their preferred channel for expression, comprehension and communication.
As a starting point, let's establish the following premises:
1- All languages that are officially recognized as official languages of this country are equally Spanish languages. As such, they deserve to be institutionally protected as shared patrimony. However, the Constitution establishes that just one of them – Spanish – is the common and official language throughout Spain and therefore it enjoys the Constitutional duty of being known and consequently the assumption that all citizens know it.
Henceforth, there is an asymmetry amongst the different official languages, this does not imply an injustice because in Spain there are diverse cultural realities but only one of them is universally official in our democratic state. To have a common political language that is so rich presents important democratic advantages, especially if this language is so deeply rooted in the history of the country and so important worldwide.
2- It is the citizens, not the territories and certainly not the languages, who have linguistic rights. Therefore: the citizens that speak any of the co-official languages of Spain have a right to choose, in their Autonomous Communities , to be educated and be addressed to by the public institutions in any of these languages but said languages do not have the right to coerce citizens into speaking them, neither have these languages the right to impose themselves as the priority option in education, information, store signage, institutions, etc. – in detriment of the Spanish language – let alone trying to hide such a form of linguistic discrimination under treacherous terms such as " linguistic normalization".
3- It is a noble goal to aim for a proficient knowledge of the co-official language by all citizens living in a bilingual Autonomous Community ( whilst it's a duty for all citizens to know the language that is both common to the country and of that Autonomous Community : Spanish); but this goal must be reached through encouragement and not by imposition. It is logical to assume that there will always be many citizens that prefer to use Spanish in their professional and daily life activities, having enough comprehension of the Autonomous Community co-official language as to allow them to live courteously with others and enjoy the cultural activities offered in this language. The fact that certain bilingual Autonomic authorities wish for a maximum degree of bilingual competency does not justify the decree of their Autonomous Community co-official language as the exclusive and pre-eminent channel for education and relations with the public administration. It is worth mentioning that these kind of abusive impositions particularly affect the social and work prospects of the underprivileged by minimizing their options of work mobility countrywide.
4- Article III of the 1978 Spanish Constitution acknowledges that “ the richness of the linguistic modalities of Spain is a cultural patrimony which will be the object of special respect and protection”. There can be no objection towards this generous and just disposition which was inserted to end the prohibitions and restrictions once affecting these languages. Having now amply achieved this objective, it would indeed amount to constitutional fraud and deceit to use this article to justify discrimination, marginalization o belittling within the bilingual Autonomous Communities towards those citizens that are monolingual in Spanish.
Henceforth we, the undersigned, request that the Spanish Parliament approve a law or equivalent legal disposition (which may imply modifications, if deemed necessary, of the Constitution or the Statutes of Autonomy in some of the Autonomous Communities) to unequivocally establish the following points:
1) Spanish language is the common and official language across the Spanish territory, being the sole language whose comprehension can be presumed of all Spanish citizens.
2) Irrespective of their mother tongue, all Spanish citizens have the right to be educated in Spanish. In bilingual Autonomous Communities, the co-official language must be part of the curriculum in varying degrees , but will never be the only language used in education. In any case, full knowledge of the common language, Spanish, will always be guaranteed for all students.
3) Spanish citizens have the right to be addressed to in any of the two official languages by the bilingual Autonomous Community's public administration. This implies that there will always be civil servants capable of communicating in any of the two languages, not that all civil servants will be capable of communicating in both languages. On shops and non-public businesses, the communication with clients in one or both languages will be discretional, being said businesses free to communicate in whichever language they wish.
4) It is recommended that on bilingual Communities, all road signs, official buildings signage, administrative communications, citizenry information, etc. be written in both languages; in any case these will not be written solely and exclusively in the Autonomous Community co-official language.
5) All political representatives , being from Central Government or from any of the Autonomic Communities will use the Spanish language when performing their institutional functions nationwide as well as when performing these abroad, save on very specific situations. Those political representatives in Parliaments within bilingual Autonomous Communities will be entitled to use any of the two official languages.
Signatories: Mario Vargas Llosa, José Antonio de la Marina, Aurelio Arteta, Félix de Azúa, Albert Boadella, Carlos Castilla del Pino, Luis Alberto de Cuenca, Arcadi Espada, Alberto González Troyano, Antonio Lastra, Carmen Iglesias, Carlos Martínez Gorriarán, José Luis Pardo, Alvaro Pombo, Ramón Rodríguez, José María Ruiz Soroa, Fernando Savater.
There have been growing reasons for worry in recent years with regards to the institutional situation of the Spanish language, which has the sole status of being both the common and official language of all Spanish citizens. Needless to say, this is not a cultural concern – our language enjoys an enviable and growing position of strength worldwide, only surpassed by the Chinese and English languages – but an strictly political concern, namely: its role as the principal language of democratic communication in this country as well as a concern about the educational and civic rights of those who have Spanish as their mother tongue or those that choose it – exercising their rights – as their preferred channel for expression, comprehension and communication.
As a starting point, let's establish the following premises:
1- All languages that are officially recognized as official languages of this country are equally Spanish languages. As such, they deserve to be institutionally protected as shared patrimony. However, the Constitution establishes that just one of them – Spanish – is the common and official language throughout Spain and therefore it enjoys the Constitutional duty of being known and consequently the assumption that all citizens know it.
Henceforth, there is an asymmetry amongst the different official languages, this does not imply an injustice because in Spain there are diverse cultural realities but only one of them is universally official in our democratic state. To have a common political language that is so rich presents important democratic advantages, especially if this language is so deeply rooted in the history of the country and so important worldwide.
2- It is the citizens, not the territories and certainly not the languages, who have linguistic rights. Therefore: the citizens that speak any of the co-official languages of Spain have a right to choose, in their Autonomous Communities , to be educated and be addressed to by the public institutions in any of these languages but said languages do not have the right to coerce citizens into speaking them, neither have these languages the right to impose themselves as the priority option in education, information, store signage, institutions, etc. – in detriment of the Spanish language – let alone trying to hide such a form of linguistic discrimination under treacherous terms such as " linguistic normalization".
3- It is a noble goal to aim for a proficient knowledge of the co-official language by all citizens living in a bilingual Autonomous Community ( whilst it's a duty for all citizens to know the language that is both common to the country and of that Autonomous Community : Spanish); but this goal must be reached through encouragement and not by imposition. It is logical to assume that there will always be many citizens that prefer to use Spanish in their professional and daily life activities, having enough comprehension of the Autonomous Community co-official language as to allow them to live courteously with others and enjoy the cultural activities offered in this language. The fact that certain bilingual Autonomic authorities wish for a maximum degree of bilingual competency does not justify the decree of their Autonomous Community co-official language as the exclusive and pre-eminent channel for education and relations with the public administration. It is worth mentioning that these kind of abusive impositions particularly affect the social and work prospects of the underprivileged by minimizing their options of work mobility countrywide.
4- Article III of the 1978 Spanish Constitution acknowledges that “ the richness of the linguistic modalities of Spain is a cultural patrimony which will be the object of special respect and protection”. There can be no objection towards this generous and just disposition which was inserted to end the prohibitions and restrictions once affecting these languages. Having now amply achieved this objective, it would indeed amount to constitutional fraud and deceit to use this article to justify discrimination, marginalization o belittling within the bilingual Autonomous Communities towards those citizens that are monolingual in Spanish.
Henceforth we, the undersigned, request that the Spanish Parliament approve a law or equivalent legal disposition (which may imply modifications, if deemed necessary, of the Constitution or the Statutes of Autonomy in some of the Autonomous Communities) to unequivocally establish the following points:
1) Spanish language is the common and official language across the Spanish territory, being the sole language whose comprehension can be presumed of all Spanish citizens.
2) Irrespective of their mother tongue, all Spanish citizens have the right to be educated in Spanish. In bilingual Autonomous Communities, the co-official language must be part of the curriculum in varying degrees , but will never be the only language used in education. In any case, full knowledge of the common language, Spanish, will always be guaranteed for all students.
3) Spanish citizens have the right to be addressed to in any of the two official languages by the bilingual Autonomous Community's public administration. This implies that there will always be civil servants capable of communicating in any of the two languages, not that all civil servants will be capable of communicating in both languages. On shops and non-public businesses, the communication with clients in one or both languages will be discretional, being said businesses free to communicate in whichever language they wish.
4) It is recommended that on bilingual Communities, all road signs, official buildings signage, administrative communications, citizenry information, etc. be written in both languages; in any case these will not be written solely and exclusively in the Autonomous Community co-official language.
5) All political representatives , being from Central Government or from any of the Autonomic Communities will use the Spanish language when performing their institutional functions nationwide as well as when performing these abroad, save on very specific situations. Those political representatives in Parliaments within bilingual Autonomous Communities will be entitled to use any of the two official languages.
Signatories: Mario Vargas Llosa, José Antonio de la Marina, Aurelio Arteta, Félix de Azúa, Albert Boadella, Carlos Castilla del Pino, Luis Alberto de Cuenca, Arcadi Espada, Alberto González Troyano, Antonio Lastra, Carmen Iglesias, Carlos Martínez Gorriarán, José Luis Pardo, Alvaro Pombo, Ramón Rodríguez, José María Ruiz Soroa, Fernando Savater.
