People in the Spanish province of Catalonia speak Catalan, a regional language.During the long regime of the Spanish fascist dictator Generalissimo Francisco Franco, the Catalan language was suppressed by law. After representative government was restored in 1978, Catalans regained the right to use their own language.
The language law in Catalonia was summarized in a letter to CIT-CAN from the Catalonia department of Culture in Barcelona, quoted here:
"There is no legal or constitutional prohibition on the use, broadcast or display of any language in Catalonia.
The linguistic system of public schools in Catalonia is as follows:
There is no prohibition on the use of Spanish or Catalan in official business documents."
- Up to the age of 7: free choice of the language of teaching (Catalan or Spanish)
- From the age of 8 until the end of secondary studies: bi-lingual teaching (Catalan and Spanish) with a greater proportion of the use of Catalan.
- University: free choice by teaching staff of the language for teaching.
In the autonomous Spanish region of Catalonia, which suffered a complete suppression of its native language for forty years, the language laws are a model of liberality by comparison to those of Quebec, a Canadian province where French has never been suppressed. Castilian, the language of the majority of Spaniards, has not -- and according to the Spanish constitution, cannot -- be suppressed in Catalonia. In Catalonia, Catalan, Spanish, and any other language can be used without restriction in private life.
'Necessity" is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
source ref : http://www.citcan.ca/Other%20countries.htm
