Acceso usuarios
Josep María Pons i Guri
Following a first part in which the situation of Catalan language in Catalonia from its origins to the present date is briefly presented, the second part of this article focuses primarily on the situation of Catalan at the University of Barcelona. This university was one of the first public institutions where the Catalan language was declared official after the end of Franco's regime and in practically two decades it has achieved major progress towards its normalization. Catalan is at present the official language at the UB and, together with Castillian, they constitute the two working languages.During the 1992-93 academic year, 61'1 % of the teaching was given in Catalan. These data show that a wider presence of Catalan language in class has positive repercussions, in the students' opinion. The Linguistic Policy Commission assignment is to promote the normalization of the Catalan language in the academic and administrative fields. The Catalan language service was created in 1988 in order to provide technical support to the linguistic normalization throughout different services: linguistic advice, terminology, documentation, linguistic training and sociolinguistic services. Linguistic policy at the UB has been amalgamating and has been based on achieving maximum consensus in the decision-making progress. Its aim has been to promote linguistic rights of the university community members and to act in coordination with other universities in the Catalan-speaking territories. These principles have been a major help in preventing potential conflicts and have had the support of the vast majority of the university community. Despite all the challenges that are still facing Catalan language -and those that may yet arise- there are reasons to look at the future with confidence.
