This April marks the 40th anniversary of the enactment of the Balearic Islands' Law on Linguistic Normalization, modeled after similar laws passed a few years earlier (1983) in Catalonia and Valencia (the latter known as the 'Law on the Use and Teaching of Valencian'). It seemed a major step forward in promoting the islands' own language, Catalan, as the language of normal use in all areas of society, after more than two centuries of marginalization and 40 years of fierce political persecution. Indeed, the law's approval fostered this hope among all sectors of society concerned about the issue, who expected that from that moment on, the attitude of institutions and society in general towards the language would change. We had a Statute of Autonomy that allowed for decisive and sustained action in favor of the language, if the will was there, and we now had the legal tool to do so. Forty years after the law's enactment, however, utter disillusionment has replaced the initial enthusiasm: the Catalan language has not only failed to become normalized, but has actually declined in social standing and presence, losing its proportional use among the population and becoming a source of constant conflict, not in and of itself, but due to the contempt with which it is viewed by many in other places—nearby or far—and by those born here who do not consider it their own. What has happened to make this once-promising law so ineffective?