Let's do it in Catalan prevents Ibiza from putting up bilingual signs on its streets

Let's Do It in Catalan has convinced the Ibiza Town Council to make the street and avenue signs strictly in Catalan and not in a bilingual format, as the Council initially intended. The announcement published on the contracting platform specified, in fact, that the "supply and installation of signs to indicate the name of the streets" had to be in both official languages ​​of the Autonomous Community.

The Menorcan organization formed by former volunteers of Plataforma per la Llengua (Platform for the Language) filed an appeal in early December against the tender for the new street signs that the Vila Town Council had just launched. The designs proposed in this tender were all bilingual, of the type 'street-street, 'walk-walk', 'alley-alley', 'square-square' and 'avenue-avenue', which Hagámoslo en Catalán considered "completely unjustified and inadmissible".

The appeal recalled the duty of public authorities to standardize language and the breach it also represented of the Municipal Regulation on Linguistic Normalization (RMNL), which already specifies that "all signs and indicators located on public roads must be written in Catalan".

The City Council initially rejected Fem-ho en Català's appeal due to its "lack of standing" in the bidding process, but ultimately accepted the substance of its claim, considering that "signage in two languages ​​would represent a step backward in the linguistic normalization process initiated in the 1990s." The technical, legal, and linguistic services of Ibiza have reviewed the organization's appeal, concluding that bilingual signs are illegal. Therefore, the City Council has cancelled the bidding process and announced that it will launch a new tender with signs exclusively in Catalan, as required by current regulations.

"There is no extraordinary sociolinguistic situation that could justify such a clear deviation from the norm," Fem-ho en Català points out, adding that leaving the signs bilingual "would have turned Ibiza into an anomaly in the island's linguistic landscape." The City Council's correction will therefore allow "streets to be streets and avenues to be avenues. Clear and in Catalan."

Tribute to the mother of linguistic advice in Menorca

On the other hand, Fem-ho en Català has organized an event to recognize Pilar Vinent Barceló (Ciutadella, 1960), who for more than 40 years led the Linguistic Advisory Service (SAL) team of the Consell de Menorca. The event will take place on Friday, March 6, at 7:00 p.m. in the auditorium of Can Saura, in Ciutadella. Retired a year ago, Vinent has been one of the most prominent figures who, along with organizations, institutions (IME, UIB, Obra Cultural, etc.), and unions, has opposed the controversial new Linguistic Regulations of the Consell de Menorca, which introduce Spanish and prioritize Menorcan over standard Catalan. Pilar Vinent has requested that the approval of the regulation be revoked and declared null and void, arguing that it is an "unjustified and unnecessary" regulatory change that also violates the principle of transparency, the laws on linguistic normalization and the island councils, and entails drastic cuts. A graduate in Contemporary History from the University of Barcelona (1982), Pilar Vinent has worked since 1983 as head of the Linguistic Advisory Service of the Island Council. She has also participated in the creation of the inventory of Menorca's Intangible Cultural Heritage and has won several literature and narrative awards. Pilar Vinent has expressed her gratitude for this recognition. "I've worked as hard as I could, and in these difficult times for our language, anything that can help make it more visible is welcome. We're just one more grain of sand," he says, "among all the people who have worked to make Catalan a language of normal, everyday use."