In Formentera, the situation of Catalan is as critical as in Eivissa. This is confirmed by Joan Gené Cerdó from Palma. For the past two academic years, he has been a teacher of Latin and Greek at IES Marc Ferrer. "Here," he says, "Catalan is an exclusively ethnic language. It is the language of a pure-blooded Formentera population, which must represent about 30% of the island's nearly 12,000 inhabitants. The rest are foreigners who work all day in the hospitality and catering sector, and live in a completely Spanish-speaking universe." The IES Marc Ferrer's approach is to maximize Catalan as a language of cohesion. However, it is not always easy. "The faculty consists of about ninety teachers. About twenty are from Formentera. There are some from Ibiza, and the rest are mostly from Valencia and Mallorca, who do not always stick firmly to the language. Furthermore, there are increasingly more Andalusians with no knowledge of Catalan who, urgently, fill positions." Gené compares Formentera's linguistic situation to his student days in Palma. "I went to IES Son Pacs. There, my Spanish-speaking classmates ended up socializing in Catalan. Here, it's unthinkable that, for example, a Maghrebi would adopt Catalan as their own language. And that makes them very envious." Another factor has surprised the teacher from Mallorca. "There are students with Formentera lineage who hide the language in class. They prefer to use Spanish. Some of them do it too." This classical languages teacher fears that the worst predictions will come true. "Specialists do not tire of warning that Catalan runs the risk of suffering the phenomenon of Latinization, of ending up as a language only suitable for educated classes and the Administration and completely ignored by the rest of the population." There is no doubt about who to blame for Formentera's current depersonalization. "The few Formenterans who remain are the ones who live best thanks to their businesses. They themselves have sold their souls to the devil of capitalism. The same will happen to us in Mallorca."
The militants who fight for Catalan in Ibiza
The largest Pitiusa is the island where the presence of Catalan in schools is declining the most. However, there are teachers and cultural activists who do not resign themselves to considering the battle lost amidst a society heavily Hispanized due to the tourist monoculture
PalmThis course is the second in the implementation of the free choice of language in classrooms plan promoted by Marga Prohens' popular government. 80.52% of parents in public schools in the Balearic Islands have chosen Catalan and not Spanish as the language of primary education (4th year of Infant Education). This figure represents three points less than last year. The island with the greatest support for Catalan remains Menorca (91.56%), followed by Mallorca (82.72%). Ibiza and Formentera, on the other hand, dropped five points (60.34%).
In 2023, the Pitiusas also came last in the results of the tests from the Institute for the Evaluation and Quality of the Education System (IAQSE), which, however, were poor in all the Islands. Only 38% of their 4th-year Primary students reached linguistic competence in Catalan, compared to 51% of those in Mallorca and 55% of those in Menorca. On the other hand, this year the main Pitiusa island has added four of its five subsidized schools enrolled in the linguistic segregation plan that the Balearic Executive also launched two years ago. 15 have joined from Mallorca, while none from Menorca. On the contrary, the Plan has received the outright rejection of all public schools in the Balearic Islands.
Linguistic deserter teachers
The linguistic situation in Eivissa has been a great discovery for the Mallorcan Miquel Àngel Marrero, a young 27-year-old teacher from Can Picafort. "I - he assures - I have a degree in History. Last year I was given a Catalan position at IES Xarc, in Santa Eulalia del Río. It is a specialty with a shortage of teachers. In any case, for two years now I have been studying Catalan Philology at the UIB. I was very surprised to find out how precarious its health is." Marrero is the son of the well-known Decree of Minimums approved by the PP of Jaume Matas in 1997. The norm establishes that at least 50% of teaching, both public and subsidized, must be carried out in the native language of the Balearic Islands. "My family speaks Spanish. If I know Catalan, it's thanks to school. In Ibiza, however, the lack of linguistic awareness among some teachers means that the Decree of Minimums is not being complied with. The same happens in some schools in Mallorca."
The one from Can Picafort landed on an island heavily Hispanized by a tourism model that has attracted many outsiders. It now has about 163,000 inhabitants, almost five times more than it had in the 1960s when the tourist "boom" erupted. "In Mallorca we have also experienced strong demographic pressure, but we have managed to preserve more cultural enclaves. In contrast, in Eivissa, identity has been totally wiped out," he opines. Faced with this scenario, some teachers choose to throw in the towel. "Many of my colleagues at the institute were also from Mallorca. On the first day of class, some would turn their language when they saw that almost all the students were answering them in Spanish. Being from Spanish-speaking parents, that made me very indignant. As teachers, we cannot abandon our linguistic responsibility. We have the responsibility of prestige."
In Catalan classes, initially, the students also addressed Marrero in Spanish. "Far from scolding them, I encouraged them to do it in Catalan. Sometimes I found that the demand caused rejection." That was a whole lesson in sociolinguistics. "I had few students with Ibizan lineages: Tur, Marí, Torres... Some told me that they answered their parents in Spanish, even though they spoke to them in Catalan."
'Don't exclude me'
Marrero shies away from any doomsday discourse. "Catalan in Eivissa is in a very bad state. By chipping away at it, however, we can also make people want to embrace our language." The lament, however, is inevitable when one observes reality. "At the graduation ceremony for 2nd year of Baccalaureate, it was very gratifying to see students from diverse backgrounds making an effort to give their speeches in Catalan. But it's infuriating that afterwards, in the street, the people of Ibiza address them in Spanish just because they have different facial features. The Majorcans too." The teacher does not hesitate to call this linguistic attitude racist. "Thus, newcomers end up concluding that the Catalan they have learned in school is useless. Precisely, two weeks ago, a group of students from IES Josep Sureda i Blanes in Palma made a protest video titled Teach me in Catalan. Don't exclude me".
One of Marrero's 2nd year Baccalaureate students was Víctor Torres Bustos. About to turn 18, he has started studying the double degree in Law and Economics in Valencia. Last April he helped create an association of young people from Ibiza concerned not only about the language, but also about other issues, such as the Institute of Ibizan Studies and the Platform for the Language. Torres' case is a case of 'reconversion'. They speak Catalan, but with me and my two brothers they always use Spanish. And among us siblings, we speak in Spanish. The only one in the family who has passed down the language to us has been his paternal grandmother".
The linguistic awareness of the young man from Ibiza was awakened in high school. "I always spoke Spanish in the street with almost all my friends. I thought it was normal. But in 4th year of ESO, thanks to a Catalan teacher, I realized the dire cultural consequences that tourism has had on the island. The problem here is that newcomers have always been told that the useful language is Spanish."
Prejudices
Torres also confirms that the Decree of Minimums in education is not being met. "Many of the teachers I had in primary and secondary school taught us in Castilian Spanish. I have classmates who have completed their 2nd year of Bachillerato without uttering a single word in Catalan and have ended up with a B2 certificate [with 4th year of ESO they can obtain a B1]". The Ibizan laments the prejudices about Catalan within his generation. "They believe it is the language of the elderly, of the peasants. It causes me deep sadness to see how the identity of my land is being lost. On the other hand, I am very happy that in recent years there has been a resurgence of Pitiusan dance groups. Many of their members are young, some with parents from outside the island".
Ibiza's dialect is the only one of his siblings who has changed language. However, he has not yet dared to do so with his parents, who decided not to pass it on to him. "At this point, it's hard to change your mindset." However, at home, the Baleares government's project for linguistic segregation in classrooms has been debated. "Even if they spoke to us in Spanish, my mother and father are clear that now, if they had to choose, they would choose the Catalan line. They consider learning it to be always positive."
Humiliating situations
Another teacher from Torres at IES Xarc was Jesús Angosto Martínez. 55 years old, he is from a town near Cartagena (Murcia). In 1996 he landed in Eivissa after having been assigned for two years in Mallorca. "Although it was not a requirement then – he says –, I set out to learn Catalan. At that time, many teachers were from the Peninsula and, as there was still no school linguistic project, they gave classes in Castilian. The students, on the other hand, were mostly Catalan speakers. Now the situation is the reverse. inertia".
Angosto laments the passivity of educational Inspection in enforcing the Decree of Minimums in classrooms. "The Administration does not want problems, especially with parents coming from outside who are happy for classes to be in Castilian". In meetings with families, uncomfortable and even humiliating situations often occur. "There is always someone who asks me to speak in Castilian. Some are arrogant. But I am clear that my linguistic responsibility is to the students and not to the parents". This professor, who arrived 31 years ago from Cartagena, confesses that it is increasingly difficult for him to be optimistic: "I speak Catalan to my daughters. At home I make them consume cultural products in Catalan. When they go out, however, everything is in Castilian. In Eivissa, the language is at its minimums".