Tools to speak in Catalan without changing language: the workshops return to Menorca

PalmaPlataforma per la Llengua's linguistic assertiveness courses offer resources to gain confidence and avoid the automatic switch to Spanish in everyday conversations

Plataforma per la Llengua's linguistic assertiveness workshops return this October to Menorca with the goal of offering tools so that Catalan speakers can maintain themselves in Catalan with more naturalness and security.

The first session will be this Saturday, October 3rd, at 10 a.m., at the Ferreries Auditorium, while a second one will be held at 4 p.m. at the IES Joan Ramis i Ramis in Maó. The two-and-a-half-hour sessions are limited to 20 participants and places are admitted in order of registration.

The training sessions are led by Àstrid Bierge, coordinator of the Language Workshops, who argues that many language switches occur automatically. "The vast majority of Catalan speakers who switch languages do so on their own initiative, given that the other interlocutor does not ask them to," she states.

During the workshops, the prejudices that condition the choice of language are worked on, and strategies are offered to intervene without having to resort to direct instruction. The goal is for participants to gain confidence to speak in Catalan in more day-to-day situations.

According to Bierge, modifying this habit "depends exclusively on oneself." The proposal starts from the idea that maintaining Catalan in everyday conversations can also contribute to expanding the spaces in which other speakers feel comfortable using it.