Inarticulate in Galician and Illiterate in Spanish?

This week I will be translating a series of letters that have appeared in the press recently about Galician. Today, two very contrasting viewpoints about young people and the education system….

Excerpt from letter to the Xornal de Galicia, 24th June

…I speak of my experiences as a teacher in Corunna city. In my high school at the moment, about 40-50% of studying is done in Galician with the remainder in Spanish. While dealing with the students on a daily basis, it concerns me that they are unable to string a few sentences in Galician together. They begin the sentence, stop short, think about it and then begin speaking again. They lack fluency and spontaneity while having no problem in Spanish. Furthermore, every single sentence of the little Galician they speak is badly articulated. If it’s not throwing in Spanish words (“ayer”, “bueno”, dibujo”) then it’s bad collocation of pronouns or use of compound tenses, e.g. habíamos feito instead of fixemos (note: compound tenses like the former are not used in Galician). If this happens in a school where 40% of content is in Galician, I shudder to think what it’s like in schools where less Galician is used, nor do I wish to dwell on what the future will be like under the newly proposed decree…

L.S. A Coruña

Galidonia comment: The writer goes on to say that for this reason more Galician rather than less needs to be taught in schools.

A Very Different Point of View, Letter from El País, 30th June

I think identifying members of Galicia Bilingüe with the right wing is totally inaccurate. I am an activist with a (non-nationalist) left wing party and agree with GB’s stance. I agree that our youngsters arrive at university barely knowing how to write in Spanish. Also I agree that in secondary education they teach how the Golden Age, the era of Lope de Vega and Quevedo, constitutes a dark chapter in Galician history. Furthermore I agree that diglossia exists and that Spanish will have to disappear so that this phenomenon does not occur. Of course the Galician language must be protected, and it is because a school subject with this name already exists and is compulsory in the final evaluation. But the idea of teaching all subjects in Galician, except the subject of Spanish, is going to lead to an abyss of unpredictable consequences which concerns parents of children of school age in Galicia regardless of our political views.

L.H.R. Pontevedra

Galidonia comment: If you were to take both letters at face value, you would be left with the impression that Galicia is producing a generation who are unable to speak Galician and are virtually illiterate in Spanish! I know some intelligent and literate young Galicians who are also very articulate in English, so can things really be half as bad as they are depicted here?