For the first time, the government of the Valencian Country has commissioned an annual language survey on the use of Valencian in different areas of society. Surveys of knowledge and usage of the Valencian language, regarded by linguists as the same language as Catalan, although with dialectical variations, have in recent decades shown results significantly lower than in Catalonia. Now, the new annual survey, aims to monitor the use of the language more frequently with the aim of obtaining information to allow the design and implementation of short-term initiatives. The general director of Valencia's linguistic policy area, Rubén Trenzano, says that "after the last survey on knowledge and use of Valencian that we published recently, which was carried out by telephone in 2021, in the midst of a pandemic, we wanted to obtain more detailed current information using face-to-face analysis groups within a context of normality." The new survey, as well as being annual, also enables comparisons to be made with previous surveys, those of 2015 and 2021.
"The 2021 survey, published and analyzed at the end of last year, gave positive results regarding people's competence and knowledge of the language, but we were concerned about the results in terms of usage, and, for this reason, did not want to wait another five years to be able to have on the table a specific testing of the use, which will now be annual and will allow us to act more quickly and in very specific areas, with measures that encourage and promote the use of Valencian", added Trenzano.
Valencian in personal, professional and public spheres
The survey just completed presents three usage indicators: one for the personal sphere, another for the professional and the last one for the public sphere. An indicator is a single figure that provides an immediate vision. This first survey in the annual series thus provides a figure which will be comparable with the annual waves that will take place from 2024. Regarding the indicator of use in the personal area, it is broken down into statistics on the use of Valencian at home, with friends, in private messages, in the neighbourhood and on the street with unknown people. Regarding the indicator of use in the professional field, communication in Valencian with work colleagues and with users, customers and suppliers has been analysed. In the case of the public sphere indicator, use has been explored in festive or cultural associations, in sports groups and clubs, in traditional shops, in shopping malls, in banks, and in local, regional and state administration, and in medical consultations.
Is Valencian spoken at home?
With regard to the personal sphere, the overall indicator for use of Valencian - measured across all the historically Valencian-speaking areas, in which 90% of the population live - is situated at 56.5 out of 100. In terms of comparisons with the last survey, in all cases a slight increase is observed compared to 2021. For example, the proportion who say they always speak Valencian at home increases by almost 9 points (from 19.5 to 29%); with friends, it increases by more than 6 points; in the neighbourhood, by 5 points, and on the street with strangers, by 3.5 points.
Regarding the use of Valencian at work, the indicator stands at 56.3 out of 100. Among male and female colleagues, it increases by more than 5 points compared to the section on the use of the survey of 2021; regarding speaking in Valencian among service users, customers and suppliers, it drops slightly from 19.4 to 19.1.
As for use in the public sphere, the overall figure stands at 56.2 out of 100. In cases such as communication in traditional shops, the use of Valencian in the 2023 barometer rises by more than 8 points compared to 2021. In the large commercial centres, it grows by more than 3 points, and, in the communication of Valencian-speaking people in banks and savings banks, the increase is almost 4 points.
Valencian residents report that speaking in Valencian at their different government administrations is as natural as doing it at home. The 2023 survey indicates that the increase in the use of Valencian is widespread. In local authorities, the proportion of Valencian speakers who address public servants in Valencian has increased by more than 8 percent; in state administration, by almost 11 percent, and in the Valencian Country autonomous region, by 9.5 percent.
The use of Valencian must be encouraged
Rubén Trenzano comments that "given the results and despite the fact that slight recoveries can be seen in the use of the language in different life situations, we consider that it is necessary to encourage the language with bold policies so that Valencian-speaking people are comfortable and can live in Valencian with total normality without having to change languages".