His conversation is methodical and direct. His ideas are well marked and he delivers several headlines in a few minutes. He has just presented his new book, ‘Molt a favor’, written together with other journalists and communicators. His intention: to offer proposals to continue disseminating the Catalan language.
The writer and communicator Enric Gomà (Barcelona, 1963) has clear ideas. Hence his constant determination to fight for a “living and useful” Catalan. He has just presented his new book, Molt a favor, written with six other authors.
He says that Catalan should be necessary to earn a living.
If Catalan wants to survive, it has to be a useful and necessary language. This means that it must be essential in order to earn a living. I know that there are jobs where it’s apparently not necessary, but there are many, such as customer service and social relations, where it is. In Catalonia, when you move up a level, it’s necessary. Civil servants must understand it and know it, without a doubt. Same with the media, it should even be more so.
A few weeks ago in Mallorca there was a case of linguistic discrimination in the public health system that has once again put the debate on the table.
All healthcare workers in the Balearic Islands must understand the patient’s language. I recently went to a pharmacy and they did not understand me when I asked them for a xarop pel rugall [ronquera]. This cannot be because they must know health terms and diseases. As in any job, you have to know the words. I have never had a problem with linguistic discrimination in healthcare, but in the shops I have. Many workers tell me that they don’t understand me when I speak to them in Catalan. I ask someone else to attend to me and that stimulates the other person because no one wants to feel left behind at work. If you work in front of the public, you have to understand them because here we speak Catalan and Spanish. We have the right to demand that customers are treated in their own language.
Posters were also put up with the figure of Francina Armengol dressed as a Nazi.
We have to toughen up because in a debate or a controversy the acidity can be strong. Every time I see someone resort to the Nazis, I think I’m in front of a fool. What’s wrong? Aren’t there other examples? We are stuck on this issue. To Armengol I would say: resistance, good humour and let her do what she has to do. Some people tell me that they are not on social networks because they receive insults. You won’t be able to live if you can’t take an insult. We can’t weaken because others say things to us. Armengol does what she has to do and must move forward. The others can say what they want.
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