Well, that can happen too of course, especially if that teacher is Galician-speaking all the time. I know a few, but not a lot of those. And I'm afraid (for you) that it's totally legal. I also assume that your son is starting now in September either 2º, 4º or 6º if you imply that he'll have the same teacher.

As a teacher myself, I can say that in many regions, and though they've been studying it forever, many kids can't speak Galician either. I've never heard of any teacher being that hard in primary level about this. One thing though, they all understand it, so they follow the classes normally. When they have to speak, some find it more difficult because they don't speak Galician at home. About the formal complaint, that's useless.


This debate could last for years. I never understood why the value of a language has to be measured by the number of speakers. We could say then, that Finnish is absurd and useless, because it's only spoken in Finland for 5 million. Or any other similar language. It's the national language and it's much more than that. Or why if I live and work in Galicia and I don't plan to ever leave do I have to learn English? It doesn't work like that. As cricketman said, if you ever plan to stay, live and work here, speaking Galician gives you a plus. There's this programme on TV about foreigners living in Galicia. There was this French man the other day living in rural Lugo, working in agriculture something and he spoke Galician. He said that the language was crucial to his work as it's much easier to integrate and connect with people if you speak their language. I understand that it might be difficult for a foreigner to learn 2 languages and of course many many people live here without a word of Galician and they do just fine, I'm not that extreme, but this is just my opinion. Your son might not stay here to work, but knowing some Galician is not going to do him any harm. If he stays, it's useful, if he doesn't, he won't use but it would have give him more culture and linguistic training. And I can say something for sure. If I lived in Wales, at least in North Wales or a region were it was more present, without a doubt I'd learn some Welsh. But that's me.

My middle son is going to year 6. Having lived here for 4 years they speak both galician and spanish very well. What my point is that too much onus is put on learning the language. Yes I agree that you need Galician in Galicia to converse with other people and all three of my kids speak Galician to the locals. But if you want your life to end here in Galicia without exploring the rest of the world the Galician language is all you will need. But if you see yourself moving away from Galicia, then Spanish is the language you will need. Galicia has got to be one of the poorest parts of Spain and if you want a decent university education, job etc you have to move out of the region. If my children returned to the UK for their university education an English degree in Spanish will enable them (hopefully) to find a job, but a degree in Galiican?

Education is an important part of any children's life, and an education which enables them to proceed in life successfully is the main point. By learning science, maths, geography in Galician it will make life difficult for any child aiming to broaden their horizons outside of Galicia.

The Galician people believe that there is nothing outside of Galicia. But there is.

Most people in any region of the world will find a job where they grow up. I bet less than 10% ever move away to broaden their horizons.

I dont really get your point, because your kids also learn Spanish and English, so what is the harm of learning Galician as well? If they ONLY learnt Galician I would agree with you.

Learning more and more languages can only broaden the horizons of your children because then if they want to learn French, Catalan, Russian or Chinese to help get them a job, they will know how to do so.

Your missing my point. They are only learning Galician. As I have said before one of my sons who will be in year 6 is only taught in Galician. Spanish is a separate lesson, the same as English. This only separates the Galicians from the rest of Spain. Spanish should be the main language with Galician taught as a separate subject.

You say "I bet less than 10% ever move away to broaden their horizons." And I would probably agree with this figure. So by restricting the use of the Spanish language in schools would that not be counterproductive against the Galicians. Spanish is a language spoken all over the world - but Galician is not. The Galicians believe that there is no "horizon" outside of Galica which is a shame, because there is.

So to just to reiterate what I have been saying - yes Galician should be taught in schools but not to the detriment of the Spanish language. It should be Spanish first and then Galician.

Did I start this?

yeahhhhhhh


don't worry about it!!



it has wandered a bit but it's all good info!

Ah, ok, fair enough

Yes seems they are following the Catalan route. All schools in Catalunya now must teach Catalan as the first language and Spanish as the second language. Just something one needs to be aware of in the Spanish regions, regional languages are getting pushed now.

I think it is more of a regional identity question that anything else. After all going to school isnt just about getting a good job afterwards, it is also about evolving a society and "fitting in". The good news is Galician isnt too far away from Castellano.

My nephews are Spanish but live in Barcelona, so are only taught in Catalan. It is the only place they speak Catalan because they speak Spanish at home. The parents dont mind though, they say the more languages they can speak, the better.

I don't agree with anything you say, so I can't be bothered. You don't know anything about Galicia. People don't know there's something else outside? Hahaha. No decent university education? This is not the UK and we don't have school league tables since primary school. And yes, I forgot Santiago uni vanished last week.

Oh, and it's "you're" not "your".

No, that's NOT true. In his case it's that teacher in particular. You can find some of those, but that's not the norm. With the other government it was a minimum of 50% in Galician and they were planning to include a bit more. Maths was starting to be in Galician (only the textbooks because I know many teachers didn't change the language) and a new law has been passed a few months ago (there was a teachers strike too) and now only Galician and Science are expected to be taught in Galician. We need to buy new Maths books this year for that reason. So no, nothing like Catalunya like this person says. And honest, if the kids don't have any problem because they already understand Galician and they're integrated, I don't know why the rant. Languages don't do any harm. At the beginning I thought they were having problems, so that'd be totally different.

Santiago Uni is not even listed in the top 200 universities. The highest university listed in Spain is Barcelona at No.171. There are 23 Universities in the UK above Barcelona. So if my kids do want to go to University they will go to the UK.

"I don't agree with anything you say, so I can't be bothered" - well good for you - nice to see a grown up attitude from a teacher, just the kind of teacher Galicia needs.

I mean that I can't be bothered to start a reasonable argument about language politics if you insist that Galician is useless because it's only spoken here. That's very grown up too. A 5 year old knows it. Language is much more than that but I guess you're not interested. Implying that Galician teachers are bad is insulting. I know much more about education here than you do and afterall you're only talking about ONE teacher your son has. If you have that opinion about schools here, I don't know why you let your kids be in one and second, it doesn't surprise me things are not working out if you don't respect their work.

Oh, and another thing you might never realised. There are kids in Galicia who speak Galician at home and it's their mother tongue. They have the right to be taught in their own language as well. But maybe you think they're ignorant because they speak a language that, according to you, will never give them a good education. So we, as a society, must make them forget the language as soon as possible...otherwise we're doomed.

Funnily enough, just been reading the Spanish press online, and came across this,(talking about education)

http://www.publico.es/espana/333696/...enso/educacion

Yes battlezone123 sounds like yet another of the British expats who criticise the Spanish system and actually know bugger all about it. Battlezone123, if you dont want your kids to be like Galician kids, then what on earth are you doing in Galicia?!

Yes Spanish unis are ranked low on the international scale because they do very little original research, they dont have the research budgets.

But as I have said before, if you get a good degree from a good Spanish uni you'll be able to get a good job in the UK or in fact anywhere in the world. I know many Spaniards who have done so.

Charming !!!!

As usual.

Hi! I've just been reading all your comments about learning regional languages and just wanted to add my point of view...

I understand how frustrating it can be to have to accept that another language (not castellano) is being taught primarily in the schools. I too had this argument when first we came here to the Valencian Comunity(10 years ago). How was I supposed to help them with their homework when I couldn't even speak Castellano? At first I fought it quietly by refusing to buy the school books in Valenciano, but as the years went by and my kids learned the language (and I began to at least understand it, if not speak it) I gradually warmed to it and just let it go!

Here in the Comunidad Valenciana, Valenciano is spoken (mostly) in the pueblos but in Valencia itself (I think) and other large towns like Gandia, Castellano is mainly spoken. I, however, live in a small village where all the Spanish locals speak Valenciano. All of them speak Castellano to me because they know that's all I know. The teachers speak Castellano to me except in group meetings and even then, to accomodate the foreigners who have only just arrived and are learning Castellano, they sometimes ask which language would everyone prefer! This is in my local primary school.

The point I would like to make is that my opinion has changed. At first I was against it. Yes, they will push the local language and Castellano is taught as a second language but it has only helped my kids and not hindered them in any way. All 5 of my kids speak Valenciano fluently. My eldest, who is now nearly 16, started school here at 5 yrs old with not a word of either and now gets global grades of 10 for both Valenciano and Castellano...she gets better grades in both languages than even some of the brightest "natives" in her class. They are fully integrated. Some people don't even realise they aren't Spanish! That's how they like it. They even speak Spanish to their English peers (which I find weirdly wonderful!)

I was told by a good friend of mine, a local who married a Frenchman, that Valenciano is very hard to learn, harder even than Castellano (my daughter agrees...the verbs are a nightmare!) and she believed that it was better for the kids to learn Valenciano first, then Castellano. Maybe it's the same for Galego? They teach only Valenciano in infantil, then integrate Castellano from 1er de Primaria. Valenciano is an old language with similarities to Catalan and the old French language of Occitaine. It has helped my daughter learn French which she now speaks almost as well as me after only one year! At least 2 of my children would never have been bilingual if we hadn't come to Spain, but I am so glad that we did, and that they are! And that they now speak THREE languages!

Learning more than one language facilitates the learning of other languages, whichever they may be. I spoke fluent French which helped me start to self-teach Spanish....it's a good and useful tool...so I just want to say please don't worry. The kids will pick it up, like all bilingual kids do. I thought my kids would suffer only learning Valenciano first, but they haven't. They speak both languages fluently. I like to use the smattering I know now and then just to "get in with the locals" and they love it!

We are planning a move to Galicia if we ever manage it! The kids were at first daunted because it meant learning another language and my eldest wanted to continue her Valenciano studies as she is taking the literature route in her bachillerato. So we looked at the Galician tv channel and read some articles about Galicia in Galego and found that we could not only see the differences in the language but also work out, without a dictionary, the equivalent in both Valenciano and Castellano. Also that some words were similar to both languages. So, not so bad then! I hope they don't have problems integrating or learning the language, but I believe they will pick it up within 6 months, fingers crossed!

The advantage here, that I try to explain to my children, is that they will be able to go ANYWHERE in Spain to study or work with the exception, of course, of Pais Vasco!

So, again, please don't to worry Battlezone123! I'm guessing that your son won't always have the same teacher? We can't get on with everyone, and in my case I just accepted it.

Anyway, good luck. That's my tuppence worth and I hope I haven't put anybody to sleep!