Although the linguistic repression that once endangered the Catalan language has become a problem of the past, limited to the pages of history books, the issue of how Catalan can be maintained remains troubling.

There are an estimated 6.5 million Catalan speakers living in Spain today, most of them located in the regions of Valencia and Catalonia. In the interest of preserving the Catalan language, Catalonian lawmakers are now making a move to increase the number of Catalan language films shown in the region.

A History of Repression

The Catalan language has periodically been repressed throughout history. The language was arguably at its strongest when it served as the official language of the Kingdom of Aragon (located in region of Catalonia in present-day Spain) in the 12th century. With the Catalonian loss of independence in the mid-17th century, the Catalan language suffered major setbacks and was soon spoken almost exclusively in rural areas.

Despite a Catalan language renaissance in the late 19th century, the language took another hit during the rule of Spanish dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera (1923-1930), who banned the use of any language besides Castilian. Repression of the Catalan language was picked up by General Francisco Franco, who ascended to power in 1939 after the Spanish Civil War.

Bringing Catalan to the Silver Screen

Given the shaky history of the Catalan language, it’s understandable that Catalan speakers are concerned about the preservation of the language. After all, it wasn’t until the 1970s that serious efforts were made to counter former repression of Catalan by reinstating and revitalizing the Catalan language.

A recent New York Times report on efforts to maintain Catalan reveals that promoters of the language are now tackling a new challenge in the battle to preserve Catalan — the silver screen. Although Catalan is the native language for the majority of residents in Barcelona, the movies shown in the Catalonian capital are predominantly Spanish language.

However the local government is preparing to pass a bill which will require that at least half of the copies of every non-European film, including major Hollywood blockbusters, must be dubbed into the Catalan language.

The Catalonian government proposed this measure once before, in 1998, but didn’t carry it out because of feared opposition from theater owners. This time, however, the law is expected to pass despite the fact that 576 of 790 movie houses in the region of Catalonia closed their doors for a day of protest.

Preserving Language Means Preserving Culture

Language and culture are closely intertwined, so it should come as no surprise that preserving a language’s culture is just as important as preserving the language itself. Worries about the preservation of Catalonian spirit have increased as natives fear that the Catalan culture may become overshadowed or made indistinguishable from that of Spain.

With a new movement to promote Catalan movies, the Catalonian government is taking valuable steps to insure not only the preservation of the Catalan language, but also its culture.

This post was edited for content and updated thanks to comments made by our readers.