Crisis! - The sharp view of Aleix Saló

As you all know, Spain (and thus Catalonia) is one of the EU countries which is most affected by the crisis, together with Portugal, Ireland and Greece. We have not got to the point of needing economical rescue, but we have the highest unemployment rate in Europe and the end of the tunnel is still far away. But why Spain has reached this dramatical situation?

Whilst countries like Germany is overcoming crisis with efficient policies, in Spain problems keep growing. The two main political parties are devoted to criticise each other without even venture proper measures to leave the crisis behind.

Spain is different, they say. After years of basing economy on land and real state speculation, the bubble exploded. So simple yet so complex. To understand what led Spain to this severe crisis, you can't miss a brilliant video in Spanish called Españistán, created by who I think is one of the greatest Catalan cartoonists, Aleix Saló. I think he deserves a whole post for himself, so I'll keep you with the mystery of who this person is...By now, just get a taste of his sharp humour by watching the video (English subtitles). Enjoy and learn!

Note: There are quite a few cultural references in the video (marked with a number after some words which appear in the subtitles). Please refer to Youtube for a full explanation. And if you know a bit of Catalan or Spanish, don't miss him!

Please do not doubt to write your thoughts about it! And if you have ideas to change what was the disastrous basis of the Spanish economy and save the country, prepare a campaign and become a presidential canditate ;-) (just kidding).

And to end this post, I could not resist to post one of Aleix Saló's cartoons (in Catalan), appropiate for the occasion :P.

Young man: "Oh, here comes my shit salary."
Shit: "No. Your shit salary is there. I am your future pension."

Code switching

In linguistics, code switching means changing the language (or code) in the same discourse. That is, when a bilingual o multilingual person is speaking they may switch the language in which they are talking. Everyone who knows more than one language can do that, but it may not be a usual thing for them. But what happens in a society, like Catalan society, who is bilingual by default and two languages are part of common life? What happens is that code switching is the meal of every day, a daily constant, and most people living in Catalonia do it all the time without even noticing or caring.

And what is more interesting, we can have a conversation when people speak in Catalan and other people speak in Spanish all the time and no one is amazed. It was not until an English asked me how we could do that and not finding it strange, that I did not realise how shocking this could be for a foreigner.

We are switching the code all the time! If I had to think how many times I changed from Catalan to Spanish and back to Catalan today, I could not be able to tell. I don't know...maybe like five times an hour depending to whom I spoke. Or even more. Haven't got a clue. However, if I have to say which is the language I speak most, I would say Catalan. A few years ago it was the only language I used, but since I came to live in Barcelona, I began to use Spanish and now I use about Spanish about 20% of the time.

But how code switching works? I have tried to think why do I switch code and about the different scenarios. Basically, in my everyday life I find myself doing this:

1- My colleague Judit is Catalan and we always talk in Catalan to each other. So that is one situation in which there is no code switching.

2- My colleague Marta is from Bilbao and Spanish is her mother tongue. She's been living in Catalonia for a few years and she understands Catalan, but we spoke in Spanish since we met and we always speak in Spanish to each other now. In this situation, as a Catalan native, I switch the code to Spanish, but there is no code switching in the conversation.

3- My colleague José is from Galicia and he came to live in Barcelona last year. He speaks Spanish at home and Galician with some of his friends. He learnt Catalan at university, he understands it perfectly and asks me to talk in Catalan to him so he keeps on learning it, but he feels a bit insecure still and replies in Spanish. In this situation, there is no verbal code switching, but our brains are processing the messages in two languages at the same time!

4- My colleague José sometimes tries to talk in Catalan as he wants to gain confidence. On my side, I sometimes forget that he wants me to talk in Catalan to him and we are moving from Catalan to Spanish all the time. This means that we are switching the code all the time!

5- In a conversation possibilities multiply, but the most usual thing in my everyday life is that some people always talk in Catalan, some others always do so in Spanish and some other switch the code depending on the person they talk to, even in the same group conversation.

I usually do not mind to change the code and, as I pointed out I don't even realise I do so. On the other hand I also think that code switching can be a trap. Does it really means language command? What are the negative effects? It is always positive?

For me, code switching, its pros and cons. It is indeed enriching to have this phenomenon, but it can show lack of language command. Typical code switching means occasionally introducing words and syntactic structures from Catalan into Spanish and the other way round. If the speaker is aware that they may do so and is able to know what belongs to what language, then it is ok, nothing happens! It is very difficult to speak perfectly all the time, managing two language in the same casual conversation! On the other hand, it is indeed a problem if the person does not know it, because they will reproduce these errors in writing and in speaking all the time. And this can be very annoying, because it is no longer code switching but lack of linguistic competence and it can be very annoying both for native speakers of Catalan and of Spanish.

I am not really feeling to go deeper into this today as my aim waysjust explaining what happens with code switching in Catalonia and how I, as a Catalan, experience it as a real fact. Pondering about it will be a topic for another post.

Back again

Welcome back!

How are you?

First of all, I'd like to apologise for not having written since April. Believe me, it was not because I was uninspired. Neither because I had lost interest. Nothing could be further from the truth as these things. There have been several things that have forced me to put off the moment to sit down and write a post.

Last year was not the happiest of years. Personally, I had to face problems with friends and health problems in the family, which, fortunately, ended well. This would be the negative side, but there is a good one too! During the summer I worked as an English teacher on a camp for kids for a couple of weeks, I had to work a lot in the office and I went to India with a very good friend. By the beginning of autumn, I made up my mind and applied for a postgraduate course which I am currently finishing. This course, on Catalan language assessment on the Media, has been, for the last five months, the reason which has been holding me from writing. Juggling with a 40 h per week translation job, 8 h per week university lessons, a 1 h per week guitar lesson, guitar playing practice, doing homework and studying, as well as fulfilling home tasks results in complete chaos sometimes!

But I must confess I chose this myself. I love the postgraduate course, it's one of the best decisions I have ever taken and I'm really enjoying it, even though it is a very demanding. It covers a wide range of language-related areas: the use of references for proper language assessment, writing style, terminology, syntax, orthotypography, punctuation, dubbing, subtitling, foreign anthroponomy and toponimy in the Catalan language, and oral language assessment. I have learned and am learning a lot of new and useful things, sometimes through a bit of pain (but which at the end of the day has made me some good).

I have changed completely my view on language, and I find the oral-related aspects of language amazing and complex: a challenge I'm willing to take some day. I have already tried the written language challenge, so it's time for oral language now! The day is coming: when lessons finish in May, I will have a 100 h internship on the Catalan public TV station, I can't believe my luck! I'm eager to begin!

I could speak for hours about everything related to the postgraduate course, but I would end up being annoying...So time for focusing on the blog now.

As you see I have changed the layout, I thought it would be a way to say I had resumed the blog. Besides, I wanted to try the new hundreds of templates available now! I hope you like it and that colours do not make reading difficult. If so, please let me know.

Now that I have more free time, I will try to set myself to writing regularly at least once a week; that will be my aim now. I will start by a brief summary of relevant things that went on last year in Catalonia, because diverse things such as the biggest snowfall on the coastline since 1986 or a change in the autonomic government occurred and these cannot be left unexplained.

This said, I only have to say that I am very glad to be back here :).

Sant Jordi 2010

After my birthday on April 18th a very special day comes: Sant Jordi on April 23rd. For me one of the most beautiful celebrations we have in Catalonia. This Sant Jordi was half rainy, but this did not stop people going out and lingering on the streets, buying books and roses for friends, family and lovers.

Last year's St. Jordi I talked about the legend behind the day and how the day is celebrated (with some pictures). This year I will add some more pictures of roses, books which filled up the stalls and people crowding the streets of Barcelona, enjoying the day.

Roses

Llibres (books)

Gent (people)

Well-known personalities sign their book
(eg, second row left, Quim Monzó, and third row right, the famous cook Carme Ruscalleda)

If you ever happen to be in Catalonia for Sant Jordi, don't miss it, enjoy it! :)

Xavi and I with the traditional St. Jordi's gifts, a book and a rose

The great football classic

As I became a fan of football last year, missing the great classic Madrid-Barça today would be sacrilege.

So just before the match begins at 22:00 h, here I leave you Barça's hymn (karaoke version for you to sing).

Go Barça!

Tot el camp, és un clam som la gent blaugrana Tan se val d'on venim si del sud o del nord Ara estem d'acord, estem d'acord Una bandera ens agermana Blaugrana al vent Un crit valent Tenim un nom, el sap tothom Barça, Barça, Barça Jugadors, seguidors, tots units fem força Són molt anys plens d'afanys Són molts gols que hem cridat I s'ha demostrat, s'ha demostrat que mai ningúno ens podrà tòrcer. Blaugrana al vent un crit valent Tenim un nom, el sap tothom Barça, Barça, Barça!

The whole stadium, loud cheers We’re the blue and maroon supporters It matters not where we hail from Whether it's the south or the north Now we all agree, we all agree, One flag unites us in brotherhood. Blue and maroon blowing in the wind One valiant cry We’ve got a name everyone knows: Barça, Barça, Barça! Players, supporters United we are strong. We’ve achieved much over the years, We’ve shouted many goals And we have shown, we have shown, That no one can ever break us. Blue and maroon blowing in the wind One valiant cry We’ve got a name everyone knows: Barça, Barça, Barça!

Ten o'clock...FOOTBALL TIME!!!

Barça, Estrella Damm, Catalonia or everything? - Explanation

A few weeks ago I left some pending questions and explanation about a current beer ad which I posted precisely because it is, for me, much more than a mere beer ad. Let's look at the questions more deeply.

- What do you think of the ad?
Like MaryMoon and Isabel, I like the ad. I think that it is the job of good publicists and really creative. And the more I watch the ad, the more I see that it has multiple techniques that I could not appreciate at first sight and that make me think that it is not such a simple and ordinary ad.

Pretty interesting I found the comparison Derek makes. As he says, American beer ads seem to have a very particular structure and particular targets is a format we rarely see. Of course, there have been ads in this mood, like Budweiser ads during late nineties or early two thousand. But still, Budweiser is not an Spanish/Catalan beer and most time they had no spoken words or they were subtitled (the videos Derek linked on the comments made me think of them).

With this, I am not saying that Spanish/Catalan beer ads do not have an structure or a target. Indeed they have, but it is not the same as American beer ads. When I watch a Spanish beer ad, I do not feel it is targeted at 21-30, I rather feel anyone in the age of doing so can enjoy it. And more that being funny, I think they try to be original and ever-lasting, giving beer moderate consumption a high status. I wouldn't say something reserved to intellectuals though, I am more inclined to think that they try to appeal everyone. And this is the case of this particular ad.

I think it is targeted as everyone on legal age, using Barça to do so. The link appears so simple to me: lots of people like Barça, lots of people will like this beer. Barça is something great (the best team in the world!), this beer sponsors Barça, this beer MUST be great. I could go even further to give the nationalist sense I find in the ad, but this is answered in other questions and the link then can be easily established ;).

- Do you think it is a good beer ad?
Here I find divided opinions.

Well, I think it is a good ad and very original in its construction. It does mention the brand "Estrella Damm" but it gives more weight to Barça images and the poem, which I think is a good technique. You get the idea of the ad uniqueness (nothing of the kind before) and you can establish a connection with the brand it announces. Strictly, the product appears in the end, but the imprint of the ad is so deep that it makes you remember which brand did it and what it announced. This is, mostly, what Isabel pointed out.

I do not know if it is a good beer ad, though. Because...what is a good beer ad?

Other campaigns by "Estrella Damm" have been equally good and successful, like last summer ad with the song "Summercat" by the Swedish group Billie Vision & The Dancers, filmed in the Balearic Island of Formentera. The ad is the videoclip by this group and it incorporates images of Estrella Damm bottles. I recommend you watch it.

This summer ad used a complete new ad formula and it was successful. The ad I posted follows the same style and has been equally successful. So then...it must be a good beer ad...I think...

- Do you think it tells something to the (Catalan) audience?
Indeed. The poem tells people (Catalans) can achieve their goals, that nothing is impossible. I do not remember the Generalitat's campaign MaryMoon mentions, but I do see the positive turn the ad gives it.

- Does it tell something more to you, rather than just advertising beer?
It does tell something more if you can give it a context which allows interpretation.

- Do you like the ad text?
I agree to all of you. It is a nice lyric poem, craftily built. And combining it with music gives it a nice rhythm.
Isabel said that she liked he different accent it showcases. Well, she's come to my favourite subject :D and I feel the need to comment something about it.

The poem showcases differents accents but not dialectal accents. The general dialect is spoken standard Catalan. Most of the actors in the ad are professional actors or TV presenters and they speak in a quite neutral accent. Well, with the exception of the two cookers, which have the characteristic accent of Barcelona.

Probably, what Isabel noticed is the accents of non-Catalan people speaking Catalan, namely the young man working with wood and the boy in the skateboard. The young man is probably from Northern Europe (his way of pronouncing "r", his blue eyes and fair hair make me think it) and the boy is South-American (I would even venture Argentinian...)

- Do you think it is a nationalist ad?
There is a very good point that Anna made. She mentions that these ad might use football to convey national feelings. Indeed Catalans, may easily interpret it as such, but it is not the typical "we're good and the others aren't"; to use Isabel words, it tries to raise the spirits of Catalans. It is very easy to understand the poem as somehow nationalist and it make sense in a nationalistic frame.

On the other side, it could also make sense in a non-nationalist context (and hence, the "could be" in MaryMoon's comment. However, I am inclined to think the ad is indeed nationalist, and what is more, it represents, for me, an "inclusive" nationalism: some of the speakers are Catalan well-known actors or TV presenters and an also some non-Catalan people appear. Besides, there are all those images of Pep Guardiola and Barça players. The ad uses all this to convery that Catalans not only accept plurality, but also integrates it in the culture. And there is the music, which integrates more instruments every time and become more joyful. The feeling you have when you finish the ad is: Wow, WE are great! But you do NOT feel that others are not great as well.

Maybe I wouldn't agree with Isabel when she mentions that it can imply that independence can be reached, as I think the ad does not go so far and deep, as I said before I think it is not a separatist ad (note that I make a difference here between nationalism and separatism/independentism). But her interpretation makes perfect sense.

- Do you think it seems to mix things up?
No discussion on that ;). It mixes things up: football, beer, Catalan pride in its people and nation. And it does so in a positive way. And what is more: it has been craftily manipulated to seem "natural". Here I have a negative criticism on the ad: it can seem to build on the tendency to mix everything up. In Catalonia, as I said many other times, everything can have a sociopolitical turn. Look for example, at the insight MaryMoon does about Joan Laporta, current Barça president, who, taking advantage of Barça's achievements and position, has launched an independentist political campaign. I might agree to some ideas Laporta may have, but I do not approve his way of speaking them by mixing football and politics. Talking about it requires another post!

Well, I think this is it. I probably skipped some of the appreciations in the comments (hope you can forgive me :)...). Thanks for your collaboration!

Barça, Estrella Damm, Catalonia or everything?

Today I'd like to share this ad with you:



Here is the translation:

Un equip de futbol va ser el centre del món. I quin és el secret? Es preguntava tothom. La velocitat, el control? Anar sempre a l'atac? Buscar sempre el gol? És el joc en equip? no serà la humilitat? Sense protagonistes, ni cap divinitat. Un equip de futbol va ser el centre del món. I quin és el secret? Es preguntava tothom. La feina ben feta, qui no ho recorda una cosa molt nostra en els moments de més glòria Estimar el teu ofici, vigilar cada detall, va cantar en un poema Joan Maragall. Tot està per fer, podem aixecar el vol. Tot és possible, escrivia Martí i Pol Salvador Dalí, Pau Casals, Antoni Gaudí, Des d'aquí universals. La Ruscalleda amb la cullera, amb la ploma el Monzó, tu amb el teu martell i jo, amb el meu ordinador. Metges, periodistes, mecànics, pintors, fusters, lampistes, músics i escriptors. Un equip de futbol va ser el centre del món. I quin és el secret? Es preguntava tothom. La passió, la dedicació, l'atreviment, la curiositat, i estimar la feina és la nostra creativitat. Són les ganes, treballar fort, Desperta company, és millor que anar sol. No ens hem de reinventar Hem de seguir essent qui som, fer les coses com sempre, que no ens venci la son Un equip de futbol va ser el centre del món I quin és el secret? Es preguntava tothom Si fem les coses com nosaltres sabem Hi ha res impossible ho aconseguirem I el que facin els altres tant se val. La feina ben feta no té fronteres, No té rival.

A football team was the centre of the world. And which is the secret? Asked everyone Speed, control? Be always striking? Always aiming at the goal? Is it team game? can't it be humbleness? No protagonists, no master gods. A football team was the centre of the world. And which is the secret? Asked everyone. A job well done, who can forget, a thing of our own in the most glorious moments Love your trade, Care for every detail, sang once in a poem Joan Maragall. Everything's to be done, we can fly up. Everything's possible, wrote Martí i Pol Salvador Dalí, Pau Casals, Antoni Gaudí, From here, universal. Ruscalleda with her spoon, with his fountain pen, Monzó, you with your hammer, and I with my computer. Doctors, journalists, mechanics, painters, carpenters, plumbers, musicians and writers. A football team was the centre of the world. And which is the secret? Asked everyone. Passion, dedication, Audacity, curiosity, and loving our job is our creativity. Being eager, working hard, Wake up fellow, it's better than being alone. We mustn't reinvent ourselves We must still be what we are, do things as we always do, do not let sleep defeat us. A football team was the centre of the world. And which is the secret? asked everyone If we do things as we know Is there anything impossible? We can do it. And what other may do it is not essential. A good job has no borders, It is unrivalled.

Now I'd like to ask you some things:
- What do you think of the ad?
- Do you think it is a good beer ad?
- Do you think it tells something to the (Catalan) audience?
- Does it tell something more to you, rather than just advertising beer?
- Do you like the ad text?
- Do you think it is a nationalist ad?
- Do you think it seems to mix things up?

I am interested on how you see the ad, especially if you are not Catalan (but Catalans are welcome too!). If you wish to do so, just comment on the post. Then, I will explain it and give my opinion on the next post. I hope you participate :)!