Immigration and languages in Catalonia: from policies to results

Abstract

Transnational immigration is quite a new phenomenon in Catalonia and the rest of Spain. Its sudden increase from 2000 on helps explain why immigration policies have unfolded during the last 20 years, a long-enough period to start evaluating its impact. This article reviews the framework for policies for linguistic integration of the foreign-born population in Catalonia, and explores their results through the lens of census data on these new speakers’ language abilities and practices. It shows that, in Spain, the asymmetrical distribution of competences and power between the state and sub-state levels “prevents the minority nations from developing comprehensive public policy on immigration.” Together with the unbalanced legal and economic status of Castilian and Catalan, and the demographic minorization of Catalan-speakers, this poses a challenge to the full linguistic integration of immigrants and to the sustainability of Catalan in the long run.