Catalan takes on courts

For the second consecutive year, the percentage of sentences handed down in Catalan does not reach double figures, only 8.4% of the total in Catalonia (19,000) in 2016. As court officials are state civil servants, the Catalan Justice Department is promoting initiatives to reverse this “residual use” in the system, while linguists try not to lose heart in view of the mobility in the area of justice. Most judges and prosecutors come from outside Catalonia and are constantly on the lookout for positions closer to their families.

This year the Generalitat as well as giving classes in Level C Catalan has also set up practical courses dealing with aspects of the language which offer most difficulty for non-Catalan speakers. Secretary for Relations with the Administration of Justice, Patricia Gomà, said that the module has been “a success”, and adds: “There is interest in learning Catalan. I want to break the inertia of the Spanish language in the courts.”

Of the 775 employees enrolled in the practical module, there are 14 judges, 12 prosecutors, 24 lawyers and eight forensic specialists, among others. Simply having a judge enrolled in the practical module results in a 75% increase in the number of sentences written in Catalan in that court.

This is the case of Judge Laia Boix, in Sant Boi de Llobregat. “My first destination was Santa Coloma, where people asked for resolutions and sentences in Catalan, not all, and when she arrived in Sant Boi, she accepted the proposed module. She admits that “handing down written judgments in Catalan is more effort for all of the court”, but believes that it is important to invest the time to provide a “public service.”