SIR - Nature reputation as a scientific means of communication has always been out of any doubts. For years, some of the most oustanding discoveries in a broad range of scientific disciplines have been published under its name. This is the reason why I was so astonished when I read in Nature a letter to the Editor entitled 'Schools in a third of Spain teach only in minority languages' (Nature 454, 575;10.1038/454575d 2008).
To my surprise, that letter was full of false statements. The linguistic situation in the Catalan education system has followed language immersion programmes for more than twenty years. Everybody has to be fluent in both official languages in order to finish the compulsory education. Spanish language lessons are also mandatory in the whole country. Besides, parents in Catalonia have the right to demand a full-Spanish education for their children. This model has been shown to be succesfull as a means to guarantee that everyone is competent in both languages. Maybe the author and some of the self-called intellectuals signing the Manifesto for a common language are not connoisseurs of the Catalan linguistic reality.
Moreover, the author sarcastically uses a humiliating and politically-biased language like "In the Basque country, despite the obscurity of the language (...)". Obviously, the Basque language is not obscure for anyone who has it as mother tongue. In any case, as Merriam-Webster dictionary claims, obscureness is something "not readily understood", or "relatively unknown". I guess this is what new educational programmes in the Basque country want to erradicate, and make the Basque language -one of the most ancient languages in Europe- more broadly known in its homeland.
Altough I feel that Nature should not be a platform for the spreading of political propaganda of any kind, I hope the journal "will seek the informal advice of independent reviewers" in the future when such a delicate issue is discussed.
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4 comments:
Bé, potser sí que és més calmada. ;)
Potser caldria indicar quins són els false statements i perquè i com hi ha dades que els desacrediten, o dir-ho.
Lo del mother tongue és senzillament, genial, perquè és la obvietat mateixa. Se'ns ha passat a tots. No especularia sobre els programes, es fotre's en merdés i resten importància al fet principal, que Nature no pot fer propaganda política.
A veure...
be, lu dels false statements crec q queda entes precisament amb tot lu dels programes educatius etc... les dades son clares per qui viu a catalunya, per aixo remarco q ells potser no coneixen la realitat catalana.
Enviada! l'he signat amb un amic meu del depart. d'espanish del kings college. A veure que! N'hem d'enviar moltes pq aixi en publicaran alguna segur!
Si a mi també em sembla molt correcta. Potser es podria partir d'aquesta per la versió "signable".
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