Makiko Fukuda

Double gateway to the host society? Knowledge and perceptions of Japanese people living in Catalonia regarding language

ABSTRACT This study explores the degree of language knowledge of Japanese living in Catalonia and their perceptions of the two particular languages used in this multilingual/bilingual society. The data on language proficiency was obtained via a questionnaire survey which was evaluated by the subjects themselves and analysed by means of correspondence analysis. A significant correlation between the degree of knowledge of Castilian and that of Catalan was found, suggesting that Castilian is the first language that almost all subjects learnt upon their arrival in Catalonia or prior to arriving. Catalan, on the other hand, was only learnt by a particular group of subjects who had achieved a certain level in Castilian. Furthermore, in-depth interviews were conducted to determine how the subjects perceive Catalan and Castilian. Commonly, they were perceived in a dichotomous way, with Castilian being a wider-used language and Catalan being a language of limited use not meant for outsiders. Castilian is learnt rather unconditionally, probably because it is the Spanish states language, which mirrors the traditional language ideology of Japan – one nation, one language. The majority of the subjects had not learnt Catalan for various reasons such as priority given to Castilian and behaviour of the local population.

Language use in the context of double minority: the case of Japanese–Catalan/Spanish families in Catalonia

ABSTRACT This study explores language use in Japanese–Catalan/Spanish families in Catalonia with a special attention to Japanese. In a community such as Catalonia wherein two languages of different status are in conflict within its own territory, the ability of families to maintain a socially ‘weaker’ language and transmit yet another language that does not have an official status within the community raises an important question: how do these cross-linguistic families cope with a ‘double minority context’ in terms of organising their language use within the family? Analysing the data collected through a questionnaire survey conducted with 29 Japanese–Catalan/Spanish-speaking families living in Catalonia revealed that the parents in said families adopted a mostly monolingual use of Spanish; however, this practice does not affect the families’ Catalan and Japanese use. Not establishing a single common language for the family may be one of the strategies to combat the threat to minority languages. In general, especially for the survey participants, Catalan and Japanese remain significantly utilised. Our study also found that sibling existence can influence language-use patterns between parent and child(ren), with monolingual practices tending to be used in single-child families.

Barrera o passaport per a la integració?: ideologies lingüístiques dels japonesos residents a Catalunya

Aquest estudi explora les ideologies linguistiques dels japonesos residents a Catalunya. A partir de la hipotesi que les perspectives sobre les llengues locals d’aquesta poblacio varien segons l’orientacio migratoria, vam entrevistar 34 japonesos. Els entrevistats havien col·laborat previament en els questionaris sobre usos linguistics, a partir dels quals s’han classificat en tres subgrups segons la llengua d’us predominant (japones, castella o catala). Els entrevistats del grup del japones son d’estada temporal, i el seu poc coneixement sobre la societat receptora fa que mantinguin la ideologia del Japo i que s’hi fonamentin a l’hora de percebre la situacio sociolinguistica de Catalunya. Els entrevistats dels grups restants son d’estada de llarga durada i estan mes familiaritzats amb els discursos de la societat receptora. Generalment, perceben les dues llengues locals de manera dicotomica, tot i que el grup del catala es diferencia dels altres grups pel que fa a la percepcio sobre el catala. El catala es veu com un passaport per a la integracio, pero el fet que la poblacio autoctona mantingui l’ etiquette tradicional fa que tambe sigui percebut com una barrera que separa els catalans i els forasters.