Languages of Andorra
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The following languages are currently spoken in Andorra:
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[edit] Catalan
Catalan is the only official language.
It is the historical and traditional language of the country, the only used by the government, television, radio, and other national media and is the main language of all the people living in the territory with the Andorran nationality, which represents the 33% of the total inhabitants.
It is also the main language of about 25% of the Spanish immigrants (43% of the people living in the country), usually the ones that have come to the country since 1985 from nearby Catalonia (where Catalan is co-official with Spanish) or also Valencia (where it's called Valencian).
Recently the Government of Andorra is friendly enforcing the learning and use of the language within the immigrated labor force as a previous step to fully apply the constitution and surpass the abnormality of people living in a country without knowing its only own language.
Due to the fact that Andorra is the only country in the world that has Catalan with official status in all the territory allowed the strange situation that a language spoken by more than 10 million with a thriving cultural development is official in the United Nations (thus internationally recognized and accepted) for fewer than 50,000 of its speakers. The same situation applies to a possible integration within the European Union.
[edit] Spanish
Spanish (also known as Castilian) is the main language of about 70% of Spanish national immigrants (being for the resting 5% Galician) that came to the country between 1955 and 1985 fleeing from the poverty of southern Spain, western and central regions of the Iberian Peninsula (Andalusia, Extremadura, Castile-La Mancha, Murcia...) and the industrial crisis of the metalurgian industry next to the Bay of Biscay (Asturias, Cantabria, Galicia...).
The low level of development of Andorra at this moment, the low intellectual level of the immigrants and the possibility of an invasion by Spain during the Franco regime reduced the ability of full integration of this population until recent years. Finally in 1993, the constitution of the country was approved. Since then Spanish, that was the most used language by the population living in the country, changed its status and now is a minority language (but still being a huge minority with near 40% of the population).
The language has the possibility to be taught at school if the parent chooses the Spanish education system that Andorra shares.
[edit] Portuguese
The same poverty situation in southern Portugal (usually Algarve and Alentejo) prompted a huge migration flux to the country between 1960 and 1980 increasing the Portuguese population to 11% of the total.
[edit] French
The nearby border with France, the cheaper and free of taxes life and the opportunity of a good job within the thriving tourist industry allowed that a 7% of the total population of the country to be french nationals, usually immigrants from old african french colonies.
The language has a the possibility to be taught at school if the parent choose the french education system that Andorra shares.
[edit] References
- http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=AD
- This article contains material from the CIA World Factbook (2006 edition) which, as a US government publication, is in the public domain.
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