I am British, I speak English primarily but also
Spanish. I can get by in French and have a handful of words in Bulgarian,
Hungarian, Zulu and Afrikaans. If you asked me what languages do Gibraltarians
speak I would say they are trilingual speaking English, Spanish and Llanito.
Given Gibraltar’s close links with Britain it is
natural that English should be the major language. Apart from anything else we
need English for our education, in law as well as business. Spain is our
neighbour so it is equally sensible for Gibraltarians to be able to speak
Spanish. To be bilingual in this day and age is a great asset and in English
and Spanish we have the two major languages other than Chinese.
Across the border in Spain they are busy trying to
teach their children English not specifically because of the closeness of
Gibraltar but because it is the major language internationally. Schools that
offer a bilingual curriculum are cropping up in every town: the problem is the
quality of the teachers often leaves a lot to be desired.
Over the generations that border workers have come to
work in Gibraltar they have developed their own patois originally based on
words that dock workers collected from English speakers and visiting ships.
These words now make up part of the argot of La Linea.
All this came to mind because in the Spanish media
recently there have been articles bemoaning the fact that Gibraltarian children
do not now speak Spanish as a natural tongue. The point being made is that their
parents learnt by ear and are natural Spanish speakers whilst their children
are not and only learn Spanish in classes at school.
I was surprised to learn this fact and when I was
first told a year or so ago I asked a teacher who informed me that this was so.
Curious really given the influence of Spanish in our lives in cross border
visits and the media.
I remember talking to a retired Gibraltarian teacher
who told me that prior to the evacuation at the time of the Second World War
the majority of Gibraltarians spoke Spanish and not English. Those who spoke
English would probably have been the business classes who had close links with
the military. He added that when the evacuees returned and schools were
re-established on the Rock the Religious Brothers who came to teach here had to
first undergo Spanish lessons.
I have no reason to doubt his words but that would
mean that in the period of 60 years Gibraltar’s children had gone from being
Spanish speakers to English speakers.
Language defines a people and the mixture of language
in Gibraltar is part of what makes a Gibraltarian a Gibraltarian. The unique ability
to switch from English to Spanish at the drop of a hat with a stop along the
way into Llanito. However if the Spanish are correct and our young people speak
English and only treat Spanish as a foreign language then could that also
endanger the future of Llanito which requires a knowledge of both tongues.
THE
LANGUAGE DEBATE CONTINUES
Following
my article in Panorama on Tuesday about whether our young people are learning Spanish
as a second language or speaking it naturally I received a kind message from
Bart Van Thienen. Bart had read the article in Panorama on the internet and
posted it for his friends.
Although
I am grateful for his kind words what interested me more is what he posted on
his Facebook page. Bart wrote: “A very
interesting article for my Belgian friends, we too as Flemish people had to
await the Second World War to get education in our own language and even
justice in Flemish (dialect of Dutch). Even today the Belgian king speaks
Flemish with a heavy French accent although French speakers are only 30% of the
population...”
I was in Brussels a short while ago and the French –
Flemish divide is a bit of a nightmare. When I go to Paris I always try to use
what French I have and I have to say despite their reputation Parisians are
normally generous in allowing for mistakes. However what do you speak in
Brussels? How do you know if a person, restaurant or shop is French or Flemish?
My guidebook told me as people can be offended if you
speak French to a Flemish speaker or vice versa the best thing to do is speak
English. Which is what I did. When I thought a person was French I did risk a
mumbled few words but was never quite sure whether they were actually Flemish
in disguise.
I know there are people in Gibraltar who believe that
as the Rock is British then English should be the common language. I know
people are annoyed when they go into a shop and find if they speak English they
are simply not understood because the staff are Spanish. You have seen these
issues debated in Panorama either in articles or in the letters column oft
times before.
However it is a fact that if Gibraltarians can speak
English and Spanish then it is an enormous asset to our community because we
have the two major languages in the world, other than Chinese, covered. So both
in the worlds of business and tourism we are one jump ahead. Compare that to
Spain where few speak English, not even the country’s leaders, or the UK where
they speak English normally at home and very loudly and slowly when confronting
Johnny Foreigner abroad.
The trick for Gibraltarians is to use their language
skills to enhance the nation and have a balance so that Gibraltar is neither a
language colony of the UK or Spain. However I believe that what really defines
a Gibraltarian is the ability to slip in to Llanito: but as I said in my last
article surely to do so you need to speak Spanish.
Some 20 years ago I used to record a radio programme
called “If It’s In The Press, It’s Got To Be True!” For some episodes I took
the Llanito conversation columns from Panorama and used them in the script. We
had a Spanish actress on the show, who spoke good English and was in fact an
English teacher. I duly presented her with the script and her face was a
picture. She said I know most of these words, but I haven’t a clue what it
means. That’s Llanito for you.
