After the Welsh Government published its response to the Report of the Commission for Welsh-speaking Communities, in this guest blog Dr Elin Royles, Reader in the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University, draws our attention to the work of public sector bodies in the Basque Country on language policy, which came to light on an Arfor visit there.
In responding last week to the Report of the Commission for Welsh-speaking Communities, the Welsh Government referred to the Arfor II programme as an opportunity to trial ventures to support he economy in Welsh speaking areas and the importance of learning lessons from the programme. What became apparent on the Arfor visit to the Basque country was the extent of public sector action’s potential to have a positive effect on a minority language when this is embodied within their ways of working as institutions. These examples are compatible with the Government’s response, standing in agreement on the importance of the public sector in developing the Welsh language in workplaces, moving along the language continuum (Recommendations 19 and 20), their acceptance of the need to ‘take full advantage’ of opportunities to use public spending to promote the use of Welsh (Recommendation 14), and to develop career paths and jobs targeted towards local populations.
The enthusiastic crew on the Arfor visit to the Basque Country, led by Elin Haf Gruffydd Jones, was a combination of Arfor Board Members, Arfor officers, officers of those bodies implementing the programme and staff from universities involved in the programme. It was an opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of the activities of local public bodies and universities in the Basque Country to support the Basque language.
Fabrik Campus, Mondragon University
Visiting Mondragon University’s Fabrik Campus was a positive experience, created in response to Bilbao city council’s request for them to contribute towards innovation in the city by establishing an Innovation Faculty. Mondragon University’s beginnings, which was established in 1997 by Mondragon’s group social enterprises, was as a research centre in the 1970s, and it expanded to provide training in the humanities and education from 1976 onward in response to the gap in Basque language teacher training.
In the university, that included a space for start-ups and innovation labs, we heard about the four year ‘Worldwide Digital Humanities’ degree. As part of the degree, and reflecting other Mondragon degree programmes, there was an emphasis on internships. In the second year, there’s a study visit to Brussels, and in the third and fourth years there are two internships within companies. On the first internship, students work on a project that operates on a global level, a digital project or associated with social innovation. In their final year internship, they then develop a project for the company.
There are opportunities to use and work through the medium of Basque in 70% of the institutions offering internships, with less opportunities in those involved with worldwide projects which require working through the medium of English and Spanish. This high percentage aligned with the University’s commitment to promote Basque within their degree programmes.
Hernani town
It was a striking to hear from the mayor of Hernani, a town in the province of Gipuzkoa, 9 kilometers from Donostia. It is a town of a little over twenty thousand people, with around 240 industrial companies located there operating in various sectors, including international companies and some that are a part of the Mondragon co-operative group. The mayor explained that the town received a budget of 40 million euros annually due to healthy tax revenues from the industries in the area. Whilst this level of government lacked a specific responsibility for economic development, their aim as a council was to have a linguistic influence through their internal operations, use of procurement powers, within projects and in their relationships with larger companies.
A key element in trying to attain linguistic influence was operating internally though the Basque language. They consider themselves to be one of the biggest councils using Basque as an internal language. Whereas the decision in 2011 to operate internally through Basque was relatively controversial, it has now been accepted and taken root. Basque is the language of meetings, and they have internal procedures when it comes to using Basque. If there’s a need to provide information in Spanish, it is translated at the end. Instantaneous translation from Basque to Spanish is also used in some external meetings, but not frequently. Every council role has a language profile and comprehension of Basque is higher among staff than the language profiles.
The council also places conditions and linguistic clauses in their service provision procurement contracts, for example cleaning, waste management or care provision. Their language expectations are the same as though the council itself provides the service. For example, there’s an expectation that staff language profiles correspond to the expectations if the council were to provide the service. The procurement contract also includes an assessment of the linguistic needs of particular jobs. The cost of providing language training is included and recognised, and the town council monitors implementation. It is the internal responsibility of the company to assess their workforce’s language skills as part of the assessment of their compliance with the expectations. If the body cannot fulfil the language clauses expectations, a language plan needs to be drafted outlining how they will go about fulfilling them. Given that the plans were introduced 14 years ago, companies are familiar with and understand the expectations.
One striking scheme was the agreement between the council and a co-operative enterprise to provide home care for the elderly in Hernani. The council contributed towards founding the enterprise run by women who have migrated to Spain. As their Basque linguistic skills are limited and the council are keen for them to develop their Basque skills, as part of the contract the council pays 15% of the working hours of workers to learn Basque in language learning centres. Here is an initiatives that addresses the need for social care provision, the workers develop Basque oral skills and it promotes social integration by bringing two communities together. There is no formal assessment of this 3 year old programme but the impression given by council staff was that workers took part in other events in the town and that the scheme enabled them to support their children in the Basque educational system, and that the scheme tackles myths regarding the learning challenges of learning Basque and its value.
The council also works with small and medium sized businesses in the area to increase their use of Basque internally, visually and with clients. Their expectation is that any company representatives meeting with the council is able to speak Basque. The council does not have the power to force companies to implement Basque signage, but they can encourage them to do so. If a company is unable to provide a version in Basque, the town hall assists them. A recent development was local legislation establishing the expectation that any cafes or restaurants using public land (e.g. terraces or pavements) provide their menus in Basque.
In addition, the council uses language clauses as part of the planning permission system. In order to try to influence supermarkets like Lidl to make Basque visible, they draft separate contracts. They don’t have the legal ability to set language requirements but language clauses are discussed with a company from the start and the council produces a Memorandum of Understanding. Whilst it doesn’t have a legal basis, it is considered as a means to encourage making Basque visible and tries to ensure that large companies coming into the area are aware of the importance of Basque and the expectations on them.
Here are an range of examples of positive linguistic action by public bodies.
The case of Mondragon University underlined the potential of internships to foster connections between students and workplaces, including to make use of Basque in those spaces. It is a good example of integration between workplaces and universities that can support the development of career paths to professional skills and local Welsh jobs.
In the town of Hernani, we saw the significance of using a combination of local powers to promote a minority language. There’s value to each element: from operating internally through the medium of Basque, high expectations in procurement contract processes, including language considerations when establishing co-operative ventures to fulfil gaps in service provision, and utilising planning powers and influence to promote the language when dealing with companies. There’s no doubt that the financial situation of Welsh local councils is different, but the Welsh Government’s recent response confirms the need to use public funding to promote the use of Welsh, to act on responsibilities to consider Welsh when distributing grants and procuring services as a result of the Welsh Language standards, and the potential to do more to develop the language in workplaces. As was the case in Hernani, the impact of such actions are likely to be much greater if enacted together. Is there political will amongst local authorities and will the Welsh Government’s words turn into support to take advanced steps to promote the Welsh Language in areas of higher density linguistic significance in Arfor?
