Catalunya or Cataluña?: a humble stream of consciousness

-So! Where are you from?
Oh crap... here we are again.

As years passed I worked on the best answer I could possibly give to this apparently silly question. All the places where I've travelled to, the ones in which I've actually stayed for a while, in which I've lived, studied, been to the grocery's and missed the bus are where I am from. So I go:“I used to be from Italy...now I'm from Barcelona - I guess”.That's how I keep people on the hook. Either that or they just ignore my answer and look at me as if I grew up in a cocoon of self-banishment.

Anyhow, being a TEFL teacher in Barcelona doesn't really make me Spanish, or should I say Catalan? That's exactly where I wanted to get to. Last autumn I set off to Barcelona, thinking that I was heading to Spain. I moved there and I was thrilled, or to use one of the many untranslatable Spanish words I had tons of “ilusión”. For you who have lived in Barcelona and who have stumbled across this post, you might notice the oddly high frequency of 'Spain' related words. As a matter of fact the less you pronounce the word Spain in Catalonia, the better you live. Politics, scandals, ailing and stagnant economy plus poor education and health care system services contributed to the encouragement for    independence.

Sadly enough this also resulted in a cultural war for independence using Catalan as a show of strength and support for the same cause. As many of you might already know Catalonia, as many other Spanish regions, suffered from a terrible cultural and language repression during the Francoist dictatorship which lasted almost 40 years. During that time no language could be spoked other than Castilian (aka Spanish). In 1975 when this nonsense finally came to an end, Catalonia, who was deeply hurt by years and years of cultural repression, became very sensible when it came to protecting its cultural legacy. Since then, Catalan has been lingua franca and working language in Catalonia which left a mere second language role to Castilian Spanish.

Barcelona is the only city in Catalonia where people say there is somehow still bilingualism. Be it due to tourism, be it due to mass immigration. Many people I know say that outside Barcelona there is a great amount of people who don't really speak Castilian as fluent as they are supposed to. Why? Because they don't need it. At least inside this county. I teach kids, many kids, they go to Catalan schools, they speak Catalan among them, they speak Catalan at home. By the age of 6 they still make easy mistakes in Spanish such as 'decido' instead of 'dicho' and 'ponido' instead of 'puesto'. Such mistakes should disappear past the age of 4. Some others can only understand Spanish but they can't really speak it, or that's what their parents say at least.

I always feel pensive when it comes to choosing up sides. Is it understandable or over the top? Do I like it or not? What would I do? I have no clue. It's something that goes beyond me, in which I should have no say because even though I feel like I belong here the community looks down on you until you actually pick a side. Their side. And to do that you ought to speak their language. Which is not really one of the easiest for that matter. So as a foreigner you are not supposed to have your opinion until you support the cause for independence. Which is not only for political grounds but also, allegedly, for cultural reasons.

As a teacher I think the saddest thing of all is that the claim for cultural respect turned a language into a shield and a cultural barrier. A barrier which should have been knocked down as Franco died but was instead rebuilt by a local counter-part and almost turned into a discrimination against the second worldwide most spoken language. Want it or not, Spanish extremely useful and kids should be mastering it. This by no means implies the neglect of the Catalan language in school, at home or wherever.I guess we will have to wait and see what happens if they ever manage to do a referendum and decide for their own fate, which sounds reasonable in what should be a free country.

Life after graduation : my Spanish dream.

In September 2012 that is 5 months after I had graduated first class honours from the university of Siena, I decided to head to Spain and look for my future outside Italy.

“Spain? You're bonkers!” that was more or less the support that I got from most people that acknowledged my plans. However, my parents decided to support me and my decision though one could really tell that their face expression wasn't really a sigh of relief.

After 3 years spent literally 'hurrying up' to get a B.A in Linguistics I decided it was high time to follow my own lead and come to this breathtaking country. I had absolutely no job expectations nor held out much hope to get one at any rate.

In order to prove everybody wrong, including me, I had to man up. And for anybody who wants to know how it is like to get a decent job in southern Europe nowadays here's a preview to what you're about to put up with.

1. Being 'legal' in Spain

Since July 2012 a drastic document-policies reform has gone through in spite of what should be the new 'european' common sense and law. All foreigners including EU residents are compelled to get a Spanish ID – the so-called N.I.E – if you're planning to reside in this country for more than 90 days. Thank you very much. The piece of news basically pivots on 'alright then how do I get my NIE'?. After long queues in dozens of different council and immigration offices I was sent to comisaría, that is the police station where a tall lanky horse-faced woman croaks that I am SOOO late and did I think that I could get a NIE just because I was European.

Erm, yes?

Oh no no no. Have I got a job? Have I got a Social Security Number? Am I at least a student?

...well somehow I assumed that she wasn't going to be my woman so I decided to call it a day and get back to spamming all kinds of schools and companies with my CV.

So luckily enough after a fortnight spent walking back and forth and running across Barcelona to hand CV's out to anybody in town, I got an interview.

One of the first questions that I was asked that day was: So, have you got social security?

Obviously I didn't so I got sent to Tesorería, the social security office. Once then, guess what, have you got a NIE? No, no and no. It was an endless loop.

Since it is a closed chain the only way to get legal papers in Spain at the moment is to break that very chain. This if you're lucky enough to find someone who is willing to hire you and back you up during the process. As there is no way to get a NIE without a job contract and there is no way to get a job contract without social security and therefore a NIE, your future employer needs to write a letter to the authorities in charge where they advocate the issue of your ID in order to hire you legally.

If you're not a student that's the only way. Is it easy? No, but, yes it is possible.
After one month I lined up for the last time at 7 am, waited about 4 hours till someone finally approved my request and gave me a wastepaper pictureless ID which I paid 10 €.

2. Entry Requirements

What does it take to be hired? For every job that you will apply for they will ask specific entry requirements which concern the position you applied for. For instance if you were applying for a touristic guide position they'd probably choose a candidate with a degree in tourism over a history of art applicant. For my money, this thought is preposterous.

If you want to work in a nursery you'd have to be a graduate in early years education no matter if you've been working with kids for ever. If you want to be a writer you'd have to be a graduate in communications and if you want to work in a cramped and run-down call center they'd ask you if you have any masters in marketing. If you want to work as a translator and you're lucky enough to find someone who replies to any of your emails, they'd ask for a degree in translation.

For anyone out there who has a degree in linguistics and has studied translation, foreign language teaching, tons of literature, sociology and grammar over grammar for years the situation is fairly daunting. We can do everything that has been above-mentioned and we've worked hard to get a degree that could include different job options. But at the moment all the gateways seem blocked. I share my frustration with you, but never throw in the towel, someday this will end and we will be successful and versatile workforce.

3. Language issues

In order to decently work in Catalonia you will have to be fluent in:

1. Catalan

2. Spanish

3. English

Better if with good German, French and Russian skills. Mastering many languages is essential. I've once seen a job offer that looked for a fluent speaker of Spanish, English, French, Italian, German and Dutch. All-in-one.

If you want to work in Spain as an English teacher not only do you have to be perfectly fluent but you have to fake native accents and have employers believe you're at least bilingual. Some will just discard your application only because your not native, it doesn't really matter how good you are. Fortunately, not all employers think so and they are willing to at least give you a chance. I was lucky.

If you're thinking about taking a CELTA or TESOL official exam go for it. That may certainly help you when job hunting, however, watch out for unofficial TEFL two week-intensive courses, they're not what you're looking for.

4. The 'convenio con la universidad'

You might find that one cool job you'd been looking for months and you are everything they're looking for till you read 'APPLICANTS MUST PROVIDE US WITH A UNIVERSITY AGREEMENT'.

This will be your worst nightmare, being asked to be a student when you're no longer one. It happens so that companies can pay you using education funds instead of burning their pocket holes. Don't take umbrage it's not personal, it all boils down to the dosh.