This morning, at the Institut Ramon Llull, “Katalonski”, the programme featuring the Icelandic musician Halldor Mar, was presented. Over 13 chapters it will set out to discover the Catalan speakers who live beyond the borders but speak their language all over the world. The programme will visit their countries and share their everyday life, their hobbies and their special moments.
The presentation was attended by Vicent Sanchis, director of TV3; Manuel Forcano, director of the Institut Ramon Llull; Ester Franquesa, director general of the Catalan Government Language Policy; Oriol Gispert, director of the programme; Valentí Roda, executive producer of the programme; and Halldor Mar, presenter of “Katalonski”.
The event was opened by Manuel Forcano, who explained what the Institut Ramon Llull does all over the world to promote the learning of Catalan. “We want Catalan to be at the leading universities of the world. We promote the Catalan language all over the world. There are over 6000 students and the institute procures and promotes the programmes specialising in the learning of Catalan.”
Forcano has referred to “Katalonski” as “a programme that will provide a showcase for our work. Now Catalan is already a mid-level language in Europe, 88th of the 100 most widely spoken in the world. And it has public media that are leaders in the country. The programme presents, through personal stories, the life and role of Catalan in a globalised world.” The director of the Institut Ramon Llull stressed that “the programme shows the good work being done by teachers of Catalan in the world. We celebrate the arrival of this programme to show off a task we have been doing for many years.”
Vicent Sanchis emphasised that “languages are won and lost through prestige and use. And here we are always at a disadvantage because we don’t believe we are important. But there are people living outside Catalonia, who learn Catalan, and that is what we see in “Katalonski”. And it shows it in a very interesting way, in television format, talking about many things that happen in the city where they live, why they have learned Catalan, how it has changed their lives...”. He added that, “when you have a presenter who looks at the world, who looks with enthusiasm, the programme works even better.”
Valentí Roda, the executive producer of the programme, began by thanking both TV3 and the institutions and sponsors who have made it possible for the project to go ahead for their trust. He pointed out that “we are a team of 30 people, over a year and a half, to make an entertainment programme. And we want to boost the social networks, so important today, not just the conventional broadcast.” He also referred to the language, “because it reflects the life and customs of its users. Catalan has no borders and our culture is to be found in the global market.”
For his part Oriol Gisbert said: “We are always thinking up stories and, if there are 150 centres in the world where you can study Catalan, we thought it could be interesting to find out about their history. So we started to explore and it was unbelievable. What’s more, there was a great deal of interest, because we received over 500 requests to take part. Indeed, those people who have learned Catalan were glad to be acknowledged by the public television and to be given a space, because they feel legitimated. They are also grateful for the work of the Catalan public media, because they reach the whole world. Many of them have taken an interest in Catalan thanks to internet and to seeing a programme.”
The director of the programme stressed that “Katalonski” has an enormous potential. “There are 13 countries with 5 or 6 stories in each one. Who they are, what they do, why they are studying Catalan, how they did it and how it has changed their lives. We have shared special moments with all of them because that too is part of the programme; how they celebrate St George’s Day, for example, or how they do human towers in Canada. It is a great journey and we are very excited.”
Halldor Mar, the presenter of the programme, defined himself as a “katalonski”. He says: “I was delighted when they called me and even more so when they chose me. It has been an impressive adventure, because the “katalonskis” are really nice people. I came to Catalan through music and television programmes. In fact it was with “Sense títol”; I wanted to see it so much that I decided to learn Catalan. And music also had a lot to do with it, a disc by Albert Pla. Those were the two key moments for me, I found out that there are lovely songs in Catalan, and I started to speak.” Mar added: “I felt closely identified with those people, because they too have learned, on many occasions, thanks to music and television, just like me.”
The last person to speak was Ester Franquesa, who pointed out that “the world speaks Catalan, because the natural space of a language today breaks through all borders thanks to internet, tourism, immigration, exchanges, and so a language is much more. And Catalan also travels around the world and this programme explains how. We find that there over 12,000 “katalonskis” in the world.” She said that “the first ‘katalonski’ of the programme is an Icelander who presents it and uses the language by living it. What’s more, he shows us how people outside its natural sphere have learned the language because they have found it useful.”
Franquesa added: “There are different ways of learning Catalan, among them parla.cat, where 40% of the people who appear on the programme have learned the language. We are very happy with the programme, because it promotes and encourages everyone to learn the Catalan language. It is a magnificent programme and a stimulus to start learning it and for those who are already doing so. Languages are made by people and the world speaks Catalan here and abroad.”
The presentation ended with a live performance by Halldor Mar, who played the signature tune of the programme, composed by himself.
